ANALYSIS: Americans Reject Trans Indoctrination of Children and Corporate Pride Campaigns

'Americans have been brainwashed by our own tolerance.'

A bottle of Bud Light beer is seen at a grocery store in Glenview, Ill., on April 25, 2023. Nam Y. Huh/AP Photo

What began as drag queen story hour evolved into drag shows for children. Now, naked men peddle bikes in front of children at pride parades in Seattle while LGBT activists in New York City marched through the streets chanting: “We’re here. We’re queer. We’re coming for your children.”

As previously reported by The Epoch Times, the tide is turning on tolerance for transgender ideology.

Biological science has been replaced by internal feelings and chosen identities. The clarity of one’s sex has been blurred by the ambiguity of “gender.”

There are now an infinite number of pronouns. Failure to use the correct pronoun can result in losing your job.

Men are claiming titles, trophies, scholarships, and accolades in women’s sports. Men are named Woman of the Year and crowned in women’s pageants.

The backlash started when Anheuser-Busch chose a transgender influence to become a spokesperson for Bud Light. It became a revolt when Target took aim at children. Now, recent surveys confirm that Americans have had their fill of harmful transgender indoctrination and “woke” corporate pride campaigns.

According to a recent survey conducted by Summit.org, in partnership with McLaughlin and Associates, 61 percent of likely voters believe that “introducing young children to ideas like transgenderism, drag shows, and LGBTQ+ themes hurts their emotional and psychological development.” Still more, 63 percent believe that the activists pushing transgenderism, drag shows, and LGBT themes to children have an ulterior motive.

Conversely, the survey also found that 50.3 percent of TikTok users believe introducing children to transgenderism, drag shows, and LGBT themes is helpful for their emotional and psychological development. Only 33.8 of Facebook users feel the same. In addition, 44.9 percent of TikTok users say introducing children to transgenderism, drag shows, and LGBT themes is “motivated by a desire to help children.” Only 31.4 percent of Facebook users believe the effort has altruistic intentions.

What is striking about the opinions of TikTok users is that data compiled by Statista in April shows that the majority of TikTok’s users (38.4 percent) are young females (20.9 percent) and young males (17.5 percent) between the ages of 18 and 24, nearly the same age group of “AFAB people” cited by Virginia Tech researches as showing the sharpest increase in gender dysphoria. The majority of Facebook users (41.9 percent) are between the ages of 24 and 44. The smallest audience, 22.3 percent, is among those between the ages of 13 and 24.

‘Americans Are Waking Up’

According to Mark Meckler, president and co-founder of Convention of States Action, the reason why we are seeing such a spike in the number of youth identifying as transgender “is very clear.”

Mark Meckler in West Palm Beach, Fla., on Dec. 21, 2019. Brendon Fallon/The Epoch Times

According to Meckler, it’s the radical and blatant evolution of the transgender movement that has pushed the American tolerance level beyond its breaking point.

“Americans have been brainwashed by our own tolerance,” Meckler told The Epoch Times. “What we’re told to do is to tolerate anything, even if it’s cruel. That’s a problem because tolerance is an important part of the American ethos. It’s the reason why we’re able to live together over the long term with such an ideologically diverse population. Unfortunately, that tolerance has now extended to the toleration of things that are clearly wrong and evil. I think Americans are waking up to that, and the thing that is waking them up is the children.”

As Meckler explained, “It’s one thing to say that a consenting adult should be able to chop off healthy body parts, which I think should be illegal, and no doctor should be allowed to do that. But it’s an entirely different matter to say it’s okay to do this to children.”

Meckler also noted that it’s important to remember that a child is classified from a legal perspective as mentally and emotionally incapable of consenting.

“Nobody would say that a child under the age of 18 can consent to having sexual relations, especially with an adult,” he said. “We have laws against that. But now they’re saying they have the ability to give consent to having their genitals removed or being chemically castrated or having healthy breast tissue removed. The idea of children being groomed into this ideology has broken out into the mainstream, and people are naturally finding that abhorrent. Going for the kids has caused a turning point.”

The Bud Light-Target Backlash

A June 2023 Nationwide Issues Survey (pdf), conducted by Trafalgar Group in partnership with Convention of States, shows that 40.8 percent of respondents said they have “boycotted a company for taking progressive or woke stances.”

Only 24.5 percent said the same for companies taking a “conservative or MAGA” public stance.

