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27 June 2017

Anti-gay online hate is being turned into beautiful and funny artwork for Pride month

By Will Stroude

We all live our lives through social media these days, and while the internet has given LGBT+ people more ways to connect with their community than ever, it’s a sad fact that online life comes with its downsides too.

Online trolling and homophobia might be made up of pixels on a screen, but the damage and hurt it can cause is all too real. In an attempt to raise awareness of the issue and turn the hatred into something into something beautiful, artists and designers have been turning real homophobic messages into beautiful and funny artwork.

The images form part of Smirnoff’s #ChooseLove campaign, and with Pride in London just over 10 days away, another batch of brilliant designs have been released.

“Gay doesn’t mean happy anymore, homosexuals have hijacked the word to make it acceptable,” writes one troll who, to their credit, appears to have mastered time travel and arrived straight from the early ’50s.

Enter artist Chaz Hutton, who’s helping to mark Pride by imagining exactly how said ‘hijacking’ would take place…

Another troll took issue with the spotlight that is often drawn to those in the LGBT community, saying: “Gays trying so hard to be famous it makes me sick”.

Cure this fabulous piece by French artist Marylou Faure…

“I hate gay pride events so much. I cannot express (without physically throwing a tantrum) how much I despise gay pride,” wrote one kill-joy.

Lucas Levitan’s response not only illustrates exactly what being that much of a misery looks like in the flesh, but also looks like the range of emotions Attitude goes through when trying to select a Pride outfit…

Another hate says: “Protecting LGBT? Are you kidding? LGBT don’t need protecting. World need protecting from LGBT. LGBT is evil and sick.”

Illustrator Ricardo Bessa’s knight-in-shining-armour response looks like and outtake from a Disney movie we never know we needed…

A selection of the artwork created in the Smirnoff #ChooseLove campaign will be shown at an exhibition on 6th – 7th July ahead of the Pride in London Parade.

The exhibition will be part of the Pride in London Festival, a series of events that raise awareness of LGBT+ issues to campaign for the freedom for the community to live their lives on an equal footing.

Happy Pride! And remember: Don’t tolerate hate; report it here.

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