Conservative Christians have expressed outrage after Ulta Beauty partnered with Queer Eye star Jonathan Van Ness, accusing the brand of “pushing an agenda of sexual confusion” simply for featuring the nonbinary celebrity stylist in an advertising campaign.
Ulta Beauty announced its collaboration with Van Ness last month, which includes the JVN Hair line and a series of wholesome social media videos.
But the conservative campaign group One Million Moms (OMM), a project of the anti-LGBTQ+ American Family Association, has condemned the campaign solely on the basis of Van Ness’ gender identity.
“An agenda of sexual confusion”
“Jonathan Van Ness, commonly referred to by his initials JVN, is also a celebrity hairstylist who identifies publicly as nonbinary,” OMM’s website said.
“The beauty brand’s decision to financially support a biological male with the exclusive JVN Hair line of products is extremely offensive to females. In truth, Ulta is not just selling beauty products; it is pushing an agenda of sexual confusion.”
The group continued: “Ulta’s controversial campaign is portraying this perverted behavior as a normal occurrence by embracing the LGBTQ community and glorifying the transgender lifestyle. 1MM finds it extremely dangerous to share lies and deceit while propagating what God calls an abomination, camouflaged as kindness, love, and inclusivity.”
Petition launched against Ulta
OMM has launched a petition urging supporters to boycott Ulta Beauty until it “remains neutral in the culture war.”
“I find Ulta Beauty extremely irresponsible in financial support and encouragement of the unhealthy lifestyle of gender dysphoria,” the petition states. The group claims over 12,000 signatures so far, although it has never lived up to its “million” name.
Jonathan Van Ness responds
On Instagram, Van Ness addressed backlash, highlighting the real danger queer and gender-diverse people face:
“[What has been normalised is] threatening violence against me and people like me, [when] queer people, trans people, gender nonconforming people already face increased levels of violence,” Van Ness wrote.
“And it’s just so casual for people to threaten violence against someone because they don’t like the way they dress, they don’t like the way they present.”
Despite the outrage from OMM, Ulta has stood by its inclusive campaign, while fans have shown strong support for Van Ness and their brand collaboration.
