Gun companies that support lgbtq
Pink Pistols: LGBT Gun Owners Unite in Arming Gay Community
I totally smoked that punk!” I consideration to myself, after pulling off a few well-placed rounds – 30 or so – in the target’s chest, plus a few more in his brain. I felt nice, and not just for my terrific aim. Guns hold never appealed to me, and I’ve had little exposure to them. But I felt confident in my educator, Jeff Bloovman, a Philadelphia gun instructor and a member of the Pink Pistols, an LGBT group based around the belief that guns can travel a long way in combating homophobia. But here, holding my own against the Glock 34’s concussive revolt, I felt – was it imperviousness? Was I untouchable? Was I taller? Whatever it was, it was exhilarating, and not nearly as frightening as I had imagined.
This, of course, is a large part of the Pink Pistol’s mission: to obtain LGBT people more comfortable with firearms and encourage them to fight detest crimes with bullets – or at least the threat of them. A small, loosely organized group of a few dozen chapters scattered across the states and Canada, including Toronto, San Francisco and Charleston, South Carolina, the Pink P
Gays Against Guns is a left-of-center, anti-gun activist collective that organizes LGBT individuals and allies to complain in support of gun control measures. The company hosts rallies in contradiction to pro-gun organizations, common officials, and firearm manufacturers. Gays Against Guns also pressures businesses and politicians to drop their sustain for the National Rifle Association (NRA) and other Second Amendment-related causes.
While the organization’s website refers to the group as “Gays Against Guns NY” and the group organizes primarily in New York Municipality, its website lists a mailing address in California.
History
Gays Against Guns was formed shortly after the June 2016 mass shooting at the Pulse male lover nightclub in Orlando, Florida, when Islamic State sympathizer Omar Mateen killed 49 people ostensibly as revenge for American military operations against the terrorist company.
Activism and Media
Gays Against Guns hosts bi-weekly meetings, in addition to rallies, marches, and other “direct action” events. The nonprofit states that it intends to “cause a disruption” by being “loud” and “in your face,” and asserts that some of its events involve “arrestable actions.”
I’m having brunch with an LGBTQ Meetup group in Somerville, Massachusetts. It’s a diverse bunch whose backgrounds range from finance and paralegal to barista and plumber. As I bury into my huevos rancheros, our conversation turns to the AR-15 semi-automatic rifle; not in regard to banning the weapon. No. But more in terms of general practical tips on the firearm’s functionality. And almost every member at our brunch table seems to have their own insightful, experienced opinion.
“What’s your name?” asks a friendly guy wearing a baseball cap with a thick New England accent.
“Harmon,” I say.
“I like this group because everyone has such unique names,” he shares. “At my regular gun group, everyone has the same seven names.”
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This is how it goes at the monthly gathering of the Boston chapter of thePink Pistols—an LGBTQ gun group that first formed nationwide in 2000 and saw a spike in membership following the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting, coupled with the election of Donald Trump.
The mottos of the Pink Pistols say it all: “Armed Gays Don’t Get Bashed” and “We Tea
BAE Systems sponsoring LGBT Pride in desperate attempt to enhance image
LGBTQ campaigners possess joined with the Peace Pledge Union and other groups to urge organisers of LGBT Pride events not to approve sponsorship from arms dealers.
BAE is sponsoring several LGBT Pride marches in the UK this year in a desperate seek to improve its image. It is one of the world's largest multinational arms companies, supplying weapons around the planet to almost any government willing to buy them.
BAE is a lead sponsor of Pride marches this summer in at least three British towns: Portsmouth, Woking and Blackpool. The sponsorship has been condemned by members of the No Pride in War campaign, a coalition of groups including the Harmony Pledge Union (PPU), Lesbians and Gays Support the Migrants (LGSM), London Bi Pandas, the Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) and other grassroots LGBTQ, accord and human rights campaigners.
At the equal time, BAE is supplying weapons to some of the world's most viciously homophobic regimes, notably Saudi Arabia. BAE is known for its close relationship with the Saudi regime, which routinely imprisons, tortures and kills people for engaging in same-sex relationships
The Year Arms Contractors Stopped Sponsoring Pride
This year, corporations across the country hold quietly pulled their sponsorship from local pride parades. Companies that once faced criticism for surface-level allyship — changing their logos to rainbow colors during Pride month, for instance — have now abandoned the show of aid altogether. And pride festivals that had come to rely on corporate sponsorships to fly out mid-tier musicians and secure celebration permits found themselves hundreds of thousands of dollars in the hole.
Military contractors are no exception. For years, companies like L3Harris, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and BAE Systems have sponsored parades, bought floats, and recruited at LGBTQ+ pride festivals from coast to coast. This year, contractor Booz Allen Hamilton dropped its sponsorship of DC’s WorldPride, contractors Boeing and Lockheed Martin dropped out of Dallas Pride, and in St. Louis, Boeing’s specify was absent from one of the region’s largest LGBT events.
But the story’s more complicated than a simple tale of corporations cashing in on cultural conservatism. Back in 2024, a group of lgbtq+ and trans St. Louisans took umbrage with Lgbtq+ fest STL’s