While Yiannopoulos is openly
gay, he has described being gay as "a lifestyle choice guaranteed to bring [gay people] pain and unhappiness."
[85]
Some of his earliest mainstream media appearances concerned
sexuality. In 2011 he debated
same-sex marriage on
Channel 4's
10 O'Clock Live with
Boy George, and a year later on
Newsnight. In 2013 he opposed the provision of "
Soho masses". In November 2013, he debated with singer
Will Young on
Newsnight about the use of the word "gay" as a playground taunt.
[86] During an interview with
Joe Rogan, in 2015, Yiannopoulos said that "If I could choose, I wouldn't be a homosexual."
[87]
In October 24, 2016, Yiannopoulos gave a speech at the
University of Delaware during which he described trans people as mentally ill and, among other things, stated that "Trannies can never be women, or men for the small slice of women insane enough to desire to give up female privilege." He further claimed that he spoke in the best interest of trans people when he additionally encouraged the audience to "never feel bad for mocking a transgender person...It is our job to point out their absurdity, to not make the problem worse by pretending they are normal. Much like fat-shaming, if our mockery drives them to get the help they need, we may save their life."
[88]The administrators and college Republicans were harshly condemned by students, alumni and state GOP leaders for hosting Yiannopoulos, as well as by other LGBT Republicans who denounced Yiannopoulos for alienating them as fellow Republicans with his statements.
[89]
In October 2017, he married his husband in Hawaii. That same month, he came out against the
Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey, arguing it would violate religious freedom.
[75][90][91] He also expressed concerns that same-sex marriage could have an unfavourable effect on gay culture, saying during an interview on
The Rubin Report that he "quite like(s) the naughty dissident aspect of gay life"
[92]. He has expressed a similar sentiment elsewhere, arguing that the function of homosexuals in society is to experiment with creative and "aberrant" lifestyles, citing an apparent overrepresentation of gays in the arts and "all the various corridors of intellect, power and influence"
[92][93]
Kevin D. Williamson in the
National Review argued that "Milo Yiannopoulos of Breitbart London has done more to put
homosexual camp in the service of right-wing authoritarianism than any man has since the fellows at
Hugo Boss sewed all those nifty SS uniforms. Concerning Donald Trump's decision to break from
Barack Obama's practice of issuing a proclamation each year in honor of
Gay Pride Month, Yiannopoulos said, "I don't care about that. What I care about is the president protecting gay people from foreign policy, through strong borders, and stuff like that".
[94][50]
In 2017, Yiannopoulos gave an interview with contributors to
America Magazine. The interview was not accepted for publication and was posted to Yiannopoulos's personal website, where it was picked up by the conservative Catholic media group
Church Militant. In the interview, he criticised
Pope Francis for his
liberalism in areas such as reaching out to gay people, adding that the best media advice he could give to Francis would be "stop talking". Yiannopoulos reiterated his belief that
homosexuality is a sin and denounced those (including
clergy) who sought to change
Church dogma on the issue. "You don't see me disputing the Church's teachings on homosexuality...I wouldn't dream of demanding that the Church throw away her hard truths just to lie to me in hopes I’ll feel better about myself," he said.
[95]
In January 2019, Yianopoulos was interviewed by
Michael Voris of
Church Militant to discuss his new book
Diabolical: How Pope Francis Has Betrayed Clerical Abuse Victims Like Me—and Why He Has To Go. When Voris challenged him to stop engaging in homosexual behaviour, he said, "I know that's a better way. And I know that's the right thing" but stated that he is "just not there yet. And I don’t know if I'll get there". He also claimed that
Catholic sexual abuse cases were linked to homosexual behaviour, calling it a "gay disease."
[96]
In August 2019, Yiannopoulos was grand marshal for a
straight pride parade in Boston, organized by the far-right group
Resist Marxism. The parade was ostensibly to celebrate heterosexuality.
[97][98][99]