The San Francisco Pride festival has dropped Twisted Sister’s ’80s classic “We’re Not Gonna Take It” because the official anthem of its 2023 celebration.
The move got here after lead singer Dee Snider endorsed tweets from Kiss member Paul Stanley, who criticized pushing gender ideology on children.
In keeping with KRON4, the festival was about to announce the song of defiance because the festival’s theme and Snider had been set to perform.
“Ultimately SF Pride and Dee have mutually agreed to part ways,” the festival said in a press release, adding that Stanley’s tweet was “transphobic.” It added that the organization was “heartbroken and offended.”
On Sunday, Stanley tweeted out a lengthy statement in regards to the increasingly controversial topic of youths undergoing sex reassignment.
“There may be a BIG difference between teaching acceptance and normalizing and even encouraging participation in a life-style that confuses young children into questioning their sexual identification as if some type of game after which parents in some cases allow it.”
Stanley’s tweet continued, “There ARE individuals who as adults may resolve reassignment is their needed alternative but turning this right into a game or parents normalizing it as some type of natural alternative or believing that because somewhat boy likes to play dress up in his sister’s clothes or a woman in her brother’s, we should always lead them steps further down a path that’s removed from the innocence of what they’re doing.”
Snider, who’s vocal about his left-wing politics and in 2020 blasted anti-maskers for using his hit song in a video, put his stamp of approval on his fellow rocker’s sentiments, adding,
“You understand what? There was a time where I ‘felt pretty’ too. Glad my parents didn’t jump to any rash conclusions! Well said, @PaulStanleyLive.”
Each Snider and Stanley, who wore make-up and sported wild long hair of their heyday, were criticized for taking a stance, particularly considering their very own flamboyant personas.
“It is a very disappointing take, especially from someone who wore high-heels, makeup, & teased up hair his whole profession. As a young kid your band helped teach me that I may very well be whatever I desired to be. I assume it was just gimmickry in any case,” one fan responded to Stanley on Twitter.
But others were more supportive, noting the nuance of their message.
“There’s a difference between telling kids they will dress nonetheless they like (good thing) and leading kids down a path towards life altering medical decisions with a statistically very high likelihood to find yourself being the incorrect move for them, quite possibly ruining their life (bad thing),” said one other commentator.
Snider has doubled down on Twitter, responding to critics: “Parents must be less reactionary; Right and Left. No must steer the kid in either direction. Let the child figure it out for themselves knowing their family is supportive.”
But Suzanne Ford, the manager director of San Francisco Pride, said Snider promised to place out a press release expressing his regret.
“It made me sick,” Ford told the local ABC affiliate of Snider’s tweets: “We cannot stand by these statements…I had a painful discussion with him yesterday…I feel he realizes he was incorrect…He was unaware of the situation.”
