UC Davis

This study examines how the projects of whiteness and masculinity shape white gay men’s political participation in right-wing movements. Drawing on multiple archives from across the United States, I trace three major gay organizations - the Log Cabin Republicans, the Libertarians for Gay Rights, and the National Socialist League - and the discursive tactics each employs to recruit and retain participants. My findings reveal: first, that white gay men rely on traditional images of the masculine white citizen to carve out a place within the nation, marking themselves as significantly distinct from the LGBT community as a whole. Second, that misogyny and sexism both play a significant role in driving white gay men to participate in right-wing politics. Third, that white gay men on the right have adapted and expanded the definition of citizenship to include themselves without significantly disrupting the white national project as a whole. Lastly, that an expanded use of “racial projects” (Omi and Winant 1986, 1994; Winant 2004) can help us understand each of these organizations as engaged in contests of racial and gendered legitimacy - as a limited, structured response to the historical projects of whiteness and masculinity which preempt the rise of the gay right.