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Harris’s online image redefined by queer fans on social media

Contours of 2024 race being shaped by the internet in unusual ways

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2 years ago

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(Illustration via @equalityVAYD on X)

Earlier this month, as speculation grew over whether President Joe Biden would withdraw from the 2024 race, a video featuring a supercut of footage of Kamala Harris alongside audio and visuals from Charli XCX’s new album, Brat, went viral on social media.

The post was neither the first nor the last of its kind. Hours after Biden’s announcement on July 21 that he would step aside to back his vice president’s historic bid for the nomination, a photo was circulated on X of men wearing matching cropped tees in Brat green (hex code: #89CC04) that were emblazoned with Kamala’s name in the album’s Arial Narrow typeface.

Minutes after the photo was shared with the caption, “BRAT Kamala shirts already on Fire Island. The gays move SO FAST,” the artist herself weighed in, posting “kamala IS brat.” The vice president then followed Charli XCX on social media and a Brat-themed banner image was uploaded to Kamala HQ, the campaign’s official, newly rebranded rapid response page on X.

Over the next week, as they covered the convergence of support for Harris among Democratic Party officials, delegates, donors, and elected officials, news organizations directed their attention, too, to the groundswell of online support for her candidacy, which inevitably meant confronting questions like what exactly was meant by proclamations that Kamala is Brat.

The album, which dropped on June 7, was an instant hit among Charli XCX’s LGBTQ fans. By this point, the “young girl from Essex” had become, as Pink News wrote, “synonymous with queer pop-music lovers,” particularly since her second EP “Vroom Vroom” was released in 2016 and “critics didn’t get it, but the gays did.”

Likewise, many of the pro-Harris social media posts seen recently, including those referencing music and themes from Brat, are inscrutable, though not for the predominantly young and LGBTQ online audiences by and for whom the content was created in the first place for purposes of giving voice to the post-July 21 vibe shift in the election and the jolt of enthusiasm they feel for the vice president’s candidacy.

“One of the things that I’m loving about this election cycle so much is the meme-ification of politics — brat summer, you know, I’m learning things about the internet that I didn’t know,” Human Rights Campaign National Press Secretary Brandon Wolf said during the organization’s Out for Harris LGBTQ+ Unity Call on Friday.

After the 2.5-hour virtual event wrapped, with remarks from a slate of LGBTQ elected leaders and celebrities, Wolf joined colleagues including HRC President Kelley Robinson for a dance party set to Beyoncé’s “Freedom.”

The rousing anthem was played by Harris in her first public appearances following Biden’s exit from the race and in her campaign’s first ad, which was released Thursday morning.

“There are some people who think we should be a country of chaos, of fear, of hate,” the vice president says in the video, over footage of Donald Trump and his running mate U.S. Sen. JD Vance of Ohio. “But us, we choose something different.” A crowd chants, “Kamala! Kamala! Kamala!” and Harris proclaims “we choose freedom,” as the booming chorus to “Freedom” begins.

The use of Beyoncé’s music and this song in particular is suffused with layers of meaning, from the contrast Harris’s campaign is drawing between her and her opponents’ visions for the future of America to her position as the country’s first Black woman poised to win a major party’s nomination for president.

The decision might also signal Harris’s embrace of her LGBTQ supporters, just as her campaign did by celebrating the queer online fandom she has enjoyed in recent weeks. After all, Beyoncé’s work has often celebrated Black queer culture, love that has been reciprocated by the community throughout the singer’s career.

LGBTQ fans helped to redefine Harris’s image online

The source material for recent viral online content about Harris is largely comprised of clips taken from audio and video footage of the vice president’s public remarks that were originally shared in many cases by critics and political opponents for purposes of presenting her as unserious (or mocking her words, laugh, and mannerisms).

Most were excerpted from a speech last year at the swearing-in ceremony for the White House Initiative on Advancing Educational Equity, Excellence, and Economic Opportunity for Hispanics, where Harris relayed an anecdote about how her mother “would give us a hard time sometimes, and she would say to us, ‘I don’t know what’s wrong with you young people.  You think you just fell out of a coconut tree?'” (Laughs.)

“You exist in the context of all in which you live and what came before you,” the vice president said.

By the end of June into early July, in the wake of the president’s poor performance against Trump in the televised CNN debate that spurred calls for him to step out of the race, clips from and references to Harris’s speech once again cropped up across social media platforms.

