Why do quite many homosexuals vote Republican?

[Brittain33]

McCain made less of an issue out of gay marriage than Bush did, so I imagine that gays polarized from Bush came back into the fold when it appeared McCain was more focused on economic rather than social issues. 

Lots of gays (myself included, once) had the delusion that McCain was libertarian on social issues and ok with gays, even if he wouldn't do anything about it. Which meant that some Republican gays who felt they had to vote against Bush in 2004 because his campaign (if rarely him directly) made the election a referendum on rejecting gay marriage didn't feel they had to send the same message in 2008.

Or the exit poll was just wrong in one year or the other.

[Brittain33]

They're usually the most insufferable people I've ever encountered... and oddly enough, from my experiences, they typically aren't rich.

It takes extreme self-confidence to find yourself at odds with 75% of gays and 75% of your party, thinking the former are deluded and part of the herd and the latter are fools whose bigotry is being used to serve your cause. You don't have to be arrogant to be a gay Republican, but for many, it really helps. They find themselves on the defensive all the time so the wall comes up.

[Brittain33]

Yes. As a gay man, I tend to sense that they use their homosexuality as a bludgeon to distance themselves from others (to stand out, oddly a separatist/not conservative position), and because of this desire to stand out, to be different, they have to embrace conservative positions for the attention.

Hrm. I can't say I've met any who are Republican to be contrarian. Usually I think they're guys who would have unquestionably been Republican if they weren't gay, but since they are gay, they try to make it work and it means having to explain themselves a lot to both sides to the point where they're just over it and end up being defensive.

[Brittain33]

A third of voting gays voted for Republicans in a Republican wave election. I'm not disputing the rest of MorningInAmerica's point; I'm just disputing that that constitutes 'nearly a third identify[ing] as Republican'.

Right. It was 31% in 2010, less than that in 2008, and substantially less in '04.

[Brittain33]

I expect something like 2008. Republican gays feel safe voting for their nominee, and that's the major factor.

[Brittain33]

It would be cool if someone with a lot of interaction with GOP gays could comment with anecdotal reports!

About what? I have one friend from high school who is independently wealthy and secular Jewish who sounds like a Tea Partier on FB and is upset that all these gays he knows are falling for Obama's lies. He claimed to have voted for Obama last time. Another one I know is just a very nice guy from the South who has always been Republican and is happily voting for Romney. In 2008 you had a lot of Republicans decide Obama was ok to vote for. A lot fewer feel that way now, at least at this time of year. I expect them to either vote for Romney or sit the election out.