Konrad Juengling


Konrad Anders Juengling is an American gay rights activist and writer. His activism focuses on equal rights for LGBT people, ethical consumerism, and supporting liberal politicians. The Huffington Post characterized Juengling's work as "tech savvy queer activism."
He is a former contributing writer for PQ Monthly and GeeksOUT. He is the author of Jeb's ABCs, a satirical children's book based on Jeb Bush and Bush's stance on political issues.

Early life and education

Konrad Anders Juengling was born in 1987 in Salem, Oregon, to Dr. Fritz Juengling and Holly Juengling. He was raised a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, of which his family are still members. His father heads the Scandinavian department at the church's Family History Center in Salt Lake City and his mother is an accountant. Juengling is the nephew of lighting director Dietrich Juengling. The LGBT publication Gay PV characterized the Juengling family as "involved in the arts". He is a collateral descendant of United States President Abraham Lincoln through Lincoln's great-grandfather John Lincoln.
In February 2005, Juengling earned his Eagle Scout Award from the Boy Scouts of America; his project was removing graffiti from public parks and fences in Four Corners, Oregon. Because of the then-active BSA policy of not allowing gay youth to join, Juengling did not come out to any scouting leaders while in the Boy Scouts, though he did come out to other boys in his troop. Juengling attended North Salem High School, from which he graduated in 2005. While at North, he was a reporter for the student newspaper The Clarion. After graduating high school, Juengling attended university at Portland State University, where he earned a bachelor's degree in psychology. He moved to Boise to attend Boise State University to earn a Master's in Social Work, graduating in 2017. At Boise State, Juengling was the recipient of the Chinn LGBT Scholarship from the American Atheists.

Activism

Politics

Indiana's 2015 Religious Freedom Restoration Act bill

In March 2015, Indiana passed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. The act was seen by some as discriminatory against LGBT and other minorities. In response, Juengling purchased the domain names of six Republican Indiana State House representatives and linked them to the Human Rights Campaign's Youth Statistics page. He stated the information on the site would educate the lawmakers about a population that "is already disadvantaged and have less accesses to family, community supports, and healthcare." The domain names he purchased were for representatives Dale Devon, Don Lehe, Donna Schaibley, Douglas Gutwein, Kathy Kreag Richardson, and Martin Carbaugh. In an open letter to Indiana state representatives, Juengling offered to give them the domains in exchange for passing a non-discrimination policy. Juengling's efforts were supported by LGBT magazine The Advocate, Towleroad, and other media. The Huffington Post awarded Juengling with their "Unicorn of the Week" award for his efforts in combating the Indiana bill and "doing something positive for the LGBTQ community".
As a response to Juengling's domain names purchase, writer Brian Anderson referred to him as an extortionist who "is holding hostage until they bow to his will." Young Conservatives writer Michael Cantrell also referred to Juengling as an extortionist, and someone who "lives to take away." Criticism also come from within the gay community, including Pink News, who stated "We could not possibly condone such a petty move."

2016 presidential election

Juengling endorsed Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination for the United States 2016 presidential election.
In response to Ted Cruz announcing his presidential bid, Juengling stated, "Despite having an abysmal attendance record on the Armed Services Committee, not recognizing our impact on climate change, and his insistence gays are waging a 'jihad' against Christians, Cruz believes he is the right man to lead the most powerful country in the free world... The reality of the situation is that a presidency under Cruz is a far fetched idea." Juengling also created an Amazon wish list with gay items to be sent to Cruz's office as a form of protesting his candidacy.
Following calling Cruz's chance at becoming the president a "far fetched idea", Juengling took also aim at Rick Perry. In an op-ed, Juengling brought up Perry not wanting federal oversight of the education system, not remembering the name of the third major agency he wanted to shut down during his 2012 presidential bid, and his federal indictment for abuse of official capacity and coercion of a public servant.
After criticizing Cruz and Perry, Juengling wrote a book about Jeb Bush called Jeb's ABCs, a satirical children's book that called attention to Bush's political stands. The Huffington Post wrote the book "is actually genius." In an interview with the Huffington Post Juengling stated, "I would like people to take away the realization that Jeb is a poor candidate and poor politician. He is unable to connect to minority voters, holds discriminatory views and believes homosexual people are “sodomites.” I would like people to research into the quotes and policies covered in the book and see there's actually a lot more information out there." The National Memo stated Jeb's ABCs "is a critically-lauded take-down of Jeb Bush's poor record on LGBTQ rights.... though the nomination of Donald Trump wasn't much consolation."

2018 Idaho gubernatorial election

In the 2018 Idaho gubernatorial election, Juengling endorsed Democrat Paulette Jordan over Republican Brad Little, citing Jordan's stance on LGBTQ rights, marriage equality, Medicaid expansion, clean energy, and abortion rights for women. The National Memo called Juengling's endorsement "a major LGBTQ endorsement." In an interview with Gay Star News, Juengling stated he disagrees with Jordan on gun rights, stating he is "firmly in the gun control camp. I think Americans have an unhealthy fascination and obsession with firearms."

