A failed GOP candidate tried to slur LGBTQ+ people as demons. It backfired spectacularly.

By now, you’ve probably seen that “Pride Demon” meme all over social media. The image, featuring the words “Pride Month” written five times, with letter fading to leave the word “demon” written in rainbow letters, went viral over the weekend after anti-LGBTQ+ activist, QAnon conspiracy theorist, and failed Republican Senate candidate Lauren Witzke posted it on Twitter on May 26.

Her post seems to have backfired, however, with LGBTQ+ people and allies enthusiastically embracing the meme, ridiculing Witzke, and drawing attention to the queer and trans artist who created the rainbow version of the meme.

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Mark Robinson recently said God created him to fight against LGBTQ+ rights.

According to KnowYourMeme.com, artist Veya, who uses fae/they pronouns, repurposed the anti-LGBTQ+ meme back in 2021. The original image, reportedly posted to the Facebook page of Christian publisher Sword-In-Hand Publishing in June 2021, featured a similar image, but with the letters fading to reveal “demon” in red letters rather than rainbow letters.

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“A little hint at what dwells at the heart of ‘pride month’…” text above the graphic reads in the original Sword-in-Hand meme.

At the time, a few Twitter users seized upon the unintentionally hilarious image. “Love how this was posted unironically,” one tweeted in June 2021.

Love how this was posted unironically