"It is a trauma response": Milo Yiannopoulos claims being gay is "not a sexuality" on Tucker Carlson's podcast

In an interview with Tucker Carlson on December 4, 2025, Milo Yiannopoulos shared his opinions on the causes and characteristics of homosexuality.

Milo Yiannopoulos, a reportedly controversial public personality who has recently changed his public persona and talked about moving away from identifying as gay, told host Tucker Carlson that he does not consider being gay to be a natural sexual orientation. In the interview, he made the case that same-sex attraction can be caused by environmental factors, childhood trauma, or family dynamics, based on psychological explanations and personal history.

"In almost every case and in certainly in every male case, it is a trauma response. It is not a sexuality. It is not part of what you are or who you are or or a component of your personality or a function of"

Yiannopoulos also added that he believed that the “born this way” narrative was in part a public-relations strategy.

More about Milo Yiannopoulos’ remarks in conversation with Tucker Carlson

In the December 4, 2025, interview, Milo Yiannopoulos said his opinions were from reflection as well as past experiences. In his conversation with Carlson, he repeatedly challenged the idea that being gay is purely biological, saying nobody is “inherently gay” and suggesting that homosexuality can be “a response to trauma” or to specific family dynamics.

He described the “born this way” tagline as, in his words, a public-relations strategy developed in the 1980s to normalize gay rights by comparing sexual orientation to immutable traits like race or sex.

Milo Yiannopoulos also told Tucker Carlson that he no longer identifies as gay and discussed pursuing celibacy and what he called “reintegrative” approaches aimed at changing sexual behaviour.

In the interview, he is also seen discussing conversion therapy, claiming that prohibitions on it raise challenging issues regarding a person's capacity to alter their sexual identity.

He also talked about ongoing legal challenges, such as an upcoming Supreme Court case concerning the constitutionality of conversion-therapy prohibitions.

Instead of using peer-reviewed research to support his claims, he used a combination of anecdotes, psychological theory, and firsthand accounts.

Reactions to Milo Yiannopoulos' recent comments may be contextualised by his controversial past. According to some media reports, he lost speaking engagements and had a book deal cancelled in 2017 after video clips appeared that seemed to support adults having intimate relationships with minors.

Reports suggest that publishers and event planners distanced themselves at the time. On February 21, 2017, the BBC reported that the consequences included his Simon & Schuster book contract being cancelled and his disinvitation from CPAC.

While Yiannopoulos claimed that his present opinions regarding trauma, social strategy, and sexual identity were based on personal experience, they seem to conflict with mainstream medical and scientific organisations that describe sexual orientation as a complex trait influenced by biological, developmental, and social factors. This history has influenced how the media and commentators interpret Yiannopoulos's recent claims.

In the interview, Milo Yiannopoulos also talked about controversial subjects, including conversion therapy, same-sex marriage, and the political uses of sexual-identity narratives. These are subjects that remain legally and ethically debated across jurisdictions.

The assertions summarized in this article reflect Milo Yiannopoulos’s perspective as given in the December 4, 2025, interview, not independently verified facts

Edited by Devangee