Harley-Davidson Faces Boycott for Being Pro-LGBTQ
metroweekly.compublicly opposed legislation barring youth from accessing gender-affirming care.Starbuck also posted an advertisement in which Harley-Davidson claimed to be “all in on diversity and inclusion.” He claimed that the company “celebrated” its legal department “taking a woke 21-day racial equity and literacy challenge” that promoted works like the “1619 Project,” a book titled Black Panthers and White Lies, and work by Ibram X.
Kendi, a Boston University academic whose books promote the concept of “anti-racism.”Starbuck claimed that the company had organized an “LGBTQ+ entrepreneurship boot camp” at its corporate offices in Wisconsin and sponsored an LGBTQ event with a “rage room” adjacent to a “story time room for children to interact with drag queens.”He also criticized the company’s CEO, German-born businessman Jochen Zeitz, for setting a goal to make all Harley-Davidson vehicles run on electricity by 2030, which Starbuck alleged was trying to “change opinions on climate change.”“I don’t think the values at corporate reflect the values of nearly any Harley-Davidson bikers,” said the former GOP candidate for a congressional seat in Tennessee.Starbuck has organized online campaigns targeting brands whose customer bases are perceived to be more conservative, including farm equipment manufacturers John Deere and Tractor Supply, to renounce their DEI initiatives and refuse to support any pro-LGBTQ organizations or causes.The attack on Harley-Davidson is the latest incident in the conservative version of “cancel culture,” in which right-wing influencers attempt to sway consumers into either formally boycotting or informally refusing to patronize businesses that celebrate “wokeness,” a term with a frequently-shifting definition.
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