LGBTQ+ community reclaims #ProudBoys hashtag on Twitter

“Star Trek” actor George Takei and husband Brad Altman have been legally married for 12 years, the actor said on Twitter. Image: Twitter/@GeorgeTakei

As members of the far-right group Proud Boys celebrated that they had been mentioned by United States President Donald Trump in the first presidential debate, members and allies of the LGBTQ+ community made themselves heard by reclaiming the hashtag #ProudBoys on social media.

Among them is American actor George Takei, who participated in this initiative by sharing on Twitter a photograph with his husband Brad Altman.

“Brad and I are #ProudBoys, legally married for 12 years now. And we’re proud of all the gay folks who have stepped up to reclaim our pride in this campaign. Our community and allies answered hate with love, and what could be better than that,” he wrote in his post, which received around 92,000 likes on Twitter.

Brad and I are #ProudBoys, legally married for 12 years now. And we’re proud of all of the gay folks who have stepped up to reclaim our pride in this campaign. Our community and allies answered hate with love, and what could be better than that. pic.twitter.com/GRtSH1ijQ8

— George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) October 4, 2020

Many media personalities and internet users followed Takei’s lead by sharing their own inspiring photographs and testimonials with the hashtag #ProudBoys, which on Oct. 4 could be found at the head of Twitter’s trending topics.

The Canadian Armed Forces also took part in this protest movement by publishing a portrait of soldiers kissing on one of its accounts, an image that generated more than 215,000 likes and 27,100 retweets.

“They were silent. They were shunned. They weren’t always welcomed. This is about us, then, now,” read a caption on one of the images.

🇨🇦🏳️‍🌈 #ProudBoys pic.twitter.com/rEFL7xIqXu

— Canadian Forces in 🇺🇸 (@CAFinUS) October 4, 2020

“Well sir, we’re ready”

As surprising as it may be, this movement to hijack the hashtag #ProudBoys comes a few days after Trump was seen as giving coded messages to the Proud Boys group of white supremacists to “stand back” and “stand by” during his televised debate against Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden.

These turbulent statements were in response to a question from journalist and moderator Chris Wallace about the use of violence by white supremacists and other extreme right-wing groups.

Members of the Proud Boys quickly appropriated Trump’s expression, “stand back and stand by,” which they shared on the social network Parler by adding their logo.

“President Trump told the proud boys to stand by because someone needs to deal with ANTIFA… well sir! we’re ready!!” commented Joe Biggs, a co-founder of the group.

In the aftermath of the first televised debate of the U.S. presidential campaign, Trump retracted his statements about the Proud Boys, saying he didn’t know who they were.

“I can only say they have to stand down and let law enforcement do their work,” he added, which seemed a bit of backpedaling, that, unsurprisingly, was unconvincing to many. CC

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