Proud Boys Hashtag Taken Over By Different Kind Of Group: Gay Men

The hashtag of the hate group Proud Boys was filled with a different message over the weekend: gay men sharing images of their lives and families.

After the Proud Boys saw a surge in attention in recent days, gay men have posted pictures with the hashtag #ProudBoys while referencing their relationship with their partner. On Thursday, "Star Trek" actor George Takei, who is gay, posted a comment on Twitter in support of the move by gay men.

"What if gay guys took pictures of themselves making out with each other or doing very gay things, then tagged themselves with #ProudBoys," Takei tweeted.

The Proud Boys are a far-right all-male organization that preaches violence and are notable for being told to “stand by” by Donald Trump at Tuesday’s presidential debate. The group was recently the focus of a video by the independent journalist Andrew Callaghan, in which Proud Boy leader Enrique Tarrio said, “A lot of people assume that I’m here to protest antifa and BLM, and that’s probably the further thing from the truth.”

“It’s about the Western world,” another member says, “Western nationalists, we love America. … That’s mostly what the Proud Boys is.”

The Proud boys are not specifically homophobic, teaching a more generalized hatred of liberalization and minorities. Tarrio told CNN that pro-LGBTQ imagery didn’t run counter to their ideology.

"This isn't something that's offensive to us,” he said. “It's not an insult. We aren't homophobic. We don't care who people sleep with. People think it's going to bother us. It doesn't."

The trend by gay men to use the hashtag soon spread to other social media platforms, including Instagram and the message board Reddit. Instagram has taken down the hashtag.