Overlapping Conservative Fears: The Condemnation of Intersectionality and LGBTQ Issues in Online Conservative News Media

Intersectionality and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) issues have a significant and overlapping history. However, little is known concerning how adversarial arenas, such as online conservative news media, may condemn intersectionality and LGBTQ issues simultaneously. Using grounded theory methods, I examined how 427 online conservative news media reports, from nine widely searched websites in the U.S., linked intersectionality with LGBTQ issues to position both in negative ways. The reports connected intersectionality with LGBTQ people of color to narrow its relevance, constructing multiply-marginalized groups as specific rather than expansive and drawing on understandings of people of color and LGBTQ individuals as specialized. Further, the reports constructed intersectionality as helping LGBTQ people of color and transgender individuals, but as harming other marginalized groups, including cisgender women, men of color, and white gay men. These findings indicate that online conservative news media are strategically using LGBTQ people of color and transgender individuals to attract those with more privilege into conservativism.