Conservatives tried to start a boycott of LGBTQ+ friendly businesses. Their efforts backfired.

Several small business owners in Lancaster, Ohio, say they saw an increase in new customers after a local anti-LGBTQ+ group tried to start a boycott campaign against them.

I work in Lancaster every once in a while and it’s a pretty backwards, back woods kinda town. I always feel a little uncomfortable there because of all the jacked up trucks with Trump flags, LETS GO BRANDON stickers and even my customers who come in wearing NRA shirts and MAGA hats.

Here’s what a County Conservatives member and director of the local Family Forum has to say:

“None of us have called for anyone to boycott these businesses; we were just trying to figure out who was supporting [the events],” Burgoon said. “Our downtown has suffered greatly, and it has come back now. We don’t want to lose that again, so we haven’t called for anybody to boycott anyone.”

Yeah okay.

But the owners of businesses on the list aren’t buying it. Brandon Love, owner of gift shop Bewilderment argues that the list was always meant to discourage people from patronizing the businesses on it.

“We’ve probably had at least 200 people who have never been to Lancaster that have come to town to support the boycotted businesses,” Love said. “People from, not just Columbus, but out of state have been visiting us on the daily now, and so it’s definitely something I didn’t expect.”

It’s nice to see the LGBTQ+ community standing their ground to all the hate coming from the shit head conservatives who want to run them out, or at the very least force them back into the closet. Even more heartwarming to know people are flocking to this forgotten little town to show their support. I’ll never understand why some people are so hellbent on dehumanizing other people who are a little different than them.