Last week President Trump made waves during the first presidential debate after he refused to clearly denounce white supremacy while giving alt-right group The Proud Boys a shout-out. Now that very same group is in an uproar after gay men rushed to Twitter to co-opt their hashtag and replace it with images of LGTQ+ love.
READ MORE: Proud Boys take Trump’s ‘stand back and stand by’ callout as marching orders
The Proud Boys were banned by Twitter in 2018 due to allegations of toxic and abusive language. So while they have no official presence on the social media platform, the re-emerged gleefully after receiving what they perceived to be a message of support from POTUS during last week’s debate against Democratic candidate Joe Biden.
Since then they have been celebrating their infamy on Parler, a fairly new social media app that has become popular among conservatives. But Sunday, gay activists used the group’s banishment as an opportunity to take over the #proudboys hashtag.
According to Forbes, “The hashtag trended in North America throughout Sunday with gay Twitter users sharing images of themselves, their spouses and other gay people. Several celebrities added their voices to the mix, including Star Trek’s George Takei.“
“We’re proud of all the gay folks who have stepped up to reclaim our pride,” wrote the veteran actor who joined in, sharing a picture of himself and his husband Brad. “Our community and allies answered hate with love.”
Quickly following the takeover of the hashtags, the Proud Boys’ official account on Parler, which has 60,000 followers expressed their outrage and dismay.
Proud Boys’ chairman, Enrique Tarrio reportedly posted on Parler that he saw the move as the left’s attempt to turn the group’s name into “a slur.” Tarrio also allegedly opined that the gay pride advocates using #proudboys “to drown out the voices of our supporters” were out of line.
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