Can someone claim to be “socially liberal” while still voting Republican?

Not according to Charlotte Clymer, a writer for the LGBTQ advocacy group Human Rights Campaign; she blasted that idea in an epic tweetstorm on Sunday.

Clymer, who is also transgender and an Army vet, was at a party Saturday night when she got into a conversation with a man who said he worked for the Trump administration but considered himself “socially liberal.”

Clymer started off by setting the scene.

Last night, I was at a Christmas party, and this nice gentleman struck up a conversation with me. Asked what I do. I told him. He said he works in the Trump administration. He then says: "I vote Republican, but I'm socially liberal." Let's discuss this for a second. — Charlotte Clymer🏳️‍🌈 (@cmclymer) December 16, 2018

I get that there are folks in D.C. who work in the Trump administration who don't support Trump but want to serve our country capably. I recognize that nuance. I also get there are some conservatives who don't support Trump at all and walk the walk on social equality. — Charlotte Clymer🏳️‍🌈 (@cmclymer) December 16, 2018

But this gentleman put to me that a) he's a Republican, b) works in the administration, and c) regrettably votes for the GOP, BUT... wants me to know that he's on my side.



That is a summary of the first 90 seconds of our conversation. — Charlotte Clymer🏳️‍🌈 (@cmclymer) December 16, 2018

Clymer then explained the subtext of the situation.

And I got the sense he wanted me, a trans woman, to absolve him. I didn't percolate this subject. I didn't initiate a conversation with him. He drove this thing and then launched into the apologetics around voting for the GOP. — Charlotte Clymer🏳️‍🌈 (@cmclymer) December 16, 2018

She then turned the encounter into a teachable moment.

So, I'm just going to put this out there to other folks who feel guilty about supporting the Republican Party but call themselves "socially liberal". Because you folks really need to hear this. — Charlotte Clymer🏳️‍🌈 (@cmclymer) December 16, 2018

If you support a party that is anti-LGBTQ and anti-woman and xenophobic and white supremacist because you think your taxes are too high, you are not "socially liberal". — Charlotte Clymer🏳️‍🌈 (@cmclymer) December 16, 2018

If you have a friend or relative who is LGBTQ, whom you love and with whom you get along, but you support a party that openly and viciously calls for discrimination against LGBTQ people, you are not "socially liberal". — Charlotte Clymer🏳️‍🌈 (@cmclymer) December 16, 2018

If you love watching "Queer Eye" and "RuPaul's Drag Race", but you support a party that says trans people should be banned from the military and LGBTQ children should suffer the abuse of "conversion therapy", you are not "socially liberal". — Charlotte Clymer🏳️‍🌈 (@cmclymer) December 16, 2018

If you "have a black friend" but support a party that blatantly defends the harassment, assault, and murder of people of color in this country by our law enforcement and disenfranchises them at the polls and mocks their advocacy, you are not "socially liberal". — Charlotte Clymer🏳️‍🌈 (@cmclymer) December 16, 2018

If you need three dozen women to come forward about their encounters of sexual harassment, assault, and rape by an elected official--let alone a "president"--before you'll consider that even one woman is telling the truth, you are not "socially liberal". — Charlotte Clymer🏳️‍🌈 (@cmclymer) December 16, 2018

If you support fiscal policies that have drastic sociopolitical consequences for the most vulnerable people in our country--regardless of background--you are not "socially liberal". — Charlotte Clymer🏳️‍🌈 (@cmclymer) December 16, 2018

Clymer then trashed the idea that giving lip service to civil rights qualifies as actual activism. She emphasized that it’s not possible to support civil rights if you’re voting for a party trying to take them away from some citizens.

And if you're like the gentleman last night who copped out with "Well, I'm actually a libertarian" because that is somehow meant to encapsulate sympathy for my plight without bearing responsibility for complicity in the machinations that create it, you are an enormous asshole. — Charlotte Clymer🏳️‍🌈 (@cmclymer) December 16, 2018

During the series of tweets, Clymer explained how she felt obliged to finish a conversation she had no desire to be a part of in the first place.

I did not start this conversation last night. I tried to steer clear of politics. I gave him several ways out, but there is little as enraging as someone who votes for the Republican Party but claims to care about my rights and that of others. — Charlotte Clymer🏳️‍🌈 (@cmclymer) December 16, 2018

She added the person who attempted to engage her Saturday night put her in an awkward situation.

And to engage in this weird request-for-absolution/pseudo-therapy with a stranger (whom the GOP is oppressing) at a party--where if I get angry, I'll come across as making a scene but if I say nothing, I'll hate myself for it later--is beyond shitty. — Charlotte Clymer🏳️‍🌈 (@cmclymer) December 16, 2018

"I'm Republican, but I don't support Trump."



Stop saying this. Everything is on fire, and if you vote for the Republican Party, you are voting for violent hatred and discrimination. You are complicit. You are supporting white supremacy. You are voting for my oppression. /thread — Charlotte Clymer🏳️‍🌈 (@cmclymer) December 16, 2018