They’ve been spotted outside The Abbey, West Hollywood City Hall and a variety of other gaycentric hotspots all over Southern California’s most gay-friendly city: variations on the Revolutionary War-era Gadsden flags with the familiar rainbow colors, an a provocative hashtag: #ShootBack.
The posters are apparently in response to Sunday’s massacre of 49 mostly LGBTQ patrons at Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Fla., all of whom were unarmed.
Presidential candidate Donald Trump this week lamented on CNN Monday and then in a speech Wednesday that more lives could have been saved at Pulse if more patrons were armed themselves. Such a notion “defies common sense,” said President Obama Thursday.
The posters first appeared Wednesday, according to Daily Wire, at the Pacific Design Center and in front of artist Chad Michael Morrisette’s house, as well as the Abbey and city hall. Morrisette’s artistic statement about the Orlando shootings was to cover the roof of his house with 50 mannequins.
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Traditionally the Gadsden flag has been used to support revolutionary uprising against oppression with the slogan, “Don’t Tread On Me,” and its depiction of a python. But in this case the signmaker appears to be issuing a call to arms by the queer community, contrary to its longstanding support of liberal causes such as gun control.
View the posters from Daily Wire below:
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