 | |
| Founded | July 2000 |
|---|---|
| Type | Gun rights, LGBT |
| Location | |
| Website | pinkpistols |
The Pink Pistols are an LGBTQ gun rights organization in the United States and Canada. Their motto is "Pick on someone your own caliber". [1]
| | |
| Founded | July 2000 |
|---|---|
| Type | Gun rights, LGBT |
| Location | |
| Website | pinkpistols |
The Pink Pistols are an LGBTQ gun rights organization in the United States and Canada. Their motto is "Pick on someone your own caliber". [1]
Inspired by a Salon.com article written by Jonathan Rauch, [2] Krikket (aka Doug Krick), a libertarian activist from Illinois while living in Massachusetts, founded the Pink Pistols in July 2000. The organization had at least 45 chapters, as of October 2014. [1] Those chapters are located in 33 states and three countries that are principally made up of gun-owning LGBT individuals, though neither status is mandatory for membership. [3]
The political orientation of the Pink Pistols is considered unusual due to the popular perception in the United States of firearms ownership as a conservative issue and sexuality as a liberal issue. [4]
Pink Pistols' activities include firing range visits and political activism. The group occasionally produces report cards on politicians, rating their position on issues of interest to members. According to pinkpistols.org:
The Pink Pistols get together at least once a month at local firing ranges to practice shooting, and to acquaint people new to firearms with them. We will help you select a firearm, acquire a permit, and receive proper training in its safe and legal use for self-defense. The more people know that members of our community may be armed, the less likely they will be to single us out for attack.
The Pink Pistols' symbol consists of an overhead view of a picto-person aiming a handgun in an isosceles stance superimposed on a pink triangle. The pink triangle, now a gay pride and gay rights symbol, was originally a badge that homosexual concentration camp victims were forced to wear during the Holocaust.
According to spokesperson Gwen Patton, "We don't want people to hurt us, we want people to run away from us, and the best way we have found to do that is to be armed." [1] Patton has also stated that, "the Pink Pistols tend to get a better response from firearms supporters than from homosexuals". [5]
The group's membership increased from 1,500 to 4,500 in the week after the 2016 Orlando nightclub shooting. [6] As of June 24, 2016, the membership is over 7,000, and there are 36 chapters around the country. [7] The group experienced a further rise in interest following Donald Trump's election to the presidency later that year. [8] By April 2017, the group claimed a membership of over 9,000. [9]
On September 23, 2018, trans woman Erin Palette became the new president of the Pink Pistols. [10]
On October 19, 2018, Pink Pistols founder Doug "Krikket" Krick died due to suicide. [11]
In January 2020, winner of Season 4 of the History Channel show Top Shot, Chris Cheng (the first openly gay man to win the contest), joined the Board of Directors of Operation Blazing Sword/Pink Pistols (two gun rights-LGBT organizations that merged in 2018). [12]
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) movements are social movements that advocate for LGBT people in society. Although there is not a primary or an overarching central organization that represents all LGBT people and their interests, numerous LGBT rights organizations are active worldwide. The first organization to promote LGBT rights was the Scientific-Humanitarian Committee, founded in 1897 in Berlin.
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The Campaign for Homosexual Equality (CHE) is a membership organisation in the United Kingdom with a stated aim from 1969 to promote legal and social equality for lesbians, gay men and bisexuals in England and Wales. Active throughout the 1970s – and becoming a mass-membership organisation during this time – CHE's membership declined in the 1980s.
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Homophobic propaganda is propaganda based on homonegativity and homophobia towards homosexual and sometimes other non-heterosexual people. Such propaganda supports anti-gay prejudices and stereotypes, and promotes social stigmatization or discrimination. The term homophobic propaganda was used by the historian Stefan Micheler in his work Homophobic Propaganda and the Denunciation of Same-Sex-Desiring Men under National Socialism, as well as other works treating the topic.
LGBT movements in the United States comprise an interwoven history of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and allied movements in the United States of America, beginning in the early 20th century and influential in achieving social progress for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and transsexual people.
LGBT pride is the promotion of the self-affirmation, dignity, equality, and increased visibility of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people as a social group. Pride, as opposed to shame and social stigma, is the predominant outlook that bolsters most LGBT rights movements. Pride has lent its name to LGBT-themed organizations, institutes, foundations, book titles, periodicals, a cable TV channel, and the Pride Library.
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