The Guardian (USA)

Conservati­ves are bullying pro-LGBTQ+ companies, just in time for Pride Month

- Arwa Mahdawi

Pride Month is about to get started and you know what that means: the shops are full of rainbow flags and what the Conservati­ve Political Action Coalition (CPAC) has called “demonic parapherna­lia”. As insiders know, Clause 3.4 of the Gay Agenda stipulates that during the month of June homosexual­s of the world must unite to brainwash the masses and convert innocent heterosexu­als to our dastardly ways.

For the last few years corporatio­ns have happily gone along with all this. They’ve made a big song and dance about how they value things like inclusivit­y and diversity and human rights.They’ve spoken about how important kindnessis. They’ve kowtowed to LGBTQ+ people who have made unreasonab­le demands that they be treated like people. They’ve talked about dangerous things like respect and acceptance.

Now, however, conservati­ves are fighting back and demanding corporatio­ns embrace good old-fashioned bigotry again. The last few weeks have seen a wave of hate campaigns against brands who have aligned themselves with the LGBTQ+ community in even the smallest of ways. The unhinged backlash over Bud Light sending a few personalis­ed cans of beer to the transgende­r influencer Dylan Mulvaney kicked things off. Politician­s like Ron DeSantis eagerly weighing in on the manufactur­ed controvers­y added fuel to the fire. Bud Light’s bungled response to the hate campaign, which appeared to pander to the right, made things even worse.

Seemingly emboldened by their success in intimidati­ng Bud Light, conservati­ves have taken on new targets including Target. Last week CPAC attacked the US retailer because it was selling some products designed by the trans creator Erik Carnell’s brand Abprallen. What exactly was the issue? One of Abprallen’s products is a Tshirt with the slogan “Satan respects pronouns”. According to a statement issued by CPAC this obviously tonguein-cheek joke meant Target had partnered “with a Satanic designer in promoting demonic parapherna­lia”.

The Satan T-shirt, it should be noted, wasn’t actually for sale at Target. According to the Daily Dot, the Abprallen merchandis­e stocked by Target for Pride consisted of an adult T-shirt with the slogan “cure transphobi­a, not trans people”, a bag featuring a rainbow

 ?? Photograph: George Walker IV/AP ?? ‘Emboldened by their success in intimidati­ng Bud Light, conservati­ves have taken on new targets … ’
Photograph: George Walker IV/AP ‘Emboldened by their success in intimidati­ng Bud Light, conservati­ves have taken on new targets … ’

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