We at Instinct Magazine always like to be sassy, fun, sexy, entertaining, educational, and more when it comes to sharing our take on society with our readers. We are gay owned, minority owned and always have been. Sharing our variety of voices from every color of the rainbow is what makes us tick, move forward, and be proud of what we give to our readers.
We’ve also taken a stance against those that are against our community. Politics are rough and we do put a spotlight on those that use their power and presence to hurt our community. We have writers in Florida and across the nation that see what these anti-LGBTQ+ laws are doing to our states, our families, our children. There’s zero tolerance in supporting people that hurt our community. We know where our loyalties are, we know who speaks up for our community, who represents us and has our best interests in mind.
With that said, it is clear to see in our posts that we are not so much a fan of Ron DeSantis, Governor of Florida. His policies on abortion, gender affirming care, parental rights that strip our LGBTQ youth of a presence in our schools, his backwards educational policies, and his manipulation of the legal system in Florida are ideas that are spreading like a disease across our nation. It’s the same mentality we see in other LGBTQ+ magazines.
So when “one of us” shows their support for the horrific policies and practices of Ron DeSantis, we take note, and this is a big sour note.
In recent tweets, Cyd Zeigler Jr. went there. He is a commentator and author in the field of sexuality and sports, the co-founder Outsports, co-founder of National Gay Flag Football League, and current writer at Outsports and SBNation. Outsports was a great resource for sports news and the out players we look up to. We have sourced them for news and coverage in the past.
The tweets that are making the rounds in the Queer Publishing Family were posted today, April 1st. The tweets boil down to Zeigler showing his support of DeSantis because of the recent occurrences in the Federal Judicial System and the charges brought against Donald Trump. Was this an April Fool’s joke?
So Zeigler took to Twitter to show support for Ron DeSantis because DeSantis spoke up against the use of the judicial system to advance a political agenda. Does that mean Zeigler is okay with DeSantis pushing forth “Don’t Say Gay” bills and raping the educational system in Florida of any “woke” ideals?
But hey, those are judicial things. DeSantis has not done anything with the judicial system of Florida to promote his political agenda, right? The Miami Herald in a piece not too long ago titled “DeSantis court changes result in radical judicial activism” lays out for us all how DeSantis has tweaked the Florida courts, the Florida Supreme Courts, and voting laws to set up his overhaul of abortion rights, creating a ban after 15 weeks now down to now to 6 weeks, just seeking final approval. The Herald also mentions voting rights changed, gerrymandering, and targeted Disney for opposing the “Dont’ Say Gay” bill, but who is to say those are big issue? So no, DeSantis was not going after one person, but everyone that was not on his side of the aisle. Pair that with the anti-woke and anti-LGBTQ+ laws he has pushed, we are feeling the hate and the manipulation of the system.
And about that aisle. Zeigler doubled down on his support of DeSantis, the leader of the state with the biggest COVID death tolls three summers in a row. He is not only in the DeathSatan camp, Zeigler is now in the Republican Party.
Both of the tweets are clickable/hyperlinked so you can head over to Twitter and read the responses. But here are some that we pulled away from Twitter.
Abuse of power is a big statement. But remember, Zeigler comes from a long sports history and has officiated many matches and games where the umpires and officials are always right. And if you disagree with them, then you are thrown out of the game. There is no grey area.
There are many calling out Zeigler on his Democratic past as if it was just a label and not a true party affiliation. Was he a Republican in disguise? There are mixed messages from people that apparently know him better or follow him on the socials.
And then there is the question we all had for our Trump-thumping relatives when it came to their support of orange45. “Why do you support him? He is so bad for me and every other Queer person in America.” And their answer was always that they supported the multiple times bankrupt business man because he was so successful and it’s all about business. Apparently for Zeigler, it was a judicial decision in NYC that broke his support for the Democrats.
But again, Trump is not the one in charge and changing Florida for the worst at this moment when it comes to the LGBTQ+ Community. To back DeSantis AND join the Republican Party? Many are still confused.
But some of our readers are Republican and that is something we hear on occasion, where they think we as a nation need to be more fiscally responsible. And we get by with that.
But we have not heard many of our readers to be supporters of DeSantis and the anti-LGBTQ agenda, the anti-woke agenda he is pushing in Florida and spreading across the nation. We really do not think that is a good mix for anyone that allegedly supports the LGBTQ Community, that is a member of the LGBTQ Community. We can recognize hate and when we are being attacked. Now, are we recognizing that some LGBTQ+ people are actually choosing to support the GOP and DeSantis? And is that okay?
Now this is one writer for and co-creator of OutSports. It is not a statement by the website, but will this be an issue for the news and sports resource moving forward? Or will it be an issue Zeigler needs to address on his own? We wish it were an April Fool’s joke. And if this is a joke, then we do not think it was thought out too well.
What are your thoughts?
So a guy who invested his life to put a spotlight on LGBTQ ppl in sports & sports in general is supporting Republicans who is doing everything to get rid of LGBTQ being seen? This doesn’t make any damn sense.
I’ve got the site bookmarked on my Apple News Feed and I like sports generally, but I find that there’s very little to read there that I haven’t read before (and that I don’t find on sites like Instinct or elsewhere before it even pops up on my NewsFeed). The site appears to do a decent job covering trans athletes in a positive way and doesn’t appear political, but I don’t waste time on twitter or other social platforms and I avoide the sites (or I ignore the comments on the sites, looking at your here Queerty and Towleroad) that allow the kind of bitchy name-calling passed off as comments by anon queens who won’t even use their real names. So, all this is news to me so yes – good that Instinct is covering it.
Sadly, there isn’t a site that covers NCAA level and Olympic sports that features out athletes so this isn’t a site I’m inclined to ‘boycott’ due to someone involved in being stupid and idiotic. Sadly, sites like this one and most other sites, will only cover queer athletes when it’s someone like Adam Rippon or Tom Daley or Carl Nassib, there are – for example, plenty of openly gay kids playing in track and field or for the division II or division III teams, or who are divers who are not Tom (or even Greg or Mitch) or swimmers where the only news you ever or mostly here about is on Outsports.
So maybe Vox will force him out?
I couldn’t agree more
I really appreciated your bold stance in standing up against those who hurt the LGBTQ+ community. Your article about Cyd Zeigler Jr.’s recent tweets got me thinking, do you think it’s okay for LGBTQ+ individuals to support politicians with anti-LGBTQ+ agendas like Governor DeSantis, or do you think it goes against the community’s interests? Thank you for sharing your insights.
Jess
It goes against the interests of the person supporting them if the supporter is gay and the one being supported is actively working to take away their rights. In the first instance, forget about the community, but the direct relationship between the supporter and who they support. Why would they do that to themselves? But of course, the community as a whole is damaged when the one being supported can use them to say, “look, gays like me/us so what we’re going is good!”, which isn’t true.