A 12-ounce can of Bud Light on a railing at the World Equestrian Center in Ocala, Fla., on May 26, 2023. T.J. Muscaro/The Epoch Times

In addition, the survey revealed that far more Republicans had boycotted a company for taking progressive or woke stances than Democrats have for companies taking a conservative or MAGA stance—60.4 percent to 45.1 percent, respectively.

The survey also revealed that, in light of the Bud Light and Target backlash, the majority of Americans believe businesses should stop making statements during pride month. While Meckler is pleased that Americans are finally waking up to what is really happening in the trans movement, he says there is still a lot that Americans need to understand.

“I agree the backlash is happening, but we’re not there yet,” he said, adding that “there’s a misunderstanding” in the public as to where the corporate involvement in pride campaigns is coming from.

I’m thrilled about what’s happening to Bud Light,” Meckler confessed, noting that the boycott of the product has bled 20 percent off of their year-to-year sales.

“That’s incredible. It’s complete brand destruction. I would argue that it’s permanent, irreversible brand destruction,” Meckler said. “That was the number one beer in America, and it will never be the number one beer in America again. It’s now a joke.”

According to reports, Bud Light is no longer America’s top-selling brand of beer, a status it held for over 20 years. In May, the beer plugged by transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney was replaced by Modelo Especial, a Mexican lager brewed near Mexico City.

As Meckler explained, “brand” is short for “how you feel about something.”

Budweiser was once known as “the king of beers,” Meckler said. “Bud is now the Dylan Mulvaney brand. It’s the transgender brand.”

Target has also suffered from its decision to join the transgender push by aiming at children. Along with suffering a $13 billion drop in Target Corp.’s stock, the company was downgraded by KeyBanc Capital Markets, according to MarketWatch. That followed the downgrade already imposed by JP Morgan.

“Most people in America are not in with that agenda, so they’ve killed their brand,” Meckler surmised, suggesting that other brands are going to start learning the same hard lessons as Anheuser-Busch and Target if they continue to interject woke politics into their branding.

Kohl’s was the next company to suffer the outrage of shoppers fed up with the transgender campaign when it decided to sell onesies for infants with messages like “Belong, believe, be proud” and “Ask me my pronouns” printed on them.

In all, Axios calculated a combined loss in stock value for Anheuser-Bush, Target, and Kohl’s of at least $28 billion.

Other companies facing boycotts during pride month are The North Face and PetSmart.

‘A Healthy Thing’

Meckler also drew attention to the fact that ESG policies are also facing resistance. ESG is the initialism for “Environmental, Social, and Governance.”

As reported by Forbes, ESG criteria were first forced into corporate and financial evaluations in 2006. By 2020, S&P Global reported that ESG was “all the rage.”

But the tide is turning there as well.

“A study was done recently about what is being said at shareholder meetings,” Meckler said, explaining that “the use of ESG terms is down dramatically.”

As explained by Riskonnect, a corporation’s ESG score indicates its willingness to comply with shareholder demands to establish policies that promote climate change initiatives as well as diversity, equity, and inclusion policies in the interest of “achieving the greater good.”

In its July 2022 study, “As You Sow” reported a “Historic Year” of ESG Shareholder Resolution filings. However, that report showed that support for shareholder ESG resolutions at U.S. companies actually dipped by 5.4 percent—falling from 32 percent to 26.6 percent from the previous year—as asset managers backed away from supporting tougher investor demands.

Meckler also explained that the decision by corporate CEOs to capitulate to ESG isn’t organic. It’s forced.

“It’s coming because giant investment funds like Vanguard and Blackrock are opposing the ESG scores on these companies,” he said, explaining that a company’s ability to raise capital is based on these scores. So when they do this stuff, they’re checking investment banking boxes.”

Ultimately, Meckler believes the growing backlash against transgender ideology is “a healthy thing for the United States of America” and that corporations, in particular, are finding there is no upside to pushing woke ideology into their brand.

“It’s a downside for them, and we’re starting to see that driven down into corporate behavior, and I think that’s going to continue,” he said.

In a recent appearance on “CBS Mornings,” Anheuser-Busch CEO Brendan Whitworth bemoaned the backlash stemming from the company’s decision to use Dylan Mulvaney as a spokesperson for their most popular brand of beer.

“I think the conversation surrounding Bud Light has moved away from beer, and the conversation has become divisive,” Whitworth said. “And Bud Light really doesn’t belong there. Bud Light should be all about bringing people together.”

In one respect, Meckler agrees.

“The truth is, it should be about having a beer and bringing people together, not about divisive issues,” Meckler proposed. “What we want is good products. Not products that divide us.”