Latest / Surviving-ISH Podcast / RNC Broke Grindr?! The “Family Values” Hypocrisy Nobody Wants to Talk About

Transcript

RNC Broke Grindr?! The “Family Values” Hypocrisy Nobody Wants to Talk About · Surviving-ISH Podcast

• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome back to Surviving Ish Politics.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: Today we're wading into the deep end of the do as I say, not as I do, pull.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: Now, look, you guys know that I'm a gay man.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: I'm all about being for people being authentic and living their truth and finding their happiness.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: But what I don't have patience for is when people spend their daylight hours passing laws to keep us in the shadows and then spend their night hours looking for us on an app.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm talking about the Republican National Convention, the late Charlie Kirk's memorial, and the digital phenomenon that keeps happening every time a certain group of people, let's call them the traditional values group, get together at a hotel, at a conference.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: So remember back when the RNC was in Milwaukee, you had all these delegates swarming the city, right?
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: They're up on stage, giving their big dramatic speeches about traditional marriage and the nuclear family.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: It was given total 1950s Leave It to Beaver Energy, just with a sea of red hats.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: Then the internet started doing its thing.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: Specifically, Grindr.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not even kidding y'all.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: Report started flying in that the app was literally crashing in Milwaukee during the convention.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: Now, for anyone who doesn't know, Grindr is basically the digital town square for gay men.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: It's where guys um can meet up, make friends, hang out, and connect.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: It takes a ton of traffic to actually break those servers.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: Like it's never happened before until the RNC.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: It's it has to be like Super Bowl levels of activity.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: And honestly, the RNC crashing Grinder is probably the most honest thing that even happened that week.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: The data show that thus that there was this massive spike in blank profiles.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: You don't have to put your picture on your profiles.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: It's the classic move for guys who are quote unquote discreet, um, just visiting for work.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: But it turns out that when you pack thousands of anti-LGBTQIA plus politicians into a hotel, the only thing more crowded than the buffet is the within the 500 feet list on this particular app.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: The irony was so thick you could spread it on a biscuit.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: And it wasn't just a one-time thing.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_00: Remember the memorial service, I think, in Arizona for Charlie Kirk?
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: Charlie Kirk is a massive deal for the traditional values movement.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_00: And there were like 100,000 people showing up to pay their respects.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: And when Down Detectors start sliding up like a Christmas tree again, total grinder outages in Glendale and Phoenix.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: The wild part is that Kirk's legacy is being turned into literal laws now.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: They're out signing bills to keep the gay away from kids while the constituents are in the parking lot trying to find the gay for the weekend.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: It's the hypocrisy for me.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: If you're going to spend your whole life campaigning against my rights, at least have the decency to stay out of our apps.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: Don't order the chef special if you're telling everyone else the restaurant should be burned down.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: This is the part that gets me.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: We see this cycle every few years.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: A big conservative event happens.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_00: Local sex workers say business is up 200% and the apps go dark because the demand is just too high.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: It really tells me two things.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: Being gay isn't some political agenda.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: It's just who people are, even the ones who hate to admit it.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: And the second thing it tells me, the people who scream the loudest about morality usually have the most muted notifications on their phones.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: If the GOP put as much energy into healthcare as they did refreshing their grids in Milwaukee, we'd probably have universal healthcare coverage by Tuesday.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: Look, I'm all for everyone being themselves.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: If you're a conservative guy who likes guys, come on in.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: The water's fine, but stop trying to drain the pool while you're still swimming in it.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: Anyway, that's my political ish for the day.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_00: If you're going to be a family values warrior, maybe check your screen time first.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_00: We've got to start holding people accountable for the gap between their public platform and their private search history.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: It's exhausting, it's fake, and honestly, it's just rude to the servers.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: I appreciate you all being on this political journey with me as I try to learn and how to navigate this chaos for my own mental health.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_00: But just a reminder to be real, be kind, and for the love of God, if you're at a convention, just use the hotel Wi Fi.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: Don't break the app for the rest of us.