LGBT+ people have reclaimed the ‘Proud Boys’ name from a far-right hate group – and even made it beautiful. It comes after Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden called on President Donald Trump to condemn the group in the pair’s first presidential debate.
Instead, Trump replied by attacking left-wing activists. And he told the chauvenistic, homophobic, transphobic and anti-immigrant Proud Boys to ‘stand back and stand by’.
Indeed, the Proud Boys took the president’s statement as an endorsement. Moreover, their memberships on Telegram channels grew nearly 10% and they adopted Trump’s comment as their new slogan.
However, the response over the weekend is straight out of the LGBT+ community’s classic campaign playbook. And it proves yet