Depending on your stance the gay icon firebrand Milo Yiannopoulos is either a heroic warrior of the right while defending our freedoms, or he is a self-serving PR hound of questionable conservative pedigree. I have long been standing with the latter.

After years of agitating and courting the media this past weekend saw Milo become embroiled in scandal as comments he made in support of pedophilia exploded across the internet. His opponents reacted strongly against the comments (Republicans, once again, “pounced”) while his defenders were ardent in stating it was all overreaction.

What was easily bypassed amid the furor on the right was the reaction from an assortment of leftists. A number of media notables spoke out, sensing a chance to impugn their political rivals by smearing with charges and accusations. These salvos however were frequently more revealing about the flaws from those attempting to hurl firebombs.

The knee-jerk accusers chose one of two methods to slander the right, and tellingly there was little introspection as these were contradictory. Either conservatives were deplorable for supporting such a repugnant individual, or conservatives were being homophobic because they wanted to punish someone over repugnant comments. These two charges were hurled frequently, and without noting the paradox created.

Taking the stance that Milo showed a character flaw in the entire conservative movement was Paul Waldman, making the sweeping statement in this Tweet that did not age well after one day.

That “depravity” was not “tolerated” by conservatives for long. Within a day or so Milo was disinvited from his speaking engagement at CPAC, lost his writing job with Breitbart, and had his book deal with Simon & Schuster cancelled.

Want moral depravity being tolerated? Just one example was seen during the women’s March in D.C., as I saw crowds cheer Donna Hylton when she gave her speech. This heroine of the left is relatively new on the scene the past few years. That is because previous she was busy serving 27 years in prison of a life sentence. She participated in the kidnapping, sexual abuse, and ultimate murder of a gay New York businessman. Her group was caught when Hylton was seen hand delivering a ransom note. Today she is lionized as an important voice, but not by conservatives.

Taking the other argument, to an extreme, was Ana Marie Cox. In an attempt to demean everyone on the right over the Milo flap she makes a comment more revealing of herself.

Citing “gay panic” is ludicrous, given Milo has been a growing fixture for years and his being gay has never been a secret. He’s been embraced by many on the right during those years and the only reason for the negative reaction was specifically his comments about minors. If opposition to Milo is considered gay hatred by default, this means the protesters from Berkley who shut down Milo’s scheduled speech were also homophobic. That is, the very leftist protesters.

The only way the comments of pedophilia can be a gay issue is to state pedophilia is intrinsically tied to homosexuality. However the only one making that connection was Cox, and she then attempts to project her assumption of gays onto the entire right of the political spectrum.

Some on the left just could not help themselves in lambasting conservatives — despite being in full agreement. The ever reactionary Charles Johnson delivered expected condemnation for conservatives, even while…agreeing with their actions? Indeed.

Johnson completely disavows Milo, using ALL Caps to make it clear. Yet conservatives who also disavow the same individual, at the same time, for the same reason, are completely homophobic for doing so.

Not content to rest on only this split result Johnson took his duality to another level. He repeatedly tossed scorn that conservatives were overreacting to an edited clip, and were doing so strictly for political PR to bring down Milo. However Charles penned a brief piece Sunday that not only played the entirety of what he describes as a “sickening” interview, but he declares the clip making the rounds was comparatively tame, because “the complete video of this podcast is actually much worse”.

This is clearly a case of Little Green Footballs condemning Milo’s depravity on Sunday to impugn conservatives with guilt by association. However as soon as the various groups responded with condemnation of their own the narrative changed. Now those who disassociated from Milo are completely in the wrong…somehow.

So there you have it. Johnson calls Milo’s comments sick, and he completely disavows them — and if you agree with Johnson you are a homophobic opportunist.

Clearly the left has standards; plural. They frequently have multiple standards, all in regards to the same issue. Just overlook when those standards rest on opposite sides of the argument.