Putting the B in LGBTQIA

We are reminded by HuffPost that

during the annual White House Correspondents’ Association dinner with the presidential administration, a man breached a security checkpoint and fired multiple shots before being apprehended.

In a “60 Minutes Overtime” interview the next day, Trump walked senior CBS News correspondent Norah O’Donnell through his perspective of the shooting.

“There were a number of people who were very, very scared,” O’Donnell said in the extended cut of the interview. “How worried were you that there were going to be injuries?”

“I wasn’t worried,” Trump said in response after a pause. “I understand life. We live in a crazy world.”

He went on to say that he was watching the back door of the ballroom because he wanted to know what was going on and if he could “be helpful.”

There were hundreds of law enforcement personnel between the alleged would-be assassin and President Trump. And he hung around a little so he could "be helpful." No one believes that. Trump told O'Donnell additionally

I also saw a lot of very strong, physically strong, really attractive law enforcement people come through those doors. And frankly, it made me feel very safe, very, very safe. There’s nobody going to get by them. … They were very impressive, I think they were very impressive. I think the whole operation was very impressive.

Similarly, on March 25, Trump had

praised Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers for their “larger” and “harder” muscles that they’re "supposed to have” after he deployed agents to more than a dozen airports, where their presence doesn’t appear to have made a dent in hours-long security lines across the country.

Searching for an explanation for the obvious homoeroticism, HuffPost found psychologists with their own peculiar explanations.  One claimed

There are associations between physical attractiveness and strength, most notably through what we call symmetry. Humans are sort of programmed to develop symmetrically, and people who do develop more symmetrically are expected to have better genes. More symmetrical individuals tend to be rated as more physically attractive.

Another stated

In psychology, there is a tacit tenet among humans that what is beautiful is good. Studies support that babies will respond with a smile and trust to a face and appearance that is attractive and proportionate, vs. to [a] disproportionate [one]. As we mature, we learn to move past this in varying degrees, but still, there is an immediate ease to trust someone who presents well.

Yet another believes the "halo effect" is at play, in which

Trump’s statement illustrates the common biased assumption that physically attractive people are good at things that are not in fact related to physical attractiveness,” Eastwick wrote. “If the law enforcement agents appear ‘camera-ready,’ people like Trump might feel safer, but there’s no evidence that attractiveness is related to any sort of professional competence in the law enforcement domain (or any other domain for that matter).

At some point in their acdemic studies, practice, or research, they should have heard of the Law of Parsimony- better known  as Occam's Razor- which postulates "the easiest explanation is often the best one."  And you all remember the song, the Village People's "YMCA," which long ago became a staple at Trump rallies. Written by the group's lead singer and its producer, the hit "has been embraced as an anthem of the LGBTQ community"

In the first year of Donald Trump's term, the lead singer wisely denied that YMCA was written as a gay anthem. However, when the group "started out, they garnered success by appealing to one of disco’s most engaged audiences – the gay community. With suggestive lyrics, floor-filling beats, and elaborate costumes they were a shoo-in for the club-lined streets of Greenwich Village."

Denial aside, Donald Trump decided to embrace this rather unique (as a dance) dance to accompany the song

:

This is not a common dance move for a man. However, some men might not bat an eye; the sort of guy who would speak of "very strong, physically strong, really attractive" indiviudals, who admires men with "larger" and "harder" muscles (wherever those muscles may be).   

A heterosexual man may admire an attractive man or be impressed by how strong he appears. However, rare is a straight man who puts the two together as attractive and strong, especially lauding attractive men with "harder" muscles.

Nobody, aside from me, would make this argument. Conservatives won't accuse (as they would see it) the President of being anything but a virile man's man because they adore him. Moderates and centrists would be squeamish about raising such an issue, especially because it might open a can of worms. Liberals and progressives, (justifiably) hostile to Trump, would hardly credit him with being something other than heterosexual.

This has nothing to do with Trump's current behavior, which in this regard probably doesn't deviate much from that of a typical 79-year-old man. But at some point, or points, in the past, Donald J. Trump very likely had- if we may use such an adjective for a conservative extremist- a diverse set of experiences.

The reticence even to consider this possiblity is not evidence of progress in society's perspective toward gender or sexual preference differences. It is a throwback- or continuation- of our inability or unwillingness to confront these matters directly. Donald Trump has consistently promoted himself as a hypermasculine individual or as in the words of another Village People song, a macho, macho man. His sexuality need not be ignored while it is widely assumed to be completely heterosexual.

"Macho Man" also was a favorite of the gay community. It shouldn't be surprising that it is also one of Donald Trump's favorites..

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