From White Supremacy to Gay Love
How the gay community hijacked the #Proud Boys hashtag and showed the world love.
I was a little alarmed this morning to see the Proud Boys hashtag trending on Twitter. I mean Proud Boys are known to be a violent white supremacist, racist, islamophobic, misogynistic, transphobic hate group.
In a show of support to alt-right groups, Trump even asked them to “Stand back, Stand by,” at last week’s presidential debate. Needless to say, this caused quite a lot of controversy, and Trump’s stubbornness to disavow or distance himself from known white supremacist and racist groups has indeed been quite shocking.
The Proud Boys responded by saying that they were ready to serve the Commander-In-Chief, all he needed to do was ask. This chilled me to the bone.
The hate group felt even further emboldened and empowered to have the most powerful man in the world in their corner. I knew that this would mean an increase in racism and acts of violence toward black and brown people around the world. It was just a matter of time.
And then this morning, when I saw the #Proud Boys hashtag trending, I feared the worst. I wondered how they could be trending on Twitter given the racist nature of the group, but then again, 2020 has been a strange year, nothing could surprise me.
As I clicked on the hashtag, I felt a sense of foreboding, of fear. Was I going to see videos of black people being harmed? Was I going to read racist slurs and insults? I held my breath. Moments later, I was in for a surprise.
It turns out that the gay community hijacked the #Proud Boys hashtag and has been tweeting images of gay men showing their love for one another all day long. The images have been so genuine, so human, and so loving.
They paint a beautiful canvas of humanity and love showing same-sex couples of all colors, backgrounds, and professions locked in passionate embraces or supporting one another. I have never seen anything more endearing and more loving in my life.
In one global online movement, the Proud Boys have come to symbolize love and acceptance rather than hatred and exclusion. The idea in itself is pure genius and shows how one can move from hate to love in a miraculous moment of social media magic. This is where I see social media as a force for the good.
As the Twitterverse and the number of tweets with the #Proud Boys hashtag spreads, the real white supremacist group will get drowned — at least online in images of love amongst men — quite ironic when you consider how homophobic they are. The whole thought of it makes me laugh with glee.
It will be a short moment, however. I have no doubt that the real Proud Boys will be very much present in the real world harassing and harming black and brown people. But at least this tiny victory over this vile group is a victory to be savored, and savor it I will.
As I look for ways to amplify the anti-racism movement, many of my LGBTQ friends have told me to learn from the Pride movement.
And indeed there are so many learnings, so many ways in which the LBGTQ community has fought and continues to fight for their rights and for their voices to be heard.
Maybe it is time that the anti-racism movement also hijacked a white supremacist or other racist hashtag and made it ours to spread the love.
Thanks for reading my perspective.
