Pride Month Marked by 'Unprecedented' Backlash
national state of emergency for the LGBTQ+ community while leading advocacy group GLAAD has dubbed 2023 "a year of unprecedented challenge," and there's plenty of evidence to back that assertion."The threats are becoming tangible, terrifying, and can no longer be ignored," NYC Pride said on its website, noting that an escalation of anti-LGBTQ rhetoric is "disproportionately targeting our trans siblings."The criticism of Pride Month has been led by the political right at a time that LGBTQ+ matters have taken a central place in the U.S.
culture wars between conservatives and progressives."People are going, 'Enough, enough.' Stop shoving this down everybody's throat," No.
1 podcaster Joe Rogan told his millions of listeners when discussing Pride in mid-June.A few days later, self-described gay "classical liberal" Dave Rubin, another top podcaster, began his show with: "It is still Pride Month.
Pronouns, genitals being chopped off, all of the stuff that comes with Pride is still happening, although it is being pushed back against more and more."Pride Month had become an increasing opportunity for brands to signal their social awareness, whether through genuine commitment, to show solidarity with staff and customers or for the benefit of big investment firms demanding respect for environmental, social, and governance criteria.But this year companies and sports teams found themselves under fire for taking pro-LGBTQ+ positions, most prominently Bud Light and Target, with both seen as wavering in the face of boycotts."It's a challenging atmosphere with sponsors, as you saw with Target caving in to a small group of extremists," Cathy Renna, the communications director for the National LGBTQ Task Force, told Newsweek.
