This is my first new post in my favorite month of all the months, June, AKA Pride month. That’s right, we’re back from vacation and raring to go!
Let me start by saying I don’t generally endorse particular brands, and I’m not being compensated by this post (though if someone wanted to buy me a drink, I’d be down for that). That said, I couldn’t resist sharing this loveliness. I first learned about this campaign sponsored by the vodka brand Smirnoff when I was working on my post about the wonderful work of Lucas Levitan. He participated in a social media art challenge by Smirnoff, the vodka brand, last year during pride month, but I learned of it too late to post about it.
Research by the UK-based LGBTQ anti-violence charity Galop reported that that 1 in 3 members of the LGBTQ community have experienced online abuse targeting their sexual orientation or gender identity. In response, Smirnoff partnered up with Pride in London to commission digital artists to repurpose the homophobic trolls of Twitter’s hate speech into defiant works of art.
In some cases, the artist responded to a specific awful comment, and in others, the artists’ response was more general. In every instance, though, the idea was love triumphs over hate. More of that, please!
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My OBT 
June 6, 2022 at 6:38 am
My brother was the victim of a homophobic hate crime on a main street. Not a single bystander did anything to deescalate the situation before it got physical and not a single person intervened while my brother was being assaulted, though someone did eventually call the police. I feel like the internet is a parallel to that experience for too many LGBTQ+ people. They are attacked and not enough people step up to push back against the person conducting the attack. They do the online equivalent of walking on by when they just scroll past. We all need to be better allies when we see this happen. So I am glad that a company is sponsoring this artistic endeavor to visibly diminish the hateful opinions of the trolls and I hope it inspires other people to do likewise.
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June 8, 2022 at 7:43 am
Good heavens, how terrible. I hope he recovered, at least physically. It’s hard to come back from something like that emotionally. So very sorry.
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June 8, 2022 at 8:24 am
Thank you. It was over a decade ago now so he has done a lot of healing physically and emotionally but the trauma is still there.
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June 8, 2022 at 11:10 am
I had friends years ago who were beaten to a pulp by a carload of drunk Jersey boys for holding hands while walking on Christopher Street. I don’t think any of us really recovered from that.
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June 8, 2022 at 12:06 pm
I cannot imagine it is possible to recover from such an absolutely awful ordeal. I hope your friends are doing as well as can be expected.
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June 6, 2022 at 8:13 am
I grew up in a totally different world. When it comes to sports, I think everybody should be required to perform with the sex on their birth certificate. With that one exception, I support ALL people doing what they want to do. Before she died, I was both a friend and a supporter, of the “Dykes On Bikes” flounder of the Los Angeles club in the fifties. Yes, they were a motorcycle group in California. They also did a lot of great charity work. I would have done something to help Laura’s brother. I just don’t understand all the hate and junk that is going on today. I don’t understand today’s world. Almost from the start of time, three have been endless wars. Ukraine is just another prime example. Why? It is not for me to judge. I will let God do that. Hal
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June 8, 2022 at 7:44 am
It is a distressing and confusing world we live in. I’m just grateful there are people and organizations who step up to help those who need it. I wish there were more of them.
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June 8, 2022 at 6:28 pm
I continued to be gobsmacked that there are people out there who worry about other people’s gender or sexuality. It’s none of their business!
Love is love is love.
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June 9, 2022 at 8:21 am
Sing it, sister!
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June 12, 2022 at 8:11 pm
Brilliant! Sorry I haven’t commented before but I’m just going through my inbox trying to catch up on posts I’ve missed.
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June 13, 2022 at 7:03 pm
Darlin’, you take your time!
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June 13, 2022 at 9:16 pm
🙂
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