Twitterati mock CIA as it attempts to 'come out of the closet' in Pride message

Why you're reading this: On Thursday (June 8), the US-based Central Intelligence News Agency (CIA) marked Pride Month with a perplexing Twitter graphic featuring the theme "WELCOME". While one might assume the message speaks for itself, the agency took it a step further by crafting an acronym: Wellness, Equity, LGBTQ+, Community, Openness, and even channeling Taylor Swift and Brendon Urie with a playful "ME!" reference.

3 things you need to know

• LGBT Pride Month is observed in June and is dedicated to the celebration and commemoration of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) pride.
• CIA’s tweet included a strange graphic with the words CIA and PRIDE combined — and announced that its theme for Pride month would be “WELCO-ME!”
• The online response to the post was filled with widespread mockery, highlighting the agency's history of homophobia.

What did the CIA tweet?

Twitter users wasted no time in expressing their disapproval towards the CIA on Thursday, as they mercilessly mocked the agency's tweet commemorating Pride month and its claim of a "rich history" with LGBTQ officers. The tweet featured an unusual graphic combining the words "CIA" and "PRIDE" and revealed that the agency's chosen theme for Pride month was "WELCO-ME!," representing "Wellness, Equity, LGBTQ+, Community, Openness, and ME!"

CIA's 2023 theme for #Pride Month is WELCO-ME!

Wellness
Equity
LGBTQ+
Community
Openness
ME!

Pride Month is an occasion for all of us at the Agency to pay tribute to the rich history, community, and mission contributions of our LGBTQ+ officers.#Pride2023 pic.twitter.com/aEEZplX13s

— CIA (@CIA)

“Pride Month is an occasion for all of us at the Agency to pay tribute to the rich history, community, and mission contributions of our LGBTQ+ officers,” read the tweet posted last week.

How did Twitter users react?

The online response to the post was filled with widespread mockery, as individuals criticised the CIA for being "woke" and highlighted the agency's history of homophobia when it claimed a "rich history" with the LGBTQ community spanning several decades.

Twitter CEO Elon Musk was among those who spearheaded the backlash at the government agency, writing: “I thought the CIA liked being the closet lol.”

I thought the CIA liked being the closet lol

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk)

Others followed suit, with one user writing: “If there’s one thing the CIA is known for it’s the agencies commitment to openness.”

Republican US Senator JD Vance from Ohio wrote: "Can’t believe this is real,” while another Twitter user mockingly asked, “When Did the CIA care about Openness?”

The Hill's Jessica Burbank’s tweeted: “This month, we are proud of not only the gay agents that helped us coup and murder heads of states, but also the gay agents that helped us foment dissent and make the coups seem like organic discontent” in societies with regimes we dislike,” she wrote. “<3 slay”. 

“Homosexual Investigations" by CIA, what were they?

A reporter accused the CIA of hypocrisy, pointing to its 1980 memo titled “Homosexual Investigations”.

The contentious memo detailed the challenges faced by CIA agents in identifying individuals who were concealing their sexual orientation, drawing a comparison to undercover communists with mental health issues.

The memo instructed agents that “one of the most common mistakes made by an average person is the conviction that he can recognise a homosexual on sight. This is similar to recognising a Communist."

“The subject has a mental or emotional problem rather than a physical one. There is no way to spot a homosexual,” the memo read.

Despite facing criticism and ridicule for its recent post, the CIA has a history of advocating for LGBTQ acceptance. The agency notably increased its efforts to promote diversity in 2012 by introducing programs aimed at attracting LGBTQ individuals as potential members.