![jeooardy austin gay bar jeooardy austin gay bar](https://img.huffingtonpost.com/asset/59dd21492d0000265e309a00.png)
Hodges decision and condoned gay conversion therapy. He pointed to last year’s platforms from the Republican Party and Republican Party of Texas that both rejected the Obergefell v. Nonetheless, Lucas said reconciling his party’s continuous opposition to same-sex marriage and other LGBTQ issues remains challenging. His support for free-market capitalism prevails over some of his disagreements with the party’s social agenda. Lucas said his conservative beliefs don’t conflict with his sexuality. “If there is anyone who’s in the organization who feels like they’re not welcomed for also being LGBT, or if they’re considering coming out but they’re not sure how their peers would react, they could see me,” Lucas said. Lucas said he wanted his visibility to encourage other gay conservatives to fully express their identities - and not feel inhibited by them. Last week, Lucas hit a turning point and officially came out during a general meeting with College Republicans. I was really scared of being bullied or being harassed.” “I was in denial for years, really up until college. “You grow up feeling who you are is wrong,” Lucas said. Growing up in the conservative town of Flower Mound, Lucas identified as Republican but struggled to reconcile his sexuality with his politics.
![jeooardy austin gay bar jeooardy austin gay bar](https://s.abcnews.com/images/US/greg-hopkins-jeopardy-ht-ay-191220_hpEmbed_16x9_992.jpg)
It was an unlikely journey becoming UT’s first openly gay College Republican president for chemistry senior Alec Lucas.