SF Pride parts with singer Dee Snider over 'transphobic' tweet

SAN FRANCISCO - San Francisco Pride is scrapping plans to feature singer Dee Snider in next month's Pride festivities over a transphobic tweet, the organization said Wednesday.

Plans to make the 1984 Twisted Sister hit "We're not gonna take it" into a theme song for Pride events in June fell apart after Snider commented on a tweet by another rock musician that many viewed as biased against trans people. Snider had been expected to perform the rock anthem in San Francisco during an LGBTQ celebration.

The backlash began when Snider, a longtime supporter of SF Pride and the LGBTQ+ movement, voiced support on Monday for a statement from Paul Stanley, the guitarist for the band Kiss.

"There is a BIG difference between teaching acceptance and normalizing and even encouraging participation in a lifestyle that confuses young children," Stanley posted on Twitter. "With many children who have no real sense of sexuality or sexual experience caught up in the ‘fun’ of using pronouns… some adults mistakenly confuse teaching acceptance with normalizing and encouraging a situation that has been a struggle for those truly affected and have turned it into a sad and dangerous fad."

Snider retweeted Stanley’s post saying: "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."

SF Pride and Snider have mutually agreed to part ways and hope that the incident is a teachable moment for longtime supporters of the LGBTQ+ movement, SF Pride said.

"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," said Suzanne Ford, executive director of San Francisco Pride. "The message perpetuated by that tweet casts doubt on young trans people’s ability to self-identify their gender. We have mutually agreed to part ways, but appreciate Dee seeing this as a teachable moment and a reminder that even allies need to be educated to ensure that they are not casually promoting transphobia. To all our allies — we want to call you in — not call you out."

San Francisco's annual Pride parade is scheduled for June 23.