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Coming Out Conservative: An Autobiography
Determined to do what he could to stop the rising tide of bigotry perpetuated by the right wing and frustrated by not being able to acknowledge his sexual preference, Marvin Liebman - a major strategist and fund-raiser for the conservative movement - decided in 1990 to reveal his homosexuality.
With the demise of communism and the breakup of the Soviet Union - the "enemy" that has long held the conservative movement together - Liebman fears that the American Right has begun a frenzied search for a new villain. He warns that gays and lesbians may be the next targets of hate, just as blacks, Jews, and foreigners have been victimized in the past.
Writing with exceptional charm, candor, and insight, Liebman opens up both the "back rooms" of American politics and his personal life. He has been a political insider who has worked closely with William F. Buckley, Jr., and his National Review, and with conservative politicians from Barry Goldwater to Ronald Reagan; an activist who struggled for the radical Irgun to free Palestine; a religious convert from Judaism to Catholicism; a producer of theater and films in London; and now, after many years of hiding, an outspoken gay man.
Whether creating influential organizations like Young Americans for Freedom and the Committee of One Million, staging political rallies and Presidential conventions, or raising and quietly channeling funds to friendly groups worldwide, the author has been instrumental in shaping the conservative movement.
Coming Out Conservative is more than one person's account of being gay and being conservative; it is about individual freedom and the future of American politics.
With the demise of communism and the breakup of the Soviet Union - the "enemy" that has long held the conservative movement together - Liebman fears that the American Right has begun a frenzied search for a new villain. He warns that gays and lesbians may be the next targets of hate, just as blacks, Jews, and foreigners have been victimized in the past.
Writing with exceptional charm, candor, and insight, Liebman opens up both the "back rooms" of American politics and his personal life. He has been a political insider who has worked closely with William F. Buckley, Jr., and his National Review, and with conservative politicians from Barry Goldwater to Ronald Reagan; an activist who struggled for the radical Irgun to free Palestine; a religious convert from Judaism to Catholicism; a producer of theater and films in London; and now, after many years of hiding, an outspoken gay man.
Whether creating influential organizations like Young Americans for Freedom and the Committee of One Million, staging political rallies and Presidential conventions, or raising and quietly channeling funds to friendly groups worldwide, the author has been instrumental in shaping the conservative movement.
Coming Out Conservative is more than one person's account of being gay and being conservative; it is about individual freedom and the future of American politics.
- GenresPolitics
320 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1992
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September 23, 2026
THE ‘COMING OUT’ STORY OF A WELL-KNOWN CONSERVATIVE
Marvin Liebman (1923-1997) was a conservative activist and fundraiser. He wrote in the Prologue of this 1992 book, “For almost four decades, I was one of the leading anticommunist and conservative activists in the United States. I worked in close coordination with my friend William F. Buckley, Jr., whom I consider to be the founder of modern American conservatism and the prime articulator of its philosophy… on June 7, 1990, I wrote to him, and asked that he publish a letter in his magazine, ‘National Review.’ The letter announced that I was gay. After asking me if I had fully considered the personal ramifications of such a disclosure, Bill agreed to run my letter. He said that he felt he must also publish his reply. We’d known each other for almost 35 years. I assumed he knew that I was gay, but I never brought up the subject. And it never seemed to matter so long as the word was never spoken---certainly not to Bill or his wife, Pat, or to my other straight friends…
“In the spring of 1990, however, it did matter very much to the American Right, an amalgamation of several constituencies: dedicated anticommunist groups; the ‘Religious Right,’ always seeking more money-raising ideas; the relatively new ‘traditional American family values’ organizations; and the politicians whose jobs and appeal depend on their ability to promote fear and bigotry and then convince their constituencies that they are the only ones who can hold the fort against whatever enemy they have created. These far-right groups have little in common with the conservative philosophy that is primarily based on the sanctity and power of the individual over the state. It is this conservative philosophy, espoused by Bill Buckley and his brilliant colleagues who founded ‘National Review,’ for which I worked and in which I believe.
