If I had to pick one word describing why Trump was re-elected in 2024, it’d be backlash. That is, backlash to inflation, censorship, Covid tyranny, government corruption, endless wars, unchecked immigration, media dishonesty, a weaponized DOJ, DEI,…the list goes on and on.

But an underrated part of this is a cultural backlash. Generically, it’s called wokeness, but the specific part I’m focusing on is the LGBTQ+ movement. Now, I do NOT mean a backlash against people who are gay, lesbian, trans, etc. I mean the nonstop 24/7/365 in-your-face barrage of LGBTQ+ coverage. Pride month, trans month, drag queen week, advertising, movies, grade school curriculum, and even sports. It never stops! Mainstream media and Democratic politicians never shut up about it.

One thing the Left doesn’t want to accept is that the civil rights movement of the past 50+ years has been successful! It has won. No, that doesn’t mean we’ve totally eliminated racism, sexism, homophobia, etc., and we probably never will, but equal rights have been achieved. Acceptance has been achieved. I’d estimate 90 percent of society doesn’t give a shit about your race, gender, or sexual orientation. The legalization of gay marriage in 2015 was the biggest obstacle toppled from the LGBTQ+ movement. The stigma of being gay is gone. In fact, it’s almost considered “cool” nowadays. However, acceptance and equal rights, for whatever reason, just aren’t good enough. The Left has an absolute obsession with throwing anything and everything LGBTQ+ in the face of us deplorable hicks in flyover country.

Most people don’t watch the news, nor follow current events. Who can blame them? It’s so depressing, and every day the ass-backward, clown world seems to get worse. So, we look for escapes, most often in entertainment. Going to the movies is an activity of the past–99 percent of the movies the last 5 years have been pure crap, and who wants to pay $50 for a movie date night when you can pay for several months of a streaming service for that amount. That’s where Netflix comes in. Netflix has become the dominant streamer because it has the most content, but as any regular watcher knows by now, EVERY F-ING NETFLIX ORIGINAL SERIES must have a LGBTQ+ character or storyline. Yes, every one! But it’s not just Netflix…Amazon, Hulu, Paramount, Disney, and others have felt compelled to follow the same formula.

Most people, myself included, don’t care if there are gay characters now and then. But when 3-5 percent of the population is LGBTQ+, but 100 percent of shows have these storylines, it feels like more of the in-your-face, preachy, condescending bullshit for which most of us are trying to escape. Most of all, it’s just tired and boring. Newflash to the entertainment industry: you’re NOT breaking new ground. You’re not doing anything bold or artistic. You’re just wasting our time.

It’s become comically predictable. My wife and I have made a game of it. Whenever we start a new series, we try to guess who and when the first LGBTQ+ character will appear. Lately, we’ve both been winning since shows are now feeling a need to push several gay characters and storylines, almost never having to do with the main plot. Recent example: Matlock, a remake of the Andy Griffith series starring Kathy Bates as an elderly lawyer trying to infiltrate a firm she blames for the death of her daughter. We’re halfway through season one, and I think we’re at 3 or 4 gay characters, with the blossoming lesbian side story, of course. having ZERO to do with Matlock’s mission, nor the legal cases in the show. Like all these series diversions, I find myself saying, “Yeah, yeah, thank you for enlightening us backwards rubes. I now know there are a gay people in the world. 👍 Can we get back to the plot, pretty please?”

As for Trump’s re-election, do you see how Neflix and other streamers have contributed to the backlash? Our escapes from the clown world have become the most clownish of all, so much so that voters metaphorically screamed, “FUCKING ENOUGH ALREADY! I just want to live my life, pay for groceries & rent, spend time with the ones I love, and escape the pressures of work & responsibilities with some quality entertainment.” The politically incorrect Trump is the giant middle finger driving that message home.