Progressive folks are probably well represented in its market; REI doesn't sell guns or ammunition and urges other outdoor equipment sellers to engage with a national discussion of gun safety. This stance probably helps define who chooses to shop with REI.
It was especially good to encounter this sign right after reading Brynn Tannehill's terrifying description of how Republicans in red states are working to outlaw what they call "transgenderism" -- which amounts to outlawing transgender people. No kidding.
There is more than a hint of the attitude that “we have tolerated these people for too long, even as they destroy our nation from within and pollute our culture.” There’s incitement to violence to protect women and children, even as party-affiliated militias (whether the Sturmabteilung or the Proud Boys) engage in campaigns of intimidation. Such sentiments and statements would not seem out of place uttered by Goebbels in 1933 or Tucker Carlson today.
There’s a pattern to how states target disfavored minorities with the intention of driving them out, or underground. It starts with rhetoric demonizing a minority, designed to start a moral panic, and with laws meant to “encourage” the targeted minority to leave by making life as dangerous, unpleasant, and untenable for them as possible.
Over time, as the situation deteriorates, many choose to leave no matter what the personal cost because anything is better than this: whether it was Blacks fleeing the American South during the Great Migration or the 60 percent of German Jews who left the country between 1933 and 1939. Modern-day Republicans are not even hiding the fact that the goal of their anti-LGBTQ policies is to encourage them to flee. When a poll found that over half of Florida’s LGBTQ parents were considering leaving Florida because of Governor Ron DeSantis’s policies, his press secretary, Christina Pushaw, responded on Twitter with an emoji of a hand waving “Bye!”
The MAGA mob is serious about remaking the country in their demented image. In their warped vision, some people will have to go. Tannehill fears the GOP will try to categorize non-conforming gender identities as mental illnesses, requiring enforced "rehabilitation."
Most companies aren't going to have the guts to stand up for a minority. They are warily watching Ron DeSantis take on Disney. (Probably not the smartest target for MAGA; I'd still bet on the Mouse.) Even relatively small companies that do show courage are important to building the broadest coalition possible that stands for freedom and dignity for all. Thanks REI.
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