You can call her ‘Mother’: Harris’ queer fans move fast with viral memes

Less than 24 hours after Vice President Kamala Harris announced she would run for president following Joe Biden’s exit from the race, queer people flooded the internet with cheeky videos and memes about her candidacy.

A supercut of Harris laughing, set to a Charli XCX song from the album “Brat,” quickly went viral, with more than 1.3 million views. Within hours of the announcement, photos and videos circulated of a group of men on Fire Island Pines, a queer-friendly beach on New York’s Long Island, wearing cropped T-shirts in “brat” lime green — the color of Charli XCX’s album — with “Kamala” emblazoned on the front in the same typeface used on the album.

“BRAT Kamala shirts already on Fire Island. The gays move SO FAST,” a user wrote.

Some LGBTQ people shared their support via memes and videos. And there was no shortage of campy and queer-coded posts referring to Harris as “mother.”

“BIDEN IS OUT!” a person wrote on X. “MOTHER KAMALA... IT’S YOUR TIME.”

Another user wrote, “knee deep in the passenger’s seat and biden dropped out is it kamala now?” using lyrics from queer pop icon Chappell Roan’s song “Casual.”

A TikTok user resurrected photos comparing Harris to “The L Word” character Bette Porter, an ultimate power lesbian with an enviable pantsuit collection, played by Jennifer Beals.

“Bette Porter walked so Madam President Kamala Harris could runnnn,” the TikTok post said.

Others connected a speech Harris gave referring to coconuts to trans pop artist Kim Petras’ song “Coconuts.”

Across the internet, coconuts and the coconut emoji have become expressions of support for Harris.

“All aboard the coconut express!!!” a person wrote on X, alongside a video of Harris featuring RuPaul’s song “Call Me Mother.”

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