“When communism began its demise with the fall of the Berlin Wall, a frenzied search began within the American Right for something to replace anticommunism as the central issue that held the ‘conservative movement’ together for more than 30 years. The standard old bogeymen---Jews, Catholics, blacks, foreigners---were still around. But they were well organized and far more difficult to use as scapegoats. But there was one group that could be used as a target: homosexuals. The spreading AIDS epidemic and the growing activism of the gay and lesbian community provided the hate-mongers with the perfect victims at a perfect time. The campaign began, using the very same rhetoric that had worked so well at stirring up public passions in the past against communists, leftists, Catholics, and Jews. THEY have infiltrated every segment of American society; they are taking over the American schoolroom so as to poison the minds of our children against ‘traditional American values’; they wield too great an influence on the mass media and are changing the traditional culture of America; and they are the cause of every other conceivable ill… The rhetoric of bigotry was building.
“My letter to Buckley said: ‘Anti-Semitism is something that… National Review helped to banish at least from the public behavior of conservatives… away from a tendency to engage in manipulation of base motives, prejudices, and desires… Political gay bashing, racism, and anti-Semitism… are waiting to be let out once again. I worry that the right wing… will return to the fever swamps.’ I saw the bigots hovering in the distance, waiting to take over a rudderless conservative movement that had lost its focus.” (Pg. 11-13)
He continues, “Bill Buckley took on a personally difficult task when he committed himself to reply publicly to my coming out letter. I’m certain that I caused him great pain. He is a devout and doctrinaire Roman Catholic bound by the theological structures with which he grew up and to which he still holds fast. Eleven years before, he had been my sponsor when I entered the Catholic Church. In his reply he said, ‘I honor your decision to raise publicly the points you raise… but you too must realize what are the implications of what you ask. Namely, that the Judeo-Christian tradition… become indifferent to another way of life… National Review will not be scarred by thoughtless gay bashing, let alone be animated by such practices… You are absolutely correct in saying that gays should be welcome as partners in efforts to mint sound public policies…. You remain, always, my dear friend, and my brother in combat.’” (Pg. 13-14)
He recounts the various experiences of his life: They lived in Brooklyn, in “a polyglot community of middle-class families… The small number of Jews all gathered at the Bay Ridge Jewish Center, the synagogue where I was bar mitzvahed... I lived in this neighborhood until I was drafted in World War II.” (Pg. 21) “It was in these early years that I first began to feel different. I was always attracted to boys, but most of the time they frightened me.” (Pg. 23) “I wanted my father to love me. But he always seemed shy around me, as if he were afraid to touch me. He never hugged me… [I was] an underweight, scrawny bookworm. He never had the son he wanted.” (Pg. 26)
He was drafted into the Army in 1942. But soon, “I had a hearing before three officers. They asked whether I was a homosexual, and I said yes… The next morning, I was informed that I had been given a general discharge… I became a pariah… I was shunned by everyone…. I was upset that I had been publicly called ‘Jew.’ This increased my differentness---a Jew f----t… ‘How did you get out of the Army so early?’ [his father] asked. ‘I had a slight heat stroke in Cairo, and I got a medical discharge.’ No other questions were asked. The lying had begun.” (Pg. 45-47)
He married: “Neither Patsy nor I ever discussed our sex life---or lack of it---with anyone, not even with each other… Like many gay men and lesbians in those days, they got married to please their families… My marriage would have been simpler is Patsy had been a lesbian. It would have been perfect… We decided we should get an annulment.” (Pg. 52-53)
He notes, “As each day went by, my own anticommunist convictions were becoming stronger.” (Pg. 97) “Now that I was on my own, I could provide my professional know-how to the fast-growing anticommunist/conservative movement in America… Just a few streets down from my … office were the offices of National Review. Together we became, for a number of years, the hub of anticommunist and conservative activism in America.” (Pg. 133) “From the time I quit the Communist party, I have been a firm believer in the importance of the individual over any state, political party, or religious hierarchy. To me, the individual is all, subservient only to God. With [this]… comes a belief in the sanctity of privacy and the freedom of choice. At first, this belief was vital to my hiding as a homosexual… the right of privacy, to ‘do your own thing’ as long as you don’t hurt anyone else.” (Pg. 142)
He laments, “I tried several times---always unsuccessfully---to get another youth organization going. One of my last tries was … working with a bright and attractive youngster, Ralph Reed… Washington is a seductive place that devours young men, either destroying their integrity of turning them into politicians or political hucksters or lobbyists.” (Pg. 161) When Buckley opposed the John Birth Society, “it added to his luster as a ‘responsible’ conservative.” (Pg. 174) “He had become THE American conservative alongside Goldwater.” (Pg. 177) Liebman then turns against the Vietnam War. (Pg. 181-184).
