Out Magazine writer ‘comes out’ as conservative after controversial Yiannopoulos profile
The Editor-at-Large of Out Magazine has ‘come out’ as a conservative after penning a controversial profile of far-right internet troll Milo Yiannopoulos.
Yiannopoulos, a gay Donald Trump supporter, has previously claimed he would ‘cure’ himself of homosexuality if he could, and describes trans people as “mentally ill gay men dressing up for attention”.
He was banned from Twitter last year after allegedly encouraging a wave of racist abuse directed at Ghostbusters star Leslie Jones, while he recently took advantage of a university speech on his ‘Dangerous Faggot’ lecture tour to single out and bully a transgender student on-stage.
The internet troll was recently profiled by Out Magazine, with the publication uncritically portraying him as the “Internet’s greatest supervillain” and “a professional mischief maker”.
The entirely-uncritical piece attracted extreme levels of hostility from the gay community – and this week the author, Chadwick Moore, says the abuse convinced him to become a conservative.
Moore is no longer listed on the staff page of Out Magazine, though his own website lists him as the publication’s Editor-at-Large.
Writing in the New York Post, Moore explains he was previously a Clinton-supporting liberal, but became convinced he could no longer support the “status quo” after close friends shunned him over the Yiannopoulos profile.
He wrote: “Personal friends of mine [and] longtime mentors were coming at me. They wrote on Facebook that the story was ‘irresponsible’ and ‘dangerous’. A dozen or so people unfriended me. A petition was circulated online, condemning the magazine and my article.
“All I had done was write a balanced story on an outspoken Trump supporter for a liberal, gay magazine, and now I was being attacked. I felt alienated and frightened.”
Of visiting his local bar he wrote: “People with whom I’d shared many laughs — seemed to be giving me the cold shoulder. Upon seeing me, a friend who normally greets me with a hug and kiss pivoted and turned away.
“My best friend, with whom I typically hung out multiple times per week… sent me a long text, calling me a monster, asking where my heart and soul went, and saying that all our other friends are laughing at me.
“If you dare to question liberal stances or make an effort toward understanding why conservatives think the way they do, you are a traitor.”
Moore says that being shunned spurred him to become a conservative, saying: “I’ve made some new friends and also lost some who refuse to speak to me.
“I’ve come around on Republican pundit Ann Coulter, who I now think is smart and funny and not a totally hateful, self-righteous bigot. A year ago, this would have been unfathomable to me.
“I even went on a date this past week with a good-looking Republican construction worker, someone I previously would not have given a shot.”
