How a social conservative became a vocal supporter of the LGBT community — while remaining a social conservative.

I Learned to Listen in a New Way

“She” is genetically “male.” We became friends as a result of our common interest in politics, guns and gun rights, our affiliation with San Diego County’s Republican Party, and just out of a desire to simply be decent people.

For a whole different set of reasons (including specific things like homelessness in our community and generally being fed up with our current crop of “why we can’t” elected officials in my community) I ran for office in 2016 and 2018 (unsuccessfully both times). I actually loved every minute of it. I loved the rough and tumble of debate. I loved getting out into the community and meeting people. I even didn’t mind asking for money. Too bad I was terrible at it.

Regardless of how good a candidate (or a fund raiser) you are or are not, you do learn one thing very quickly — how to listen to people in a completely different way than in the past. You are, after all, asking them to vote for you and maybe even to donate to your campaign.

One of my opponents was a same sex married female U.S. Marine Captain with combat experience in Iraq. Her spouse was an Army Colonel. (I guess that makes deciding who “wears…