But then, “For the next five years, I created a new life for myself in the London theater world that was a dramatic change from my political activism… I realized that homosexuality didn’t really matter in the theater. So long as one had talent, no one cared how outrageous one became.” (Pg. 191, 193)
Of his conversion, he reports, “I was no stranger to Christianity but no particular admirer of any particular religion, including Judaism. When I read the Roland Knox Bible translation for the third time, I wanted to feel Jesus Christ’s love in the most desperate way. After several weeks of soul-searching, I again went across the street to Saint John’s to attend the 10:30 mass. I was on my knees and trying as hard as I could to commune with God. Then… I felt an overwhelming sense of being loved, an absolutely new and unique feeling for me… and I was ready to accept it… I was receiving the love of Jesus Christ… A week later, I telephoned my friend Dan Mahoney… I was awfully nervous about the whole business… But I didn’t want to tell Bill Buckley until I was sure. It was almost like preparing myself to ‘come out.’” (Pg. 220-221)
He continues, “fortunately for my conversion, I never learned all the dogmas other than faith. Certainly I was not really aware of the church’s deep aversion to the practice of homosexuality. If I had realized it then, I might have had second thoughts… Monsignor Clark said… he would baptize me in Saint Patrick’s on Easter Sunday… [His family was devastated.] Jews were Jews, and any theological detour was akin to death… I had to choose a baptismal name, and I picked Mary Magdalene, who is my absolute favorite… and I was confirmed a Catholic.” (Pg. 221-223)
“A year or so later, [Father Bruce] Ritter was accused of sexual improprieties with some of the young men he had helped. He was ousted, creating a national scandal. I wrote to him to say that I was available to him for anything I could do to help, and I meant this with all my heart. I never heard from him.” (Pg. 231)
He reports again about his ‘coming out’: “After the publication of [my] letter in National Review and the interview in the Advocate, my life became a circus. My ‘fifteen minutes’ of fame lasted for over two months… I hoped that I was doing some good for the gay community (especially those still hiding in the closet) and also for the conservative community… And so, in my 67th year I had embarked on yet another new beginning. This one, I know, will be the final one. Because now I feel safe, finally free, and home, at last.” (Pg. 251)
This book will appeal to, or repel, a wide variety of readers...
