Members of the LGBT+ community from all around the world have been making #ProudBoys trend on twitter by posting images of gay pride and pictures of themselves kissing their loved ones.
This is what we can easily call a “peaceful fight” against something belonging to far right groups which are not so LGBT-friendly (or not at all).
The Proud Boys group has denied being a homophobic organisation, but they are indeed a far-right and anti-migrant organisation. This is why actors, Canadian armed forces, users from all over the world have started sharing supporting pictures to drown out all posts related to this group.
Who are these Proud Boys?
Founded in 2016 by Canadian-British right-wing activist Gavin McInnes, the Proud Boys is a far-right, anti-immigrant, all-male group.
The group is not exclusively white, but they have became notorious for violent confrontations against left-wing rival groups. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube have all banned the Proud Boys from their platforms (yeah!).
The US President Donald Trump drew criticism last week after comments about the group during a presidential debate with Joe Biden. When asked to condemn white supremacist and militia groups, President Trump instead called on the Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by”. Many members of the group, including Mr Tarrio (chairman of this group), took his words as an endorsement. But the president has since said that he condemns the Proud Boys and all white supremacists.
The majority of members of this group have been posting since 1st October. That same day, former Star Trek actor and LGBT+ rights activist George Takei suggested on Twitter that “gay guys” should use the hashtag #ProudBoys to share pictures of themselves “making out with each other or doing very gay things” to make sure the world knows what proud boys really are.
I wonder if the BTS and TikTok kids can help LGBTs with this. What if gay guys took pictures of themselves making out with each other or doing very gay things, then tagged themselves with #ProudBoys. I bet it would mess them up real bad. #ReclaimingMyShine
— George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) October 1, 2020
And of course, Twitters did not wait too long before making the world aware of this fantastic trend.
Well, that certainly blew up. 😂 Have you posted your #ProudBoys photo yet, friends? pic.twitter.com/VGqUc8ORlA
— George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) October 5, 2020
Other participants of the latest #ProudBoys trend have included Bobby Berk, a host of the Netflix show Queer Eye.
Look at these cute lil #ProudBoys (#retweet and make this hashtag about love, not hate) pic.twitter.com/AddflCUMpi
— Bobby Berk (@bobbyberk) October 4, 2020
Oh… the sweet Canadian friends of the Canadian Armed Forces? How cute!
🇨🇦🏳️🌈 #ProudBoys pic.twitter.com/rEFL7xIqXu
— Canadian Forces in 🇺🇸 (@CAFinUS) October 4, 2020
Enrique Tarrio, chairman of the Proud Boys group, told US broadcaster CNN he is not sure what social media users are trying to achieve.
He said: “I think it’s hysterical. 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. 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.”
