Do You Have to "Come Out" As Conservative?

Many of my friends at the time were left-leaning, with several of them identifying as members of the LGBT community or being involved with progressive organizations on their college campuses. In high school and through college, I had been one of the artsy kids. I loved skateboarding and punk rock, I did theater, and almost half of the classes I took involved the arts. My friends were photographers, songwriters, and painters. One of my friends had a hammer-and-sickle belt buckle, while another had an "A" for anarchy tattooed on their forearm. I loved them dearly, but in the years after COVID-19 wrecked our senior year of high school, I discovered that I had vastly different political inclinations. Within a matter of two or three years, I went from being mostly apolitical to fairly conservative. I no longer believed in empty left-wing slogans like "Love is Love" or "No human being is illegal." I saw how destructive Joe Biden, Anthony Fauci, and BLM had been on our nation. By the summer of 2024, I identified as a far-right, free market conservative. The problem I faced was how my friends would react when they found out. Some of my best friends, people I had known and loved for years, blocked me that day and have never spoken to me since. I posted a picture of my red MAGA hat sitting atop my recently purchased leather-bound copy of the Federalist Papers. For a few minutes, I stared blankly at the photo, wondering if I should take it down before anyone saw it. I put my phone down and went outside for a long walk. When I returned, I breathlessly picked up my phone, bracing myself for the inevitable: dozens and dozens of notifications, some from people I talked to on a daily basis, others from people I hadn't heard from in a year. Some of the messages were long paragraphs accusing me of being a racist, sexist, homophobe, transphobe, and evil person. Other messages were short, sweet, and to the point: "F— You." Some of my best friends, people I had known and loved for years, blocked me that day and have never spoken to me since. Others made it crystal clear that they never, ever wanted to hear from me again. I didn't know how to respond to them. All I had done was post a picture of a hat, and within a matter of hours, most of my friends decided that it was time to cut me out of their lives. When you know what is true, good, and beautiful, you have a duty to be honest about it. The reason why I posted a picture of my MAGA hat wasn't to be provocative or rage-bait my liberal friends. The reason why I posted my MAGA hat was because it represented what I knew to be true. I knew that transgenderism was a lie , I knew that open borders were hurting our nation , I knew that abortion was murder , I knew that the police weren't racist , and I knew that America is a fundamentally Christian nation . A lot of young people are afraid to admit they're conservative because they're afraid of the social consequences. Admitting that you're conservative will likely lead to you being ostracized, especially on college campuses and in creative communities. At Ivy League schools like Harvard, roughly 63 percent of professors identify as liberal , and as recently as 2022 that number topped 80 percent , meaning that there could be educational consequences for expressing conservative values. Students lean the same direction: at Brown, more than 76 percent of undergraduates described their politics as somewhat or very liberal in a recent campus-wide poll. Creative fields skew just as hard. An analysis of Federal Election Commission records found that 86 percent of political donations from artists went to Democrats . Even among families, hundreds of people have shared stories about being excluded from their families due to expressing conservative values. In 2018, conservative commentator Ashton Whitty spoke publicly about being disowned by her own family over her political beliefs . In response, many people admitted to having similar experiences themselves, discussing how their families had disowned them for being conservative. In the social media age, people aren't shy about their politics. It's not uncommon to see infographics with specious statistics floating around on Instagram Stories or to see people spread out-of-context clips like wildfire. When people publicly express their political positions as a way to demonstrate their morality, rather than to achieve a tangible result, they're "virtue signaling." They aren't trying to make a persuasive argument, but are trying to show that they are kinder, more empathetic, and more progressive than others. While this can happen on both the right and the left, it has become a major part of liberal political activism. It's performative behavior that intends to make the other side look malicious and wicked. Part of the reason why it's so difficult for people to admit that they're conservative online is because those who disagree with conservative beliefs respond with vicious anger. That anger is often an attempt at virtue signaling, a way for them to signal their self-perceived moral superiority to others. A lot of young people are afraid to admit they're conservative because they're afraid of the social consequences. The hatred that many young conservatives receive online is daunting. Nobody wants to be called evil or malicious or genocidal. Nobody wants to have to fend off hordes of left-wing commenters attacking them for expressing their beliefs. When my friends sent me messages calling me a horrible fascist, I was destroyed. It was hard to believe that the people I loved so dearly, people I had spent hours baking with, watching movies with, and going to parties with, could suddenly turn on me. I thought there was something wrong with me, but there wasn't. There was something wrong with them. The most important thing you can do is be steadfast in the truth. If you're a young person and you have conservative values, it sometimes sounds easier to hide those values rather than face the backlash. However, you were not created to hide the truth but to be a champion of truth. You can't cower in fear of the people who would attack you for having good-faith, honest conversations. As a conservative, you have a duty to defend your marriage, your family, your nation, and above all, God. You don't have to apologize for loving America, or the military, or the Second Amendment. You don't have to feel bad for wanting to be a good wife, mother, and daughter. Don't feel pressured to hide your values because it might lead to you losing friends or followers. The most important thing is that you stand firm in the good, the true, and the beautiful. I sometimes wonder where I would be if I hadn't posted that picture, or if I had deleted it after a few minutes, or if I had apologized and begged my former friends for forgiveness. Perhaps I would still have pool parties with those same people, or we would go back to doing art swaps and touring coffee shops. And honestly, some days I miss them so much that I wonder if I made a mistake. But if I had hidden my beliefs, I would have been lying. Regardless of how painful it can be, it's your duty to tell the truth. You weren't designed to live in fear. In the two years since I was disowned by my friends for being conservative, I have made an incredible new group of friends. I found a church where young people valued God and His commandments. I got to meet a lot of young conservatives through local clubs and organizations like Turning Point USA. I went to a classical college that taught its students about the truth instead of trying to indoctrinate us. I got to work with dozens and dozens of faithful, kind, and intelligent conservatives who want to preserve and protect America. If you're afraid to admit that you're conservative, don't be. You weren't designed to live in fear, but to grow in truth. Be the generation that puts God and America first. Be the generation that leaves a lasting legacy.