#HeterosexualPrideDay began trending on Twitter this week, and people are mostly very, very unhappy.
While - like most things on Twitter - it's now very difficult to see how it all started, it hasn't taken very long for Twitter to hop on the bandwagon and weigh in with their opinions.
It probably shouldn't be confused with Straight Pride, which was created in the 1980s in reaction to the LGBTQ community's Gay Pride events, and was used primarily as a way to protest gay rights.
As Dublin, as well as most of the rest of the world, took part in their Gay Pride parades and events this month, the timing of the hashtag couldn't be worse, but Twitter is merely reflecting what has historically always happened at Straight Pride events.
In 1991, the University of Massachusetts Amherst held a Straight Pride rally, which was attended by 50 people, but protested by ten times that many, while just last year, artist Anthony Rebello organised a heterosexual pride parade in Seattle, at which he was the only attendee.
Its unclear if #HeterosexualPrideDay was originally intended as an actual political stance against Gay Pride, or if it was all intended in jest, but the backlash has been formidable:
How much it must mean to you that you aren't in physical danger for being straight. #heterosexualprideday
— Vanessa [TeamWidow] (@dametokillfor) June 29, 2016
As a straight person I apologize to the LGBT community that this is trending. #HeterosexualPrideDay
— Queen Lindsey (@HobbitLindsey) June 29, 2016
Why is #HeterosexualPrideDay a thing lmao I feel like pouring acid into my eyes
— M✨ (@meg_wain) June 29, 2016
Coming to Twitter and seeing #HeterosexualPrideDay trying to become a thing... Really? pic.twitter.com/6CBwJpBVXZ
— Adrianne (@adriiannex) June 29, 2016
Isn't every day #HeterosexualPrideDay ? pic.twitter.com/KmUAPOnWbv
— Daniélle (@_Siduri_) June 29, 2016
this is why you DON'T need #HeterosexualPrideDay !! pic.twitter.com/C4t93NNYPW
— pukwudgie! laura (@rmusIupin) June 29, 2016
In fact, aside from a few folk who seem to have missed out on the (hopeful) joke and spewed nothing but hateful nonsense, this next tweeter has mostly hit the nail on the head.
So #HeterosexualPrideDay seems to be all about being outraged at #HeterosexualPrideDay, as far as I can tell from what's trending.
— Scott (@routarienjin) June 29, 2016
So if you find the hashtag to be particularly obnoxious, it would appear that the fastest way to rid your timeline of it is just to ignore it. Joke or not, eventually the stupidity of it all will just go away.