Marvin Liebman (1923-1997) was a conservative activist and fundraiser. He wrote in the Prologue of this 1992 book, “For almost four decades, I was one of the leading anticommunist and conservative activists in the United States. I worked in close coordination with my friend William F. Buckley, Jr., whom I consider to be the founder of modern American conservatism and the prime articulator of its philosophy… on June 7, 1990, I wrote to him, and asked that he publish a letter in his magazine, ‘National Review.’ The letter announced that I was gay. After asking me if I had fully considered the personal ramifications of such a disclosure, Bill agreed to run my letter. He said that he felt he must also publish his reply. We’d known each other for almost 35 years. I assumed he knew that I was gay, but I never brought up the subject. And it never seemed to matter so long as the word was never spoken---certainly not to Bill or his wife, Pat, or to my other straight friends…
“In the spring of 1990, however, it did matter very much to the American Right, an amalgamation of several constituencies: dedicated anticommunist groups; the ‘Religious Right,’ always seeking more money-raising ideas; the relatively new ‘traditional American family values’ organizations; and the politicians whose jobs and appeal depend on their ability to promote fear and bigotry and then convince their constituencies that they are the only ones who can hold the fort against whatever enemy they have created. These far-right groups have little in common with the conservative philosophy that is primarily based on the sanctity and power of the individual over the state. It is this conservative philosophy, espoused by Bill Buckley and his brilliant colleagues who founded ‘National Review,’ for which I worked and in which I believe.
“When communism began its demise with the fall of the Berlin Wall, a frenzied search began within the American Right for something to replace anticommunism as the central issue that held the ‘conservative movement’ together for more than 30 years. The standard old bogeymen---Jews, Catholics, blacks, foreigners---were still around. But they were well organized and far more difficult to use as scapegoats. But there was one group that could be used as a target: homosexuals. The spreading AIDS epidemic and the growing activism of the gay and lesbian community provided the hate-mongers with the perfect victims at a perfect time. The campaign began, using the very same rhetoric that had worked so well at stirring up public passions in the past against communists, leftists, Catholics, and Jews. THEY have infiltrated every segment of American society; they are taking over the American schoolroom so as to poison the minds of our children against ‘traditional American values’; they wield too great an influence on the mass media and are changing the traditional culture of America; and they are the cause of every other conceivable ill… The rhetoric of bigotry was building.
“My letter to Buckley said: ‘Anti-Semitism is something that… National Review helped to banish at least from the public behavior of conservatives… away from a tendency to engage in manipulation of base motives, prejudices, and desires… Political gay bashing, racism, and anti-Semitism… are waiting to be let out once again. I worry that the right wing… will return to the fever swamps.’ I saw the bigots hovering in the distance, waiting to take over a rudderless conservative movement that had lost its focus.” (Pg. 11-13)
He continues, “Bill Buckley took on a personally difficult task when he committed himself to reply publicly to my coming out letter. I’m certain that I caused him great pain. He is a devout and doctrinaire Roman Catholic bound by the theological structures with which he grew up and to which he still holds fast. Eleven years before, he had been my sponsor when I entered the Catholic Church. In his reply he said, ‘I honor your decision to raise publicly the points you raise… but you too must realize what are the implications of what you ask. Namely, that the Judeo-Christian tradition… become indifferent to another way of life… National Review will not be scarred by thoughtless gay bashing, let alone be animated by such practices… You are absolutely correct in saying that gays should be welcome as partners in efforts to mint sound public policies…. You remain, always, my dear friend, and my brother in combat.’” (Pg. 13-14)
He recounts the various experiences of his life: They lived in Brooklyn, in “a polyglot community of middle-class families… The small number of Jews all gathered at the Bay Ridge Jewish Center, the synagogue where I was bar mitzvahed... I lived in this neighborhood until I was drafted in World War II.” (Pg. 21) “It was in these early years that I first began to feel different. I was always attracted to boys, but most of the time they frightened me.” (Pg. 23) “I wanted my father to love me. But he always seemed shy around me, as if he were afraid to touch me. He never hugged me… [I was] an underweight, scrawny bookworm. He never had the son he wanted.” (Pg. 26)
