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A gay Black Republican military veteran was left angry and scared for his life after an encounter with his fellow conservatives at this past weekend's Turning Point USA convention.
The far-right organization's festivities in Phoenix, Arizona saw Rob Smith, a gay Black Trump supporter the subject of a shocking incident at a Phoenix bar, in which a group of far-right agitators surrounded him and began yelling "fa**ot" at him over and over.
In a post to X, fka Twitter, Smith shared his anger about the incident, saying the group also yelled the n-word at him, though the video clip he shared does not appear to show that part of the encounter.
His words have not gone over well with many people—conservatives and liberals alike—who feel he was treated exactly as he should have expected to be treated by a movement that includes avowed white nationalists and Christofascists, and for which attacks on LGBTQ+ people and their rights are a cornerstone of its political platform.
Smith's tweet read:
“Last night in Phoenix, I was confronted and surrounded by some White Supremacists that don’t like gays or blacks in the Republican Party."
“They shouted ‘n*****’ and ‘f*****’ at me to make their point. However, I served in Iraq. I never back down. Ever.”
Smith's post inspired immediate backlash, with liberals telling Smith he should have expected such treatment from such a group, and many conservatives hurling further invective and declaring their support for the homophobic bigotry seen in the video.
In the video, Smith is seen laughing the taunts off and mocking the group as they chant homophobic epithets. But in an interview with CNN about the incident, Smith said he feared for his life, despite the brave facade.
He told CNN:
"I'm looking at soulless dead-eyed white supremacists... I felt that these people could have bashed my brains in had they gotten the chance."
He went on to say that the brave, mocking face he put on was a defense mechanism:
"I am looking in the eyes of people that were actual neo-Nazis and actual white supremacists. There were about 20 to 25 of these people and that is what you do not see on camera."
"So, I had a choice to de-escalate the situation with humor, which is what I did."
That's certainly a reaction that will be familiar to all but the lucky few LGBTQ+ people. But it's hard to argue that many of his detractors don't have a point—should Smith really be surprised?
Especially since, by his own admission, this has been a part of the conservative movement for years now? As he himself put it:
"I know that a lot of these people have infiltrated these conservative organizations from top to bottom."
So why try to join them? It's a puzzling move to say the least.
On X, formerly Twitter, many reached out to Smith to express their outrage at the incident, including several Republicans.
@robsmithonline Rob, I\xe2\x80\x99m so sorry you had to go through this. \n\nThis is completely unacceptable & doesn\xe2\x80\x99t represent the America First vision. \n\nThe best thing we can do is lead by example.\n\nLet\xe2\x80\x99s keep registering voters, recruiting volunteers, & prepare for victory in 2024.— (@)
But many others were feeling no sympathy, given the right-wing's years of hateful rhetoric toward LGBTQ+ people and people of color.
Whether or not he should be surprised or is deserving of sympathy is of course debatable, but what's not is the American right wing's thirst for violence against minorities of all kinds. And we should all be taking that a lot more seriously than many of us are.