- Amil Odom is a black LGBTQ influence on YouTube and Instagram
- “I thought I had to fit into this ideological box,” Odom said in an interview
- READ MORE: Trump appeals to black voters with a church visit in Detroit
Just because you’re gay or black doesn’t mean you can’t be a Republican, according to an influencer who has spoken about the backlash he faced when switching from liberal to conservative.
“I was very much following the script of thinking that all Republicans were racist and homophobic, and thinking that because I was black, I had to believe it and stand with Black Lives Matter…” Amil Odom said in an interview with Fox News Digital.
‘That, because I’m gay, I have to be gay too [a] Democrat, I have to support all LGBTQ causes because that’s who was there for me. Until I realized that wasn’t the truth.’
It took a date with a white person for him to start questioning his own beliefs, when asked why he hated police and sided with Black Lives Matter, Odom explained.
‘I thought I had to fit into this ideological framework. And that’s when it started to feel like my own views were being questioned,” Odom said.
Amil Odom is a black LGBTQ influence on YouTube and Instagram
“I really didn’t know where I stood because I was just pulling headlines and repeating what someone else said and what another influencer said, and when I started doing the research myself, things really blew up.
“And within a year, I went from marching in the streets with BLM to shaking Donald Trump’s hand in the White House.”
The former president recently launched a group targeting Black voters as he looks to continue reaching out to a group that was central to President Joe Biden’s 2020 victory.
A New York Times/Siena College poll on battlegrounds recently found Trump winning more than 20 percent of African-American voters, which would be a record high if this carries over to the November election results.
At the same time, Odom, who has more than 200,000 followers on Instagram and more than 240,000 on YouTube, said he realized you don’t have to just pick a side and stick with it.
“It’s okay to disagree with everything a Republican says and does, same thing, it’s okay to disagree with everything a Democrat says and does,” he said.
“It just so happens that given the way our political landscape is right now, I agree even more with a lot of the things that Republicans and conservatives are doing.
Odom described going from a Black Lives Matter supporter to a Trump fan
‘Almost the left says yes, you should let a child make the transition. Like: I’m sorry… I’m not going for that.’
But Odom said this was an example of an issue that required some form of ideological purity on the left.
“This transgender topic… It has inflamed a lot of people on the left because all the second person on the left has to say is, ‘I don’t agree with the trans kids.’ [thing].’ Tree. [They] I think you are transphobic, homophobic people,” he said.
‘Almost everyone on the left says: yes, you should let a child make the transition. I’m sorry. I’m not going for that. It’s just not me. I can’t defend that.’