This time, however, they tended to signal support for the vice president, even before it became clear, starting with Biden’s endorsement, that she was favored to lead the Democratic Party ticket in 2024.

For instance, the “coconut tree” clip was used to kick off the viral supercut featuring imagery and music from Brat (the track “Von Dutch”).

In another post, shared on X by the Virginia Young Democrats LGBTQIA+ Caucus, emojis of coconuts and coconut trees were used to supplant the letters “o” and “t” to spell out “Hot To Go” a song by the queer artist Chappell Roan.

Many users shared videos with footage of the song “Coconuts” by trans singer Kim Petras (or from the lip sync battle featuring the song during Season 8 of “RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars” with queens Jessica Wild and Ra’Jah O’Hara).

Sometimes, these were cut with footage from the vice president’s speech or used in posts urging her to feature the song in her campaign.

Coconuts aside, another through-line connecting much of the pro-Harris social media content seen over the past few weeks was their inclusion of years-old clips of the vice president dancing.

Especially popular were videos in which she was grooving on stage in the rain while holding an umbrella during a campaign rally in 2020 and showing off her moves at the Iowa Democratic Party’s Liberty and Justice celebration in 2019.

For example, both were included in this viral July 21 supercut featuring RuPaul’s “Call Me Mother.”

Eventually, the playful and enthusiastic posts from young, queer corners of the internet seemed to inspire the Democratic Party establishment and its elected leaders.

Hours after Biden’s endorsement of Harris, U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) posted a photo of himself climbing a coconut tree with the caption, “Madam Vice President, we are ready to help.” 

Once again, the Harris campaign leaned in, updating the bio of the Kamala HQ page on X to read: “Providing context,” another nod to her famous 2023 speech.

An election defined by personalities and ‘vibes’

Looking ahead to November, it is hardly clear whether and to what extent the online enthusiasm for Harris and her campaign will be sustained.

Of course, a political candidate’s “memeability” is hardly an an exact proxy for public opinion. And online narratives can change over time, as demonstrated by the ways in which content featuring the vice president, like the footage of her “coconut tree” remarks, was co-opted by supporters who transformed them into pro-Harris memes and videos.

Also worth noting is the extent to which these have celebrated attributes like the candidate’s laugh and her dance moves rather than, for instance, her record of public service over several decades in public life or her campaign’s policy agenda.

Additionally, messaging from Trump and his allies and supporters suggests their strategy of going after Harris’s personality was not blunted by the evolution of online discourse seen on social media platforms. “I call her Laughing Kamala. You ever watch her laugh?… She’s crazy. She’s nuts,” the former president said at a recent rally in Michigan.

Meanwhile, beginning with a July 23 appearance on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Democratic Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota debuted a similar line of attack against Trump and his running mate U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio: “they’re weird.”

During a rally in St. Paul, he said, “The fascists depend on us going back, but we’re not afraid of weird people. We’re a little bit creeped out, but we’re not afraid.”

The remarks made headlines, amplifying calls for Harris to choose Walz as her 2024 running mate while prompting other high-profile Democrats, including other top contenders for the party’s vice presidential nomination, to follow suit.

Among them was out Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who told MSNBC’s Jen Psaki on Sunday that the characterization of the Republican ticket as “weird” is not just name-calling, but rather a legitimate response to the policies they have proposed and positions they hold.

He pointed to Vance’s statement that the Democratic Party is led by “childless cat ladies,” as well as the vice presidential nominee’s stance that Americans who have children should wield more political power than those who do not.

With respect to Trump, Buttigieg noted the former president’s “talk about terminating the Constitution,” his odd remarks during campaign rallies about subjects like the fictional serial killer Hannibal Lecter, and “the dark and twisted things that were kind of shoved in our face all of the time during the Trump presidency and ever since by the Trump campaign.”

For her part, Harris used the epithet on Saturday, though not in direct reference to Trump and Vance. Rather, the vice president characterized her opponents’ swipes against her as “just plain weird.”

Speaking of weird…

Shortly after Vance’s nomination was announced on July 15, a user on X wrote, “can’t say for sure but he might be the first vp pick to have admitted in a ny times bestseller to fucking an inside-out latex glove shoved between two couch cushions (vance, hillbilly elegy, pp. 179-181).”

