Conservatives upping the ante in the culture wars.
It was never about the beer cans and ALL about making Pride "toxic" to major brands
Every year around this time major corporations and brands start pulling out their rainbow flags and Pride-themed decorations to draw LGBTQ+ people with disposable income to their brands. And every year some Conservative snowflakes films themselves having a tantrum in front of Pride displays. And every year the rest of us roll our eyes and sigh.
But this year is different. This year Conservative snowflakes are unleashing their Bigot Brigades upon large multinational corporations with the overall agenda to make support for the LGBTQ+ community, and specifically support for Pride to be toxic to their brands.
First it was Bud Light’s VERY mild support for Instagram superstar Dylan Mulvaney that ignited the fuse. After an intense right wing freakout that is STILL being talked about today, Bud Light caved to the bigots, pulled their support for the LGBTQ+ community, pulled their Pride cans, and are now desperately attempting to pander to Conservatives by releasing cans branded in “God-fearin’, patriotic, born in the USA camouflage”. I’m not sure if the national anthem plays when you open the can but you can be sure that EVERYBODY is laughing at them right now.
Next it was Target’s that became the, um, target of right wing rage. After an Instagram user swiped a rainbow colored bathing suit from the WOMEN’S section of the store and holding it up in the KID’S section with the appropriate freakout about how Target is “sexualizing” children (their favorite attack despite the very obvious fact that the VAST majority of child sexualizing is going on in Conservative circles).
Oh, did I mention that the bathing suit has tucking instructions, and is marketed to pre or non-operative transgender women?
Since then several Target stores in Southern states have chosen to either move their displays to the back of the store or remove them entirely due to the fact that their STAFF have been threatened by the Bigot Brigades that are feeling victorious after the Bud Light debacle.
So of course they see this as another win.
And just today US Congresswoman Lauren Boebert decided to smear the ENTIRE LGBTQ+ community AND the corporations that sponsor Pride as “degenerates”.
“Well, I guess North Face wanted to get a taste of what conservatives did to Bud Light and Target,” Boebert wrote. “How many times do we have to explain to the woke marketing departments at these disgusting companies that America is not a nation of degenerates?”
“Let’s make it as shameful to wear North Face as it is to drink Bud Light!”
Degenerates.
Of course her Congressional colleague had to weigh in:
“Big name brands sexually targeting children makes me want to buy all generic brand clothing now,” Greene wrote. “Besides.. we can save a fortune NOT wasting money on labels that are grooming our children.” She added the hashtag #BoycottGroomers, a reference to how many on the right believe that LGBTQ+ people are child sex abusers.
That’s straight-up fascist language. That is DIRECTLY pulled from the Ten Stages of Genocide that was compiled by Holocaust Memorial Day Trust. We have passed the “Polarization” stage and now entered the “Persecution” phase.
Because that’s exactly what this is shaping up to: persection. Just ask anybody who lives in Florida or Texas, or any one of the Republican-led states that have passed a variety of anti-trans and anti-drag laws, in the expressed interest of “eradicating” the trans community (their own words).
They are now openly persecuting LGBTQ+ people, specifically transgender people, and now they’re going after the companies who support the community.
“First they came for”.
Don’t take it from me, see it in their own words:
On Wednesday, Matt Walsh, a host for far-right media outlet The Daily Wire and one of the most virulently anti-trans voices in the country, kicked off a tweet storm about recent calls to boycott brands like Bud Light and Target by explicitly outlining what he says has been the goal from the start.
“The goal is to make ‘pride’ toxic for brands,” Walsh tweeted. “If they decide to shove this garbage in our face, they should now that they’ll pay a price. It won’t be worth whatever they think they’ll gain. First Bud Light and now Target. Our campaign is making progress. Let’s keep going.”
I honestly don’t know if we have to 2024 in order to fight back against this. There is a RAPID campaign of demonization and radicalization going on against the LGBTQ+ community right now and things are getting out of hand. Transgender people are some of the most vulnerable people in society and they’re going after us BECAUSE they think we’re a small minority and can’t fight back. Pride is right around the corner and the Right Wing Bigot Brigades are literally trying to make it toxic.
On Wednesday, Walsh also tweeted that, “The Bud Light boycott will prove to be one of the most significant conservative victories of this decade. It was never just about Bud Light. It was about sending a message.”
But the reverse message is this: cave to the Right Wing Bigot Brigades and you will lose the rest of your customers. Just ask Bud Light that’s no longer being served in queer-focused bars and venues around the country.
The Bud Light debacle started in early April, when the beer brand partnered with Mulvaney, a trans influencer and popular target for anti-trans trolls, sending her a one-off commemorative beer can with an image of her face on it. Transphobes both online and in the media quickly called for a boycott of parent company Anheuser-Busch’s products. The corporation’s lackluster response to the backlash drew criticism from the LGBTQ+ community and led the Human Rights Campaign to downgrade Anheuser-Busch’s previous 100 percent rating on the organization’s corporate equality index.
Please stay safe, stay woke, and keep your head on a swivel. These people have lost their damned minds.