This may just be the best Twitter hashtag takeover of all time.
Twitter users are flooding the #ProudBoys hashtag on social media with images of LGBTQI+ pride, displacing posts made by neo-Nazis and white supremacists using the tag.
Proud Boys, a far-right group founded in 2016, calls itself a “white chauvinist” organization but is considered a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
The group was in the news after U.S. President Donald Trump declined to condemn them during Tuesday’s presidential debate, instead telling them to “stand back and stand by,” which many group members took as an endorsement. Trump later denounced the group in a Fox News interview.
On Sunday the #ProudBoys hashtag began trending in North America as LGBTQI+ users included it on photos of their significant others or wedding days and other pride imagery.
“Look at these cute lil #ProudBoys,” Bobby Berk, a host of the popular Netflix show Queer Eye, wrote on Sunday, alongside a photo with his husband. “Retweet and make this hashtag about love, not hate.”
Good morning America!! #PrideBoys #ProudBoys pic.twitter.com/3ruu5vdRAt
— Dr Gráinne McEntee (@pongosapien) October 4, 2020
The way the #ProudBoys hashtag has been hijacked like this is a thing of utter beauty https://t.co/2mVHPXKNJQ
— Otto English (@Otto_English) October 4, 2020
Brad and I are #ProudBoys, legally married for 12 years now. And we’re proud of all of the gay folks who have stepped up to reclaim our pride in this campaign. Our community and allies answered hate with love, and what could be better than that. pic.twitter.com/GRtSH1ijQ8
— George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) October 4, 2020
Married my best friend. I’m so proud of you ❤️ #proudboys ️ pic.twitter.com/e4AOHAkFaq
— Matthew Schueller (@booshoe37) October 4, 2020
The love of my life, @MrPeteAndrew, and I are #proudboys! pic.twitter.com/zxl6SyZmHN
— igorvolsky (@igorvolsky) October 5, 2020
On our wedding day #ProudBoys pic.twitter.com/3O7tqJvuNv
— Bob Poe (@bobpoe) October 4, 2020
My husband and I were married on July 8th, 2019 in San Francisco. ❤️️We are #ProudBoys pic.twitter.com/Nl7Vmof82s
— Larry Crist (@larryecrist) October 4, 2020
#ProudBoys Together 48 years. Married since 2003. I'm alone now but proud enough for us both. pic.twitter.com/vr3tpHqGNf
— Buck Ramjet (@BuckRamjet) October 4, 2020
I heard y'all were looking for some #ProudBoys. ️❤️ pic.twitter.com/nbxpp8Wr5B
— Ernest Owens (@MrErnestOwens) October 4, 2020
Thirty-two years and #ProudBoys still... pic.twitter.com/vn3dgZwRXY
— John Coulbourn (@Jcoulbourn) October 4, 2020
Even the official Twitter account of the Canadian Armed Forces in the United States shared an image of a serviceman kissing his partner, captioned with emojis of the Canada flag and rainbow pride flag and the hashtag #ProudBoys.
“If you wear our uniform, know what it means. If you’re thinking about wearing our uniform, know what it means,” the organization said in a follow-up tweet. “Love is love.”
An internal report from the Canadian military in November 2018 found 53 members were found to have made discriminatory statements or were linked to hate groups including the Proud Boys and anti-immigrant group Soldiers of Odin.