2020 presidential election

In October 2018 Juengling stated he'd like to see Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, or Cory Booker make a presidential bid. In May 2019, he officially endorsed Harris, and stated a Harris-Pete Buttigieg ticket would be his "ideal." He criticized Tulsi Gabbard, citing Gabbard's history on LGBTQ rights, record on Bashar al-Assad, and other positions she holds, but stated he would vote for whoever the Democratic nominee was.

Animal rights

Juengling has launched multiple petitions online relating to animal rights, including to ban the sale of foie gras online, and to outlaw trophy hunting imports within the United States. EuroNews stated Juengling is "particularly focused on animal rights activism" and has a "passion for animals". He does not support zoos, stating zoos "profit off the capture and containment of exotic animals that should be left in the wild."
Juengling is a supporter of Million Dollar Vegan, a charity campaign launched in February 2019 to get Pope Francis to go vegan for Lent.

Positions

2019 Trump wall emergency

In 2019, President Donald Trump declared a National Emergency Concerning the Southern Border of the United States. Juengling does not believe the border wall should be considered a national emergency.

Global warming

Juengling believes global warming should be a national emergency. In February 2020, he stated, "...the United States is actively contributing to the problem rather than being the leader it could be. Global warming affects the entire planet and has already had permanent consequences on this earth... We have the opportunity to mitigate some of the damage currently happening and shift the focus to being responsible stewards of this planet rather than plundering it for shareholders." He does not consider Trump to be a "responsible, forward-thinking president concerned with the longevity of this planet’s diversity."

LGB Alliance

In 2019, the LGB Alliance, an association which claims to support lesbian, gay, and bisexual people's rights, launched in the UK. Juengling considers the organization a Trans exclusionary radical feminist group, stating, "I can’t support TERF organisations that use right-wing talking points to purposely exclude members of the community."

Salvation Army

Juengling has stated that people should not donate to the Salvation Army based on their policies relating to homosexuals. In an op-ed for PQ Monthly, he stated "inequality is built into the very structure of the Salvation Army... the homophobia is literally written into its handbook."

Writing

While attending Portland State University, Juengling was a paid columnist for the student newspaper the Daily Vanguard. His column, titled "Just a Phase", ran during late 2013. From 2013 to 2015, Juengling was a contributing writer for PQ Monthly, which is based out of Portland, Oregon.
After writing an op-ed picked up by GeeksOUT, Juengling then joined the GeeksOUT team, writing posts about queer-related media for their site from September 2014 to April 2016. From December 2015 until the magazine closed in May 2016, Juengling wrote for OutBoise Magazine, a queer magazine based in Boise, Idaho. Opinion-editorials written by Juengling "helped to raise GeeksOUT's profile after their ‘Skip Ender's Game’ campaign."
In April 2016, Juengling joined Emily Allen, Timothy "Tim" Jensen, Christy Schroeder, and Jenna Wiskus to write Boise Weekly to criticize Idaho's Bill 1321, which would allow the Bible to be used in public schools as instruction material. They stated Bill 1321 "blurs the lines between the separation of Church and State in Idaho Public Schools" and that it was "an alarming bill for several reasons".
In June 2017, Juengling wrote an op-ed for the Times-News, titled "Idaho Needs Mandatory Sex Education", in which he argued, "Comprehensive sex education should also include LGBT health and topics as well. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth deserve to have information regarding their sexuality and health just like heterosexual and cisgender students." The piece was also published in the Post Register under the headline "Mandatory sex ed in Idaho."
In September 2018, Juengling wrote a letter to the editor of the Idaho Press-Tribune about former Idaho Senator Marv Hagedorn making fun of sexual assault victims on his Twitter account earlier that week. The letter was titled "Making fun of sexual assault victims isn't funny." A day later, he wrote another letter to the editor of the Meridian Press criticizing Meridian's mayor for abstaining from a potential tie-breaking vote when the city council voted on a non-discrimination ordinance for gender identity and sexual orientation.
Juengling has also written op-eds on LGBT topics for the Q Center in Portland; The Washington Blade; GayRVA; QSaltLake and Purple Unions.

Personal life

Juengling initially met his husband Robert on the gay social networking app Grindr. The two became engaged in 2015 at the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta. They married at Silver Falls State Park on August 20, 2016, where they were the first same-sex couple married at the lodge.
An amateur genealogist, Juengling is a member of several genealogically focused groups. Among them are: Bloodlines of Salem, a lineage association for those related to people killed as witches during the Salem Witch Trials; the Dutch Colonial Society, a society for those who are a "direct descent from a Dutch settler born in the Netherlands, and, who immigrated, no later than 19 April 1775, to any settlement in what is now the United States"; and the Presidential Families of America, a lineage association for those related to United States Presidents and First Ladies.
South African artist Gavin du Plessis painted a piece honoring Juengling, called Juengling in Hades. The piece was part of the Sanlam Art Collection in 2019.
Juengling identifies as an atheist, environmentalist, feminist, liberal, and "sometimes vegan".

Books