He certainly must not have put a lot of deep thought into that position. It strikes me that when I was not allowed to inherit my partner's New York City co-op because we were not allowed to be married, my liberty was infringed. My partner's liberty was infringed. When he passed away and I had to leave our home of 10 years, the last thing on earth I was thinking about was virtue signaling.

There was also that time his doctor threatened to bar me from the hospital, and he had the right to do that since we weren't married. (He was annoyed that I was advocating for treatment for Lenny that his insurance-company-owned practice had denied for financial reasons.)

Also, nothing to do with virtue signaling.

And then it turns out this guy is also a transphobe? Hardly shocking, is it?

I've written before about members of the LGB Alliance who have opposed gay conversion therapy bans and have said that gay kids in school don't need GSA clubs — that the clubs are actually harmful.

So much for their claim that they exist to advance LGB rights.

Then there's the anti-trans U.S. group Gays Against Groomers. While they appear to exist primarily to hate on trans people, they're also quite the self-loathing homophobic bunch. For example, drag queens are a big part of gay culture. Whether you enjoy drag or not (I don't, particularly) there's no denying its cultural/artistic importance with many of us.

But Gays Against Groomers condemn drag queens full throat, in some sort of apparently reflexive opposition to anything that transgresses traditional gender roles.

That's homophobic. There's just no getting around that. Gay people transgress traditional gender roles just by how we form relationships, for heaven's sake, just by the gender of our chosen sex partners.

I don't think it's a coincidence at all that so many people opposed to transgender equality also turn out have many anti-gay ideas.

I think their ideas are mostly too interrwined to untangle. I realize academic gender-critical people make a valiant effort to untangle, but to me that usually feels like some sort of desperation to justify their personal hatred, which is often quite clear below the surface of their anti-trans discourse.

Your average transphobe, it seems to me, is highly likely to be a homophobe too.