A New Cult of Intolerance

The Woke Left is Turning on its Own

A decade ago, LGBTQ+ activists knew who they were fighting against in their efforts for equality. They were fighting right-wing conservatives and even liberals (Obama and Clinton both initially held to traditional marriage) who insisted that the union between one man and one woman was the only legitimate form of the marital institution. Today, those on the hard-core Left, who are intensely pushing for a recognition of gender fluidity and a multiplicity of sexual orientations, are strangely finding opposition elsewhere: the gay and lesbian community. Arielle Scarcella, a feminist and lesbian YouTuber, claimed recently that she’s parting ways with her woke leftism and opting for more conservative values due to the intolerance she experienced from the LGBT community. As reported by a Breitbart article, she said that gays and lesbians, far from being on the forefront of the new woke movements, are increasingly avoiding these transgender advocates for fear of falling out of line with the status quo. Arielle also posted a YouTube “coming out of the closet” testimonial to document her thoughts and experience.

She says in the video, “Hi, I’m Arielle. I’m a lesbian. And I don’t think gender is a social construct. I don’t think cis straight white men are evil. I don’t believe that general preferences are transphobic or that there are 97 genders. I don’t think that male sex offenders belong in the women’s prisons. I don’t think it’s normal for people to be praised for walking around with shirts that say kill TERFs [Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminist].”[1] 

Going on to describe the vitriolic response she got from her friends, she continues, “Never in my life have I been more canceled, tortured, tormented, harassed than by members of my own community. Never have I witnessed literal mentally ill individuals who are latching themselves onto the LGBT community without actually being LGBT for the sake of oppression points, external validation, and sympathy.”

It’s one thing to hear complaints against the radical Left coming from the side we’ve been conditioned to think are its only enemies: straight, white, conservative, religious men. But folks like Arielle are breaking the myth that this new breed of “woke-ism” is practicing the love and tolerance it preaches. When even the slightest dissension in one’s community causes outrage, there’s real cause for concern, regardless of what kind of group it is.

Not surprisingly, Arielle’s story is not an isolated incident. Brandon Straka, a gay New Yorker and former die-hard liberal, began to realize the hypocrisy of what liberalism had evolved into after the 2016 elections. Consequently, Straka started an online platform and movement in 2018 called #WalkAway and has received thousands of testimonials in which people from every sex, creed, color, religion, and party are publishing their dissensions of the New Left. All these videos voice a similar concern as Arielle’s. The walk-away patrons exercised a bit of their own opinions, asked reasonable questions, and were met with vitriol and outrage, or they simply started to get disillusioned by the crusader mentality of the radical Left.

So that’s only the newest iteration of intolerance. It has a long history before and after Christianity, and the church too has been guilty of it at times. But the true Jesus is no Pharisaical legalist, but the embodiment of love. We need to recover and practice the way of mercy and truth, asking what we owe to each other despite our differences. To tolerate doesn’t mean agreeing with someone you think is wrong, but to patiently allow them to speak their minds. Shutting them down is an attempt at mind control, and is based on fear, not love.