Twisted Sister, best known for rock anthems like “We’re Not Going to Take It” and “You Can’t Stop Rock and Roll,” skyrocketed to fame in the 1980s with their edgy, heavy metal, norm-pushing personas.
Lead singer Dee Snider often dressed in costumes inspired by drag queens.
Their songs, especially “We’re Not Going to Take It,” often become the rallying cry of rebellious youth and progressive social movements including LGBTQ+, and that trend continued until recently.
Last month, Paul Stanley, the lead singer of KISS (another heavy metal band from the 1980s) blasted gender reassignment procedures for children on social media.
In the post, he stated, “There is a BIG difference between teaching acceptance and normalizing and even encouraging participation in a lifestyle that confuses young children into questioning their sexual identification as though some sort of game and then parents in some cases allow it.”
Stanley received significant public support, including Twisted Sister’s Dee Snider, who retweeted Stanley’s statement and replied: “You know what? There was a time where I ‘felt pretty’ too. Glad my parents didn’t jump to any rash conclusions! Well said, @PaulStanleyLive.”
Critics labeled Stanley and Snider as “transphobic,” and both felt compelled to defend their stances in multiple threads, highlighting their long-time support of LGBTQ+ communities.
However, that did not matter to San Francisco Pride. Snider was supposed to perform at the organization’s big event this year, with his song “We’re Not Going to Take It” set to be the rallying cry. After Snider’s post, SF Pride informed Snider that he was no longer invited to perform.
In a statement, SF Pride said:
“However, when we were notified about the tweet in which Dee expressed support for Kiss’s Paul Stanley’s transphobic statement, we were heartbroken and angry. The message perpetuated by that tweet casts doubt on young trans people’s ability to self-identify their gender.”
It is sad that Stanley, Snider, and so many others are facing backlash and cancelation after they simply do what’s right — stand against dangerous treatments and procedures for children.
