Wednesday, May 26, 2021

Latest attack on positive LGBTQ visibility makes the religious right look pitiful and desperate


In case you haven't heard (but I'm pretty sure you have,) Kellogg's announced that in celebration of the upcoming Pride month, it will be coming out with a special type of cereal:

“Together with Pride” is coming to stores in May and will have rainbow-colored cereal hearts in the colors of the rainbow flag. And they’ll be covered in edible glitter. Related: Converse drops Pride sneaker line for 2019 & this time it includes trans flag shoes The mascots of various Kellogg’s cereal brands – like Tony the Tiger and Toucan Sam – appear on the box because they’re “Together with Pride.”

Also in celebration of the month, LEGO will be coming out with an Pride-theme set:

The set, which hits the Lego online store June 1, includes 11 monochrome figures, each with its own hairstyle and rainbow color, according to a Wednesday statement. The colors in the set are inspired by the rainbow flag, according to the statement. The set also includes black and brown colors "to represent the broad diversity of everyone within the LGBTQIA+ community," as well as pale blue, white and pink representing the transgender community, and a purple drag queen figure, according to a description of the set from designer Matthew Ashton.


With those announcements comes the religious right freak out from various groups and personalities such as:

The Ruth Institute:

“Kellogg’s isn’t endorsing ‘pride,’ but a radical agenda that targets children and families,” said Ruth Institute President Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse, Ph.D. . .. “Not only are they pushing the LGBTQ agenda,” said Morse, “they’re directly subsidizing it.” 


Right-wing columnist Mark Margolis:


















The Left is tearing down mainstream values -- brick by brick! Lego, the latest company to pander to the woke, just decided to test the waters with a rainbow set of "LGBTQIA+" figures. "Everyone is awesome!" the iconic toy company tweeted with a picture of the pack, which also boasts a transgender-flag colored spectrum. And if you've always wanted your kids to get an early education on cross-dressers, creator Matthew Ashton says you're in luck. Although the characters are supposed to be non-conformist, the purple figure is meant as "a clear nod to all the fabulous drag queens out there."


One Million Moms (Editor's note - They don't have anywhere near that number of members. They call themselves that because apparently they think it sounds cool)

"We know who a majority of the customers are for LEGOs and their toy line, but they even have 18+ to try to cover themselves because they know this is not appropriate for all ages," says Monica Cole, director of One Million Moms. "So, they have 18+ on there – but we know who the majority of their target market is, and that's children."

Like Margolis, some on the right are weaponizing their outrage to speak against "wokeness," which has followed Sharia Law, ACORN, Antifa, and Black Lives Matter as their new boogeyman designed to spook donations and anger from their supporters. In doing so, they make it seem like this corporate support of Pride is a newly negative concept of a entities so intent on showing how sensitive they are that they are willing to sacrifice values and the innocence of children.

It's a clever deception. For one thing, this campaign by Kellogg's is simply the latest  the company has undertaken with the LGBTQ community. In 2014, the company was a huge sponsor of Atlanta's Gay Pride. In 2019, Kellogg's teamed with GLAAD for an anti-bullying campaign.

And both times, the religious right spewed the hot fire of anger, which is what they do every time we get any type of positive visibility. They fear  when we get positive visibility because it wrecks the narrative that they attempt to create about us - that we are physically unhealthy, mentally unwell people who should be kept away from children and shunned by so-called polite society until we become ashamed of ourselves.

In reality, we aren't the problem. They are. Nothing that they do or say to attack us is new. Nothing about it has to do with values or morality. It's all about simple homophobia, hate, and prejudice.

No matter how they attempt to make their opposition to any visibility we have look like a noble last defense before the proverbial sky falls, the truth is that they are simply a bunch of sad, stupid people waddling in pools of futile desperation as we tear down their awful narrative of who we are. 

Bit by bit.

No comments: