American Apparel is taking flak online after it launched a new bag which attempts to define the letters in ‘LGBTQA’.
The brand, which has often released pro-LGBT lines, defines the ‘A’ in the acronym as ‘ally’.
A photo was posted on Tuesday of the new range of tote bags on Instagram.
Social media users were quick to point out that the ‘A’ in LGBTQA usually stands for agender, or asexual people.
Some suggested that defining the ‘A’ in this way was exclusionary to those members of the community.
One user wrote: “My asexual ass over here um hey yeah A doesn’t stand for ally ok cool thanks.”
Another commented: “They fucked up on this honestly LMAO.”
One user really couldn’t understand why American Apparel had used the definition they did, writing: “Ally??? Are you kidding me?
“The ‘a’ stands for asexual. Way to erase many people’s identity. By including allies, all you’re doing is giving straight people a pat on the back for not being terrible homophobic/transphobic trash. I was excited when I first saw this to rep some bi pride but now I’m just pissed off.”
But others defended American Apparel, saying people should give the company the “benefit of the doubt”.
One wrote: “Can’t people take a second and appreciate the message behind this whole collection, rather than tearing this company apart because they replaced one group/word?”
Another added: “At least American Apparel is FOR the LGBT+ community. It’s most likely just an honest mistake that they thought A meant ally.”
The brand responded with a post on Thursday.
Also part of the new clothing range mocks Donald Trump with a ‘make America gay again’ slogan.
Last year the company announced bankruptcy but emerged from that in February after selling off shares to private companies.
In December PinkNews revisited some of the brand’s most inclusive LGBT campaigns.
The post People are pretty annoyed at this American Apparel Pride tote bag appeared first on PinkNews - Gay news, reviews and comment from the world's most read lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans news service.
