Just weeks after a mass shooter targeted the LGBTQIA+ community in Orlando (during Pride month, no less), it's extremely disheartening to see that #HeterosexualPrideDay is actually trending on Twitter. Yes, it's a thing. And yes, it was made possibly by your fellow Americans — or an internet troll who knew people would latch onto the idea — who can't look past their own selves for just a second to recognize the unique struggles that come along with being part of the LGBTQIA+ community. Instead, they mock it.
#HeterosexualPrideDay is one of many public slaps in the face of the LGBTQIA+ community. It encourages those opposed to homosexuality to carelessly voice their unwarranted hatred, while simultaneously causing LGBTQIA+ people to feel inferior and not comfortable with themselves.
Fortunately, society is made up of many different colors. Chances are there are more people using the hashtag to delegitimize it than there are seriously celebrating the fact that straight people can marry everywhere and have literally always had that right — not just since last year. (To say nothing of the struggles that the LGBTQIA+ community still fact. I'm looking at you, North Carolina.)
The following responses offer hope that there are people working to shatter the hate and create a more accepting society.
Some tweets involve serious sarcasm. This is warranted, given the subject matter.
These people really put the situation into perspective.
