We Don't Need Your Culture War

 

Target kicked out an Info Wars fan who relocated all the pride items to the back of the store. The man harassed employees and customers and yelled, “your kids can’t be gay” while exiting the store. pic.twitter.com/pixyVT2Unp

— PatriotTakes 🇺🇸 (@patriottakes) May 29, 2023

It feeds the rich while it buries the poor--does this feel to you like a wholly grassroots deal?  It doesn't to me. This whole thing is viral in a kind of "ice-bucket challenge for shitheads" kind of way, but the thing of randos vandalizing or taking "direct action" against department stores--including bomb threats? That has a lot of LibofTikTok kind of energy. That kind of ecosystem echochambering nonsense is anything but organic. 

It feels like we're in the midst of an escalation from rabid parents being told that drag and trans-awareness was a "contagion" for their kids, to hating the whole rainbow. Nothing new happened. 

Other than Trump lost an election. See, in one cynical. shitty sense, attacks on the LGBT community are about reigniting a wedge issue of marginalizing people like the 2004 attempt at gay marriage bans or the rear-guard protection of DADT in the military (probably why social conservatives are being stupid about "wokeness" in the military right now, when radicalization is the real danger, not admirably serving queers). If they can just give local bigots the high sign to deny pumping gas for suspected gays or making them cakes or whatever, they feel like that little bit of sanctioned bigotry is a "win".

Just send little trans kids home if they want to join the field hockey team, whatever side they're playing on. Just send 'em to another state if they want to use puberty blockers to not go through a wholly unwanted physical transition, instead of settling into the identity they want. To them, it's just a game of numbers for the most part, and they don't think punching down on a minority is a problem for them--but it invigorates their haters. The people who love to come out and hate. There's a big inauthenticity here. And a lot of old-school libeling of gays as groomers. When far from being groomed, a lot of queer people have had the experience of knowing what was up without having the sense that any community existed until it was found--sometimes what felt like ages after recognizing the differences going on inside. 

So when I see a thing like:

You know that Ethan Schmidt guy who is attacking Target LGBTQ+ merch?

Guess he spent a lot of time on Grindr in Arizona and few people are saying they recognize him from umm face to face meetings.

Free yourself, you'll be so much happier and healthier. pic.twitter.com/0jsbRT5CTI

— AskAubry 🦝 (@ask_aubry) May 28, 2023

I'm Generation X and I don't actually think we found Ethan's DL profile necessarily but his potential Matthew Shepard re-enactment plan. I stay skeptical as fuck about what anyone's intentions are. Show me you are a monster in public where the people can see, and I will trust and believe you could be a monster anywhere and everywhere else. 

This is a great time for allies to stand the fuck up and shout down the rainbow kickers, the vandals, the singular signifying fuck-ups who want to represent a tiny but loud anti-queer backlash. For communities to support queer books like And Tango Makes Three, and so forth. Because why would anyone be mad at actual family-oriented gay penguins. Those little guys are adorable! 

What isn't adorable? Hate. And the side that is serving this much hate has no business winning.