The claim was totally bogus, but the post nevertheless went viral along with a deluge of memes and videos poking fun at Vance that flooded social media platforms alongside the viral pro-Harris content over the past few weeks.

And just as news organizations had brought offline attention to the “Kamala is brat” memes and “coconut pilled” supercuts, the social media posts about Vance reached even wider audiences when, for instance, John Oliver, host of the late-night program “Last Week Tonight,” called Republican campaign officials on Sunday with an inquiry about whether their vice presidential candidate ever had intercourse with a sofa.

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Politics

Buttigieg indicates he may run for president in 2028 

Former Transportation Secretary was in Biden-Harris administration’s Cabinet

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2 hours ago

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August 4, 2026

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Former U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg speaking at the 2024 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg told a podcaster he is considering throwing his hat in the ring for president once again.

“I don’t know,” Buttigieg told Steven Bartlett, the British host of The Diary of a CEO, the most popular top business and tech podcast on Spotify, which aired Monday. “I think I’m more inclined than not, but there’s so much we don’t know.”

“There’s so much I don’t even know about what’s going to happen this year, let alone … what we need to know later,” he added.

Buttigieg is no stranger to running for the Oval Office.

In 2019, the former South Bend, Ind., mayor was a serious contender in the Democratic primary for the 2020 presidential election but ultimately ended his campaign and endorsed Joe Biden.

In May, an Emerson College Polling survey found Buttigieg at the top of the list of potential presidential contenders, leading California Gov. Gavin Newsom, New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, former Vice President Kamala Harris, and others.

In addition to discussing his future in federal politics, Buttigieg also discussed President Donald Trump’s handling of the Iran war — which reached its 5-month mark two weeks ago — the changing landscape of U.S. jobs due to the rise of artificial intelligence, and the growing national debt, all issues he could face if he ultimately returns to the White House.

Following his 2020 presidential campaign, Buttigieg gained prominence within the Democratic Party, eventually leading to his confirmation as Transportation Secretary. In February 2021, he became the first openly gay Cabinet member to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate.

In addition to his experience as an elected official, the 44-year-old served as a Navy intelligence officer in the reserves from 2009-2017, including a seven-month deployment to Afghanistan in 2014. Buttigieg came out as gay in 2015 and later married his husband, Chasten Glezman, in 2018. The couple now has two children: twins.

Buttigieg also has an extensive educational background.

He graduated from Harvard University with a bachelor’s degree in history and literature and later became a Rhodes Scholar, attending the University of Oxford, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in philosophy, politics, and economics.

This is not the first time Buttigieg has made headlines this year.

In June, he went public about being falsely accused of posing a threat to his children’s safety. An anonymous police report claimed he was a danger to his 4-year-old twins and was not allowed to be with them until after police interviews were conducted.

The police report was later determined to be false. The Washington Blade reached out to the Michigan State Police to ask what course of action, if any, would be taken against the woman who filed the false report, but the agency did not answer the question.

The Blade reached out to Buttigieg’s team for comment on his potential 2028 presidential bid, but did not hear back before publication. 

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Congress

House blocks effort to codify transgender servicemember ban into law

Lawmakers approved two anti-trans NDAA amendments

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2 weeks ago

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July 22, 2026

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The Pentagon (Photo by icholakov/Bigstock)

The U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday rejected an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act that would have codified a ban transgender servicemembers in the military.

The bipartisan vote was 212-217.

The NDAA is for the 2027 fiscal year and sets policies for the Defense Department programs and activities and the national security programs of the Department of Energy.

U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) proposed the amendment on July 21. It stated that all personnel are required to serve in accordance with their biological sex, citing military readiness and discipline.

Human Rights Campaign Senior Director of Government Affairs Jennifer Pike Bailey stated that she is grateful for the bipartisan vote that rejected President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s “dangerous and discriminatory policy that has kicked brave transgender servicemembers out of the military and weakened our national security.”

“Everyone who meets the same rigorous standards should be able to serve their country. We should honor that patriotism, particularly in this moment where we are witnessing brave servicemembers making the ultimate sacrifice for our country, instead of ending their careers and politicizing their existence. We’re grateful that a permanent extension of this ban failed, and we will keep fighting to reverse this senseless policy,” Bailey said.

