Some people have just seen the “another republican known for actively harming LGBT+ folks revealed as closeted self-loathing asshole” cliche so many times that it’s a go-to comment for that specific type of person.

I hear what you’re saying, but assuming these men (and it’s almost always men, I rarely hear homophobic women get called lesbians) are gay and not just straight homophobes is itself homophobic, because it places the blame for homophobia on queer people. As if the decision to be closeted happens in a vacuum, or as if the majority of closeted people are homophobic and don’t want to be out.

It’s nothing more than confirmation bias; the straight Republican bigots are unremarkable to most people, so they don’t remember them.