DO YOU HAVE QUEER HOLIDAY (COPING) PLANS?

I Just Bought a Tacky Gay Christmas Ornament and a Classy Black Santa!

Even though I’m an atheist and I try hard not to let Christmas be commercial

Did you hear that U.S. retailer Target is under fire again for reaching out to diverse customers? Last summer, a similar firestorm broke out over Target’s Pride product line, offered to LGBTQ customers who might wish to inject some good-ole American retail therapy into traditional marches and celebrations.

(Because nothing says “festive” more than buying stuff you don’t really need. But I digress. I’m not trying to be a scrooge. I LOVE festivity and celebrations, which I’ll get to in a second.)

I could write a lot more about the conservative, anti-Target boycott calls last summer, and about Target partially caving. But that was so last summer. Today, anti-LGBTQ crusaders have bigger fish to fry. (Or is that scapegoats to sacrifice?) According to them, Forces of Chaos™ are once again out to destroy American culture and values, suck the joy out of life, drown kittens, curdle milk, and make Target a no-go zone for Grandma corralling Christmas-loving kiddos while exhausted parents shop.

Unless Grandma is in a wheelchair, in which case maybe she’s having the same kind of WTF moment I’m having. Excuse me while I prop my fallen jaw back into place.

See Santa in a wheelchair up there in my cover photo? Did you notice he’s not White? Does that make you mad? Do you think Santa’s skin color or disabled status will ruin Christmas for you if other people buy that ornament?

As surreal as that might sound, all the usual conservative suspects — like Fox News’ Jesse Watters, OutKick host Riley Gaines, and X (Twitter) users everywhere — are mad as hell over Black Disabled Santa and Target’s supposed “wokeness.” They seem more angry over the gay nutcracker ornament in my header photo, which doesn’t surprise me but surely saddens me.

What are people complaining about, you ask? Well, over 10 million people on X viewed the tweet below. Thousands liked and retweeted. And it’s just one similar tweet of many. Here’s the scoop:

My audio transcript of Riley Gaine’s Outkick commentary:

It doesn’t make sense. You have to ask yourself, why do they keep pushing this? Who are they trying to appeal to? Because, despite what the media portrays or how politicians are voting, this doesn’t represent the overwhelming majority of how this country, really how the word, feels on this issue. I think the majority of people, parents especially, they can acknowledge Gay Nutcracker and Black Disabled Santa has [sic] gone way too far. The pendulum has swung too far.

Am I over-the-top shocked that Riley Gaines seems to take personal offense because a few people might wish to buy a Christmas ornament with Pride colors? Nope. That’s on-brand for her. If you aren’t aware of her reputation, she’s a former competitive swimmer who has spoken out forcibly against transgender children or adults participating in sport.

She also has a track record of morally condemning transgender people just for existing. Last month at a campaign fundraiser for Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds, Gaines called the existence of transgender people evil: “As a Christian myself,” she said to a cheering crowd, “I entirely see this as spiritual warfare. It’s no longer about right versus wrong or good versus bad. This really is about moral versus evil.”

Gaines isn’t filled with loving-kindness toward gay people either, having recently insulted lesbian soccer star Megan Rapinoe, belittling her because it’s “unlikely” she will ever be a parent. (Um, Riley: Gay women and men become parents all the time. And far too many of our children are taking abuse over it, which I just wrote about from a personal perspective as a gay dad. I think Jesus would find mistreating children to be evil, don’t you?)

But what’s with hating on Black Disabled Santa?

I can’t figure out what the Right is so angry about. Why are they calling for boycotts? Is it Santa’s Blackness or his wheelchair? It’s hard to write moderately about what looks like raw racism, but I’ll try to keep an even tone. Why shouldn’t a Santa ornament be Black? Why shouldn’t people make their own choices about what their Christmas ornaments look like?

When I lived in Detroit, Black Santas were ordinary in my majority-Black neighborhood. I sometimes went to Christmas parties my neighbors threw, and sometimes those parties featured a Black Santa. Because just like with my White family, Santa is often played by an older, paunchy uncle who might grumble, “Not again!” before stuffing himself into the red suit. (In my experience, bribes of spiked eggnog work. Calling down the wrath of Grandma might be necessary as a last resort.)

My Black neighbors didn’t run around looking for older White dudes to pull Santa duty. Obviously. So? What’s the problem with Target selling a Black Santa ornament to people who want one?

And what’s wrong with Santa’s wheelchair? I don’t get that at all, especially since I might need a wheelchair in the not-far-distant future.

I suffer from rheumatoid arthritis and gout, and some days walking is so painful I just don’t. Most days are not like that, not yet. But the day will come when a powered wheelchair will give me back some freedom and joy.

And this is somehow not to be celebrated? Why?

Certainly not all Target customers will want either of those two ornaments. But some will.

I do!

I moved away from Detroit in 2018, and now I live deep in the countryside with few neighbors. I miss city life and my friends, and if I’m not careful, the holidays become depression triggers for me. This is not uncommon among LGBTQ folks, especially older people like me. We’re statistically less likely to have partners and immediate family, which can exacerbate seasonal depression issues.

I’ve always loved Christmas even though I’m an atheist.

Ask me about the so-called “War on Christmas” and watch me roll my eyes and write passionate paragraphs about about honoring festive traditions — inclusively. Rather than sit around and feel sorry for myself, I decorate my house for Christmas. I cook festive meals. I reach out to friends and former neighbors. I indulge traditions that bring me joy.

And you know what?

When I heard about the Target controversy, I did more than roll my eyes. I bought both the ornaments at the center of the storm. I’m not urging anyone else to that. I’m not urging anyone to make Christmas political or commercial. I try hard not to do that, personally.

I bought those ornaments because I wanted to. I looked at them, and they spoke to me, one of them in particular.

Which ornament will I display?

I decorate every year about two weeks before Christmas. This year, Black Disabled Santa is going to take a place of honor on my mantel amid the usual scented candles, strings of twinkling lights, tinsel, pine cones, and assorted country kitsch. He’s going to remind me that being disabled doesn’t mean living without joy.

I don’t know about the Rainbow Nutcracker yet. I think he looks a little tacky, to be frank. He’ll clash with my country theme. But who knows, maybe I’ll change my mind.

Shouldn’t that be my prerogative? Should my own personal taste NOT decide how I deck the halls?

To listen to the Right, they’re the ones who should decide ornament taste. And they’re so mad, they want to boycott Target to pressure them not to sell ornaments that appeal to diverse customers like me. They wish to enforce cultural conformity — erasing LGBTQ people, Black people, and disabled people.

I don’t get that, do you?

Anyway, some of my light strings burned out last year, and I need to shop for new ones. Maybe I should do that now while I’m thinking about it.

In the meantime, I wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving, Christmas, Yule, Solstice, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Three Kings Day, and New Year. If you don’t celebrate, I still wish you all the peace and joy in the world.

You matter regardless of which cultural traditions you honor or don’t honor. Would somebody please pass that on to the scrooges hating on gay nutcrackers and Black Santas?

This story is a response to the Prism & Pen writing prompt, Do You Have Queer Holiday (Coping) Plans?