The Story of the 2016 “Twinks for Trump” Photo Shoot

In 2016, at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, a photo project titled “Twinks for Trump” was presented. It was a series of photographs featuring young, slim, and often shirtless gay men wearing baseball caps that read “Make America Great Again.”

The project quickly sparked debate: viewers could not always tell whether it was meant sincerely or as irony. Even if it was trolling, it remained unclear whom it was aimed at – Trump supporters or his opponents.

I slept with all of them. And I only sleep with beautiful people.

– Lucian Wintrich

The creator of the project was Lucian Wintrich – an American artist, openly gay and supportive of conservative views. He grew up in a creative family: his mother was an experimental filmmaker, and his father owned a design and advertising company. His paternal grandfather, a Polish Jew, was a lieutenant colonel at the Department of Defense. Wintrich himself holds a bachelor’s degree in political science.

“Twinks for Trump” was built on a deliberate blending of stereotypes about young gay men and conservatives. Wintrich described the work as satire and emphasized that satire and comedy are powerful tools for crossing a cultural barrier, helping people reflect and see familiar things in a new light.

I don’t agree with everything the conservative platform proclaims, but I came to my views through reading and research, and of course there’s some personal subjectivity, because I’m a living, energetic person.

– Lucian Wintrich

The exhibition brought Wintrich attention beyond his hometown. Some media outlets treated the project as a conspicuous provocation. Supporters, on the contrary, saw it as a bold attempt to question established social and political boundaries.

Wintrich himself linked the sharp reaction to the project with intolerance of political dissent within parts of the LGBT community. He said:

Being gay and conservative means you have to fight harder, read more, study more, because you’ll constantly be challenged. The words they throw at you are a way to shut someone up – through the politics of personal attacks, where many people on the left have become the new puritans. The moment someone on the left hears dissent and says, “Oh, that sounds conservative, so you’re a racist, a bigot, a neo-Nazi,” there will be no dialogue.

– Lucian Wintrich

According to him, many conservatives, including evangelical Christians, supported the homoerotic photo series. Among left-leaning members of the LGBT community, the reaction was often sharply negative. Wintrich was told the project was “disgusting” and that by promoting such ideas he was becoming an enemy of gay people. After that, some of his friends stopped speaking to him.

In a community that works so hard to fight bullying and support young gay people so they feel accepted, they say: “Fine, now you’re accepted – but you must think like we do and speak like we do, or you won’t be accepted anymore.”

– Lucian Wintrich

The conflict went beyond public debate. Opponents of the project began pressuring Wintrich’s employer: people called his company’s office demanding he be fired. In the end, he was indeed let go, even though a promotion had been planned. Wintrich sued, claiming politically motivated dismissal, and later reached an out-of-court settlement.

It mattered to them that they get rid of me, even though all I said was that I believe in small government. Seriously, it’s just ridiculous. I got fired when I came out… as a supporter of Donald Trump.

– Lucian Wintrich

Wintrich’s work was shown in several New York galleries, but some venues refused to cooperate because of the controversial nature of his art. The Pierogi Gallery canceled his exhibition at the last moment. Its owner explained this by saying he had been “misled” about the content of the works.

Wintrich himself claimed the gallery had yielded to public pressure. According to him, the venue received around a hundred letters sharply criticizing the project. At the time, he declared: “This is the first time since Robert Mapplethorpe that a gallery has tried to limit artistic freedom of expression.”

Conservative politician and openly gay man Milo Yiannopoulos publicly supported Wintrich. He said: “The reaction of the LGBT community to Lucian and his fellow artists is embarrassing. How can a movement devoted to self-expression, pride, and diversity be so categorically against diversity of opinion?”

One of the photo shoot participants, Akbar, described the difference between the political camps this way:

You go to conservative rallies and they’re like a church service. Speech, applause. Speech, applause. You won’t see drag performers on our side. The right should be able to have more fun than the left.

– Akbar, one of the twinks in the photo shoot

In 2017, Wintrich became the first White House correspondent for The Gateway Pundit. In that role, he actively criticized various media outlets, accused them of bias, and frequently posted sharp comments on social media. In 2018, he left the publication. After that, he worked on various projects in the media space.

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