Republicans have been making headlines for decades every time one is caught having a gay affair despite their “family values” platforms, but now affluent gay conservative men are part of Donald Trump’s inner circle and the A-List of MAGA-friendly circles in Washington, D.C.
Dubbed Trump’s “A-Gays,” these powerful conservatives are the “new power tribe in the capital,” according to a recent profile by the New York Times. They wheel and deal on Capitol Hill and hold positions with the Trump administration while they turn their backs on their own community.
But who are these “A-Gays” who are willing to sell out the LGBTQ+ community for proximity to power?
Who and what are the A-Gays?
The A-Gays are wealthy, white power gays who support Trump and the MAGA agenda and work closely with the president. They have even taken over the Log Cabin Republicans and turned the gay Republican organization toward MAGA politics.
John Casey of The Advocate described the A-Gays as “a grotesque display of hypocrisy, delusion, and self-importance. These poor excuses for gay men have chosen to bow before the very administration that is taking a knife to the LGBTQ+ community.”
Instead of using the power of being in community with other gay men as a way to create meaningful change for LGBTQ+ people, the A-Gays are busy using their privilege to further the MAGA agenda.
“I love having this community as a resource. Back in the day, these groups had to be closed off and hidden, but now we use it as a tool,” high-ranking Trump official Charles Moran told the NYT.
The A-Gays seem to latch on to the few pro-gay things Trump has done in the past, like allowing gay people to join Mar-a-Lago when other clubs in Palm Beach would have turned them away, being accepting of gay contestant Clay Lee on The Apprentice, and saying he loves “the gays” because “they pay the most for the weddings.” They are somehow able to sidestep the cognitive dissonance of supporting MAGA's anti-gay agenda while being gay. So instead, they worship Melania Trump and either ignore or directly support Trump as he defunds queer youth suicide hotlines, cuts the budget of HIV programs in the U.S. and abroad, destroys trans rights and bans trans people from the military, and erases LGBTQ+ history from official White House sources.
“They argue that the battle for gay rights has basically been won, and that there has never been a Republican as friendly to the gays as Donald J. Trump,” NYT reporter Shawn McCreesh wrote, who says that powerful gay men like Peter Thiel, Charles Moran, Tony Fabrizio, Trent Morse, Richard Grenell, Jacob Helberg, and Scott Bessent are all A-Gays.
Meet the A-Gays
Charles Moran
Charles Moran took over the Log Cabin Republicans in 2019, and drove the gay Republican group further to the right, aligning it with the MAGA movement.
He stepped down in January and was gifted a position with the Trump administration. He is now the associate administrator for external affairs for the National Nuclear Security Administration.
Peter Thiel
Peter Thiel
Nordin Catic/Getty Images for The Cambridge Union
Tech billionaire and venture capitalist Peter Thiel helped to finance Trump’s 2016 run for president. He also spoke at 2016 Republican National Convention, where he said “I am proud to be gay. I am proud to be a Republican. But most of all I am proud to be an American.” Since 2000, he has contributed $50 million to various candidates, including to Vice President JD Vance’s 2022 run for the U.S. Senate, and has been a powerful fixture in Republican politics ever since.
Tony Fabrizio
Tony Fabrizio
Gage Skidmore via Wiki Commons
Tony Fabrizio is a political strategist and Trump’s longtime pollster, serving as Chief pollster on the president’s 2016 and 2024 campaigns. He’s been working in Republican politics for decades, including working on Bob Dole’s 1996 presidential bid.
Trent Morse
Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call
Trent Morse is a former deputy assistant to the president and deputy director of the Office of Personnel, who became a prominent aide to Trump this year. Now, Morse is leaving the administration to become a lobbyist with Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, one of the largest firms on K Street, where he will be a senior strategic adviser.
Richard Grenell
Richard Grenell is a diplomat and former public relations consultant who served as acting director of national intelligence in 2020 under Trump. He is frequently cited as the first openly gay acting Caninet-level official in U.S. history.
Grenell has served as special presidential envoy for special missions since earlier this year, and then in February he was made the interim Kennedy Center President by Trump.
Jacob Helberg
Jacob Helberg
Mobelkin via Wiki Commons
Jacob Helberg donated $1 million to Trump’s 2024 campaign, and then Trump nominated him as the Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment by Trump, and now serves as a commissioner for the U.S.—China Economic and Security Review Commission.
Scott Bessent
Scott Bessent
U.S. Department of the Treasury, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Scott Bessent is former hedge fund manager who has been serving at the United States Secretary of the Treasury under Trump. He used to work as a partner at Soros Fund Management and founded Key Square Group, a global macro investment firm.
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