Gay right-winger bizarrely rants that queer people are using coronavirus to ‘fuel fake victimhood’
Brad Polumbo said that “left-wing gay and transgender activist organizations” were profiting off of the COVID-19 pandemic. (Brad Polumbo/ Twitter)
A right-wing, gay columnist has accused the LGBT+ community of exploiting the coronavirus pandemic to “fuel the fake victimhood narrative”.
Brad Polumbo is a columnist and deputy opinion contributors editor for the conservative Washington Examiner, who says he often thinks Trump is right when it comes to LGBT+ issues.
He wrote a column titled “No, coronavirus is not an ‘LGBTQ+’ victimhood issue” on March 18, in which he slammed an open letter signed by hundreds of health organisations warning that LGBT+ people “particularly vulnerable” to the virus.
The letter, organised by the LGBT National Cancer Network and signed by more than a hundred local and national organisations in the US including GLAAD, the Human Rights Campaign, Lambda Legal, and the National Center for Transgender Equality, outlines three main factors that mean coronavirus poses an increased risk to LGBT+ people.
It states that the three factors that make LGBT+ people more vulnerable to coronavirus are: the prevalence of smoking in the LGBT+ community, higher rates of HIV and cancer, and barriers to healthcare that mean LGBT+ people are reluctant to seek medical treatment.
But Polumbo claimed the letter was proof that “several left-wing groups that fundraise off of gay and transgender rights are greedily trying to turn the coronavirus into a victimhood issue”.
He wrote: “The coronavirus is a virus. It does not care if you are gay. Efforts to somehow make a global pandemic evidence of anti-gay and anti-transgender oppression is a case of shameless self-victimisation at its worst.
Polumbo said the assertion that LGBT+ people are more likely to smoke, and are therefore more vulnerable to COVID-19, was “a ridiculous stretch”, despite a landmark study recently proving that queer people are far more likely to be smokers than straight people.
He continued: “The coronavirus is a threat to smokers, some of whom happen to be gay or transgender. It has nothing to do with their sexuality or gender identity.”
The columnist finished by writing: “This letter is just another cynical attempt by left-wing gay and transgender activist organisations to fuel the fake victimhood narrative they need to keep their donor base engaged.
“Shame on them for extending their identity politics addiction to a global crisis.”
