Proud Boys Twitter Hashtag Taken Over By Gay Men
October 5, 2020The Proud Boys hashtag was trending on Sunday after members of the LGBT+ community took it over and flooded the Twitter feed with photos of their loved ones and families and with memes.
During the presidential debate, the Proud Boys made headlines after Trump told them to “stand back and stand by”, in regards to condemning white supremacist and militia groups.
Now, gay men on Twitter have been making the hashtag known for completely different reasons.
Matt Dechaine, one of the men who pitched in with photos of himself and his husband in efforts to overtake the hashtag, said his goal was simply to spread joy.
“Seeing the hashtag was so uplifting,” Dechaine, who is from England, told ‘CNN’.
“It feels like the movement for positive change for all is gathering momentum all the time and I'm glad to be a small part of it. By coming together rooted in respect and love for each other, the world can be so much better!”
But Enrique Tarrio, the leader of the Proud Boys, said he doesn't see what the men are trying to accomplish.
“I think it's hysterical,” Tarrio said. “This isn't something that's offensive to us. It's not an insult. We aren't homophobic. We don't care who people sleep with. People think it's going to bother us. It doesn’t.”
He added, “One of the messages they want to send with this is that they're trying to drown out our supporters, they're trying to silence us. ... When you're trying to drown out other people's thoughts, I don't think there's anything progressive about that. Why don't these people just engage?”
The Anti-Defamation League calls the Proud Boys ideology “misogynistic, Islamophobic, transphobic, and anti-immigration.”
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