THE ANDERSON FILES ANTI-LGBTQ TERROR, CORPORATE HYPOCRITES, MILITANT WORKERS

BY DAVE ANDERSON

Several years ago, corporate America began to celebrate LGBTQ Pride month with rainbow-patterned merchandise and participation in parades. Ryan Cooper, writing in The American Prospect, notes, “It left a bad taste in the mouth of many LGBTQ folks. Here was a tradition founded by downtrodden activists who struggled for decades for dignity and respect, when it was quite dangerous to be openly gay or trans. Now it was being colonized by money-grubbing corporations trying to make an easy buck through a gesture at allyship.”

Today, a frenzied and increasingly fascist right wing is ruthlessly attacking corporations who have Pride displays, products and advertising.

Companies like Target, Walmart and Cracker Barrel are now dealing with boycotts, bomb threats and vandalism. Their employees are being attacked. Bud Light had a small sponsorship deal with trans influencer and actress Dylan Mulvaney. After an avalanche of rage, parent compa- ny Anheuser Busch released what Vox writer Emily Stewart called a “quite tepid statement.” They didn’t bother to reach out to a terrorized Mulvaney, who claims she didn’t leave her house for months.

The right-wing intimidation has been somewhat successful, but it’s too early to tell. Still, the stakes are high.

Human Rights Campaign (HRC), America’s leading LGBTQ-advocacy group, has declared a state of emergency for the first time in its 43-year