Mark Takano, chair of the Congressional Equality Caucus, stated that he and his members put in countless hours of work to kill the amendment.

“When Americans know they or their families are going to be targeted by or not supported by the military, that leads them to avoid signing up to serve or staying in the service — making it harder to keep the ranks of the armed services full and our nation safe. My colleagues in the Equality Caucus and I will continue working to prevent these attacks on our servicemembers and their families from becoming law,” Takano said.

According to the Congressional Equality Caucus, two other bills could potentially be passed that would also target the transgender community, both of which were proposed by U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.).

The first was a bill that would have prohibited gender-related medical care under TRICARE and to prevent TRICARE from covering certain gender-related medical procedures and treatments, which was approved in a vote of 219-208.

The second was a bill that would have prohibited male participation in female sports at DoDEA schools. DoDEA schools are Department of Defense Dependents Schools, which is a network of primary and secondary schools.

The amendment was approved in a vote of 221-203. 

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Congress

Lindsey Graham has passed away. Do LGBTQ people have a right to celebrate his death?

SC senator opposed marriage equality, despite speculation over sexual orientation

Published

3 weeks ago

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July 16, 2026

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The late-U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) in 2022. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

Uncloseted Media published this article on July 16.

By SPENCER MACNAUGHTON | On Sunday, the office of Lindsey Graham reported that the Republican senator and Trump ally from South Carolina died “from a brief and sudden illness.” The office said that the preliminary cause of death was a rupture of his aorta due to a hardening of his arteries.

Since then, many folks in the LGBTQ community, including a large number of Uncloseted followers, have — for better or worse — celebrated the senator’s death. When we posted the news on our Instagram page on Sunday, our followers commented:

  • “Maybe he rest in hell”—this one got 194 likes.
  • “She made sure to wait until Pride was over.”
  • “And just like that the world is a better place.”

These responses are fueled by allegations that the senator lived as a closeted gay man while supporting policies that would roll back LGBTQ rights. In 2006, he voted in support of a constitutional amendment that would have restricted marriage to only being between one man and one woman. After gay marriage became legal across the U.S. in 2015, he said “I am a proud defender of traditional marriage.” And in 2022, he told CNN he would oppose the Respect for Marriage Act and later reiterated that states should decide the issue of marriage.

Outside the Washington rumor mill, there wasn’t much evidence that Graham could be gay until 2020, when adult video performer Sean Harding wrote on Twitter that “There is a homophobic republican senator who is no better than Trump who keeps passing legislation that is damaging to the lgbt and minority communities. Every sex worker I know has been hired by this man. Wondering if enough of us spoke out if that could get him out of office?”

Harding followed up with another post, writing “If you’d be willing to stand with me against LG please let me know,” and, “So far I have two individuals who would be willing to go public and support my claims. Anyone else?”

A few days later, another anonymous sex worker came forward and made similar allegations.

But after that, there was silence, with some believing these sex workers were slapped with non-disclosure agreements (NDAs). And while at least one lawyer took to Twitter saying that he’d “be more than happy to read the NDAs and look for loopholes. For free!” nobody else came forward.

That is until earlier this week, when author Jesse James Rose posted to her Instagram that Graham had paid her for sex work prior to her gender transition. Rose wrote that “Most of you know him as the homophobic senator from South Carolina but to me he will always be the man who paid a twinky pre-transition college student a fat stack of cash to do unspeakable things to him in a hotel room while he wore red lingerie.”

This dynamic has created a complicated question for LGBTQ people: Is it appropriate to posthumously celebrate the death of a man who railed against our community and used his position of power to make our lives less equitable and less safe? Is it even more fair to criticize him if he was living a secret queer life?

Or should we go high and give his track record on LGBTQ issues a positive spin now that he’s no longer with us?

In a time where social media feels like a breeding ground for angertainment, I’ll admit that the immediacy of the response to his death at first felt intense.

At the same time, I knew I didn’t want to send thoughts or prayers to a man who tried to rip my rights away.

If the alleged NDAs that Graham handed his sex workers were legitimate, they likely evaporated after his death. So now really may be the first time people can speak their truth and offer an accurate window into the absurd hypocrisy between Graham’s public and private life.

For that, I think it’s fair game to speak candidly about the story he may have worked hard to muzzle while he was here.

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