In 1988 I came out as gay.  Conservatives were quite vocal about their hate for me.  Misinformation and an attempt to block my ability to pursue happiness was rampant.  This forced me when engaging them to be informed and counter act all the misinformation, lies and violence on their side.  
At some point I realized if the Republicans are lying about LGBT issues.  What else do they just lie about and I researched their lies on Abortion, Immigration and more.  It was then I decided that anything a Republican said or did had to be looked at very closely because it was usually against the ideals of our democracy.  This all led to me becoming a democrat and an atheist