As the country gets less and less hospitable to trans and queer existence, our community has a few tried-and-true ways of fighting back. The first way involves being loud, proud, and annoyingly anti-f*scist for all to see. Another, perhaps subtler tactic is to withhold our hard-earned dollars from businesses that want us six feet below ground.
Related
“Nothing will humble a pharmacy tech more than dealing with a transgender patient.”
But how can we tell just which businesses to support and which to boycott? Apart from staying away from the obvious culprits (Target, Walmart, and all the other anti-DEI big brands) and using helpful resources (like the BDS list) to navigate the marketplace, what should we do to make sure our spending doesn’t ultimately come back to hurt us?
Thankfully, there’s a very easy way to see which local stores are aligned with…let’s just call it pure evil, which is exactly what it is.
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Public Square seems to be a kind of Yelp competitor for specifically right-wing interests. Marketing itself as “America’s Marketplace,” the platform allows you to type in your zip code and see what businesses in your area potentially stand against human rights. It’s easy!
One TikToker (@dapper.delinquent) calls Public Square “the green book,” but for conservatives. “It is a website that conservatives will register their business on to show that they are anti-woke, pro-conservative, and especially pro-life.”
Leave it to conservatives to out themselves for us! Now we have a handy resource that helps us stay away not just from large corporate enterprises, but also local shops that might not have our own interests in mind. Or might be actively campaigning to destroy our lives and abilities to live openly, not to mention our reproductive freedoms.
As recommended by this TikToker, engage with Public Square in a safe, private browser to avoid giving these people your information. And take note: even in a blue state and city, there are probably a lot more conservative-owned businesses than we’d like to imagine. Knowledge is power, people, and we’re done giving our hard-earned money to people who hate us. Not in this economy!
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