How anti-LGBTQ sentiment is affecting Pride

[Behind the Aegis]

Repressive social backlash and extreme anti-LGBTQ sentiment are complicating Pride celebrations in the US this year, even potentially inviting violence against queer people and gatherings meant to celebrate the LGBTQ community.

Though LGBTQ people and by extension Pride have won important rights and gained fairly widespread acceptance in US political and social life in recent decades, right-wing politicians, religious leaders, and talking heads are creating a renewed environment of animosity and uneasiness for queer people throughout the country.

In Los Angeles, an ostensibly liberal city with a large LGBTQ community, the Los Angeles Dodgers disinvited — and then re-invited — the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence to a June 16 event honoring the group for its activism after complaints from conservatives. The SPI are an activist group and nonprofit that accepts members of all identities and backgrounds to raise money for LGBTQ causes. In Florida, the cities of Port St. Lucie and St. Cloud canceled Pride events due to uneasiness and fear in the wake of anti-LGBTQ bills signed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. In Fayetteville, Arkansas’ queer mecca, Northwest Arkansas Equality canceled events at the Walton Arts Center due to its ban on drag performances in front of minors.

The status of multiple Tennessee pride events was uncertain after that state passed a bill banning drag performances in March, but events in both Knoxville and Murfreesboro seemed to be on track despite earlier concerns. Organizers of both events did not respond to Vox’s request for comment by press time. And previous reports of Tampa’s Pride festivities being canceled may actually have more to do with the management and finances of the group running those events than a climate of fear in Florida, according to reporting from Axios.

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[icymist]

1. Pride started as a protest and will again be a protest against ignorant RWNJ and bigots!

From the article:
Anti-LGBTQ sentiment evokes Pride’s roots in activism

...The anti-LGBTQ atmosphere brings into focus the real history of Pride — as a celebration, but also as protest. Though politicians, celebrities, and corporations have adopted the rhetoric of allyship in recent years, acceptance and visibility blunted the necessity of activism. AIDS is no longer a death sentence with proper treatment, and gay marriage is the law of the land. RuPaul’s Drag Race has found international success, and huge corporations sponsor floats at Pride parades in major cities; socially and politically, queer people had largely become part of the fabric of American life.

But despite massive progress in the decades since Pride officially started in 1970, life for many queer people in the US is still dangerous and difficult. The high rates of homicide, violence, and harassment against trans people, and particularly trans people of color is just one critical issue facing the LGBTQ community; with the proliferation of anti-LGBTQ legislation and the right’s ability to stoke anti-LGBTQ sentiment for political gain, the threat to the queer community increases.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

2. Conservatives are making Pride merch 'toxic.' Their real goal is much worse.

I remember very well the hatred and prejudice shown to Muslims both after 9/11 and during the TFG campaign. The TFG Muslim ban was a sad and disgusting stunt. Now the RWNJs want to demonize and attack LGBTQ individuals for political gain. The attacks on drag performances, trans youths seeking gender affirming care and now Pride merchandise are all part of a pattern that seeks to replicate the hatred and prejudice that previously inflicted on Muslims.

I remember TFG attacking Muslims as part of his campaign to make America great. Hatred of the "other" is part of the MAGA mindset and now the MAGA assholes are targeting LGBTQ individuals.

Link to tweet

https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/targets-pride-month-boycott-shows-disturbing-gop-plans-rcna86496?cid=sm_npd_ms_tw_ma&taid=6474da2d3e63f90001080e7f&utm_campaign=trueanthem&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter

These physical threats of violence are deeply alarming — but not that surprising. They are the expected, and even intended, result of the concerted campaign by both Republican-elected officials and leading conservative voices to make all things LGBTQ-related “toxic.” They also strike a nerve for other communities, such as my own Muslim American community, whose members have experienced the wrath and concerted attacks from conservatives with similar objectives — to alienate, make toxic and further marginalize from mainstream society — in the past. And for those who doubly identify as LGBTQ and Muslim, this new method of attack is a sore reminder of the harm this relentless conservative effort to marginalize them is capable of.

“The goal is to make ‘pride’ toxic for brands,” right-wing commentator Matt Walsh wrote on Twitter. That sentiment was reiterated by conservative outlet Daily Wire commentator Michael Knowles, who urged his listeners “to make that symbol toxic, the pride flag symbol, we need to make that toxic.” ....

The extreme voices on the right did their best to make anything Muslim inherently toxic. For example, GOP members of Congress in 2009 claimed that Muslim American organizations were planting “spies” as interns in congressional offices. Other members of Congress including then-Rep. Michele Bachmann spread Islamophobic rumors that Muslims were “infiltrating” the government. The goal was to keep us out of American politics.

Some on the right even demanded in 2011 that Urban Outfitters stop selling fabrics bearing the pattern of the Arabic scarf known as a kaffiyeh because they claimed it was tied to terrorism. Like Target, Urban Outfitters gave in to the bigots, pulling the item “due to the sensitive nature” of the scarf while apologizing “if we offended anyone.”.....

Conservatives’ goal of making Pride merchandise “toxic” is not just bigoted, and it’s not just about merchandise. Ultimately, conservatives and GOP leaders saw that anti-Muslim hate was a losing strategy. We need to show them that anti-LGBTQ bigotry will not help them. Only then will they stop.

There is a method to these attacks and we cannot ignore the hatred and bigotry that these MAGA assholes are trying to generate.

BTW, my youngest child is LGBTQ and we went into our local Target looking for the Pride display and we were sad when it was not up.