Bob the Drag Queen, a winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race, recently tweeted that Gen Z’s rhetoric about kink at Pride was “giving Karen vibes.” A follower replied, “I was 12 when i got thrown condoms at my head … its uncomfortable.” Open displays of sexuality always invite conservative disapproval, but what’s new is a sense that out-and-proud youths are offended. At this month’s commemorations of the 1969 Stonewall uprising, some revelers will flaunt fetish wear, bare lots of flesh, or-and the frequency of this is very disputed-hook up in broad daylight. Over the past few weeks, a smattering of tweets, TikToks, and think pieces-many from teenagers and young adults-have complained that celebrations of LGBTQ Pride are too raunchy. Supposedly, there is a yet another generational war going on-among queer people, and about sex. The captions say something along the lines of “Gen Z calling the cops after seeing a jockstrap at Pride.”
Some people have been sharing images of queer icons and homophobes alike wearing expressions of disapproval-RuPaul frowning on the phone, Little Edie ranting in Grey Gardens, Aunt Lydia scowling in The Handmaid’s Tale. This month, the memes related to LGBTQ Pride celebrations have had a striking theme: disgust.
