Twitter users flood #ProudBoys with images of gay pride
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Twitter users have flooded the #ProudBoys hashtag with images of LGBT+ pride to drown out far-right voices associated with the group.
The hashtag began trending in North America on social media on Sunday with photos of gay pride and LGBT+ couples.
The Proud Boys are a far-right, male-only group founded in 2016, which are described by the Anti-Defamation League as having "Islamophobic, transphobic and anti-immigration" ideologies.
The group is said to have factions in the UK and Norway and have been linked to recent civil unrest in the United States.
The Proud Boys made headlines last week when US President Donald Trump namechecked them during an election debate with Democrat rival Joe Biden.
After initially declining to condemn white supremacists during the heated debate and telling the Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by”, President Trump later denounced the group in an interview with Fox News.
On Friday, American actor George Takei encouraged social media users to displace any images of far-right ideologies being shared with #ProudBoys.
Takei later uploaded an image with his husband, saying that he was proud of the LGBT+ users who had "stepped up to reclaim our pride in this campaign".
The official Twitter account of the Canadian Armed Forces in the United States also shared an image of a serviceman kissing his partner, captioned with the hashtag #ProudBoys.
“If you wear our uniform, know what it means [or] if you’re thinking about wearing our uniform, know what it means,” they said in a follow-up tweet.
In June, fans of Korean pop music, "K-pop" took over the hashtag #whitelivesmatter by posting images and videos of artists.
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