He was drafted into the Army in 1942. But soon, “I had a hearing before three officers. They asked whether I was a homosexual, and I said yes… The next morning, I was informed that I had been given a general discharge… I became a pariah… I was shunned by everyone…. I was upset that I had been publicly called ‘Jew.’ This increased my differentness---a Jew f----t… ‘How did you get out of the Army so early?’ [his father] asked. ‘I had a slight heat stroke in Cairo, and I got a medical discharge.’ No other questions were asked. The lying had begun.” (Pg. 45-47)
He married: “Neither Patsy nor I ever discussed our sex life---or lack of it---with anyone, not even with each other… Like many gay men and lesbians in those days, they got married to please their families… My marriage would have been simpler is Patsy had been a lesbian. It would have been perfect… We decided we should get an annulment.” (Pg. 52-53)
He notes, “As each day went by, my own anticommunist convictions were becoming stronger.” (Pg. 97) “Now that I was on my own, I could provide my professional know-how to the fast-growing anticommunist/conservative movement in America… Just a few streets down from my … office were the offices of National Review. Together we became, for a number of years, the hub of anticommunist and conservative activism in America.” (Pg. 133) “From the time I quit the Communist party, I have been a firm believer in the importance of the individual over any state, political party, or religious hierarchy. To me, the individual is all, subservient only to God. With [this]… comes a belief in the sanctity of privacy and the freedom of choice. At first, this belief was vital to my hiding as a homosexual… the right of privacy, to ‘do your own thing’ as long as you don’t hurt anyone else.” (Pg. 142)
He laments, “I tried several times---always unsuccessfully---to get another youth organization going. One of my last tries was … working with a bright and attractive youngster, Ralph Reed… Washington is a seductive place that devours young men, either destroying their integrity of turning them into politicians or political hucksters or lobbyists.” (Pg. 161) When Buckley opposed the John Birth Society, “it added to his luster as a ‘responsible’ conservative.” (Pg. 174) “He had become THE American conservative alongside Goldwater.” (Pg. 177) Liebman then turns against the Vietnam War. (Pg. 181-184).
But then, “For the next five years, I created a new life for myself in the London theater world that was a dramatic change from my political activism… I realized that homosexuality didn’t really matter in the theater. So long as one had talent, no one cared how outrageous one became.” (Pg. 191, 193)
Of his conversion, he reports, “I was no stranger to Christianity but no particular admirer of any particular religion, including Judaism. When I read the Roland Knox Bible translation for the third time, I wanted to feel Jesus Christ’s love in the most desperate way. After several weeks of soul-searching, I again went across the street to Saint John’s to attend the 10:30 mass. I was on my knees and trying as hard as I could to commune with God. Then… I felt an overwhelming sense of being loved, an absolutely new and unique feeling for me… and I was ready to accept it… I was receiving the love of Jesus Christ… A week later, I telephoned my friend Dan Mahoney… I was awfully nervous about the whole business… But I didn’t want to tell Bill Buckley until I was sure. It was almost like preparing myself to ‘come out.’” (Pg. 220-221)
He continues, “fortunately for my conversion, I never learned all the dogmas other than faith. Certainly I was not really aware of the church’s deep aversion to the practice of homosexuality. If I had realized it then, I might have had second thoughts… Monsignor Clark said… he would baptize me in Saint Patrick’s on Easter Sunday… [His family was devastated.] Jews were Jews, and any theological detour was akin to death… I had to choose a baptismal name, and I picked Mary Magdalene, who is my absolute favorite… and I was confirmed a Catholic.” (Pg. 221-223)
“A year or so later, [Father Bruce] Ritter was accused of sexual improprieties with some of the young men he had helped. He was ousted, creating a national scandal. I wrote to him to say that I was available to him for anything I could do to help, and I meant this with all my heart. I never heard from him.” (Pg. 231)
He reports again about his ‘coming out’: “After the publication of [my] letter in National Review and the interview in the Advocate, my life became a circus. My ‘fifteen minutes’ of fame lasted for over two months… I hoped that I was doing some good for the gay community (especially those still hiding in the closet) and also for the conservative community… And so, in my 67th year I had embarked on yet another new beginning. This one, I know, will be the final one. Because now I feel safe, finally free, and home, at last.” (Pg. 251)
This book will appeal to, or repel, a wide variety of readers...
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review