by Natalia Mittelstadt
Pride Month in the U.S. and elsewhere has historically been, for many, a celebration of gay rights and equality. But this year’s annual festivities have been undercut by concerns from consumers and others who believe transgender culture is being pushed upon them and their children, which has resulted in some companies and governments pulling back their support.
The recent backlash over heartland brands that appeared to alienate long-time core customers began in earnest earlier this year when Bud Light entered into a paid partnership with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney.
Conservatives and Bud Light customers began boycotting, resulting in the product losing its position as the top-selling beer in the United States to the Mexican lager Modelo Especial. In addition, two Anheuser-Busch InBev executives who supervised marketing collaboration were put on leave.
After Bud Light, Target was boycotted by conservatives over selling LGBT-themed products for children.
The boycott resulted in Target losing over $12 billion in market value in just over a week, leading the company to remove some of the more controversial LGBT-themed products from its stores.
Since then, and now midway through LGBT pride month, other entities are also facing outcries regarding the push to celebrate the lifestyle, leading some to reverse course.
The White House hosted an LGBT pride event on Saturday, during which some trans activists who attended later took a video of themselves going topless on the South Lawn.
After the video was tweeted by one of the activists on Monday, conservatives on Twitter criticized the White House.
Radio host Dana Loesch tweeted Monday: “No, this isn’t another hookers-n-blow photo from Hunter’s laptop, it was the Pride party on the White House lawn two days ago hosted by Joe.”
In a reply tweet, Loesch added, “Apparently it’s ok to go topless if you had a medically unnecessary breast removal surgery or if you’re a man with implants.”
On Tuesday, the White House responded to the video, saying, “This behavior is inappropriate and disrespectful for any event at the White House. It is not reflective of the event we hosted to celebrate LGBTQI+ families or the other hundreds of guests who were in attendance. Individuals in the video will not be invited to future events.”
Pride Month started in 1969 after a series of series of gay liberation protests known as the Stonewall Riots and has since spread outside of the United States.
Also this month, dozens of Starbucks stores nationwide have not permitted their employees to set up decorations for pride month, one of the unions for the franchised coffee shops said Tuesday.
Baristas in at least 22 states have reported instances in which local stores have forbidden employees from decorating for Pride Month, the union asserted, with such explanations as too few employees to decorate to safety concerns due to recent backlash against other companies to the argument the 30-day celebration does not represent everyone.
Starbucks says there has been no change in policy and that store managers and their employees continue to have discretion on how or if to celebrate.
Also, in the Detroit-area city of Hamtramck, Michigan, the City Council on Wednesday unanimously approve a resolution to prohibit all “religious, ethnic, racial, political, or sexual orientation group flags” from being flown on municipal property.
Council member Nayeem Choudhury said during the meeting to pass the resolution that LGBTQ residents are “welcome,” but “Why do you have to have the flag shown on government property to be represented? You’re already represented. We already know who you are.”
The town’s previous mayor had flown the LGBT flag outside City Hall.
Hamtramck is the only city in the U.S. in which Muslims hold all city council seats and the mayor’s office.
Students are also pushing back against pride month.
At a high school in Huntington Beach, Calif., students were shown a pride month video in class, despite voicing their desire to not view it. This reportedly led to a teacher threatening them with Saturday school if they didn’t “knock it off.”
In Burlington, Mass., some middle school students protested being told to celebrate pride month, instead tearing down the decorations in the school and wearing patriotic clothing.
Evan Nierman, the CEO of the crisis management firm Red Banyan and author of Crisis Averted, told Just the News on Thursday that the shift against Pride Month is “because of the transgender issues.”
“It has been thrust front and center into the national debate and has made it harder for a lot of people in the country to feel comfortable endorsing Pride Month and celebrating it because in the LGBTQ acronym, it’s really the ‘T’ in it that has started to dominate the national conversation,” he said, referring to transgender.
He also argues the backlash is “simply a reaction to what has been perceived as an explosion of acceptance and promotion of transgenderism among youth.”
Conservative Daily Wire podcast host Matt Walsh, who did a documentary last year regarding transgenderism titled, “What is a Woman?,” tweeted Wednesday, “Social conservatism is ascendant. Brands that push the LGBT agenda are suffering massive losses. Many states have passed laws banning the mutilation of kids. Gender clinics are being shut down. High school kids are pushing back against Pride indoctrination in their schools. We are gaining ground. We are starting to win.”
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Natalia Mittelstadt graduated from Regent University with Bachelor of Arts degrees in Communication Studies and Government.
Photo “Pride Flag” by Raphael Renter.
