Everywhere they look, political conservatives see signs that they’re under attack as American culture becomes more inclusive and accepting of alternative lifestyles and points of view.
Nowhere is that clearer than in the issue of LGBTQ rights, especially with Pride Month starting yesterday and ads going up around the internet calling for tolerance. As Philip Bump of the Washington Post notes, 2023 has become the “summer of anti-LGBTQ panic.
At its heart, this is a backlash from the right against a feared future. It’s an effort to change the country’s trajectory, blaming the current path on perceived indoctrination. The past few decades suggest that the right might soon discover that they aren’t creating a new road forward but, instead, a few last speed bumps.
NASCAR is one of the last bastions of “good ol’ boy” culture remaining, with its most fervent fans residing in the deep South, and now even that is become more inclusive, as proven by a tweet the organization sent out with the message, “We celebrate the LGBTQ+ community during #PrideMonth and beyond.”
That didn’t sit very well with right-wingers who compose the vast majority of NASCAR fans. After all, if you can’t watch cars going round and round and hate gay people at the same time, what in the hell has become of America??!!
Of course, that was the very same mindset during the 1950s and 60s when it came to civil rights for black Americans. How dare these people want to eat in the same restaurants and have the same opportunities!
As you’d expect, many NASCAR acolytes vented their bigotry and rage in response to the Pride Month tweet.
