In the video, the creator pretends to be at one of the camps and greets her "gay friends," her girlfriend, and the "TikTok lesbians" with a smile, though her demeanor turns sour when she pretends she has spotted CAMP RULES #gaycamp #meetmyfam #lastminutexmas #lovemybffbut #mikepence #summercamp #queer #gay #bi #lgbt ♬ original sound - queercasĪccording to The New York Times, a popular group of LGBTQ TikTok creators known as "Cabin Six," which has amassed nearly 34,000 followers on the platform, chose its name in reference to the Pence meme, as the "cabin" would exist in one of the hypothetical Pence camps. One clip, which has racked up more than 7,000 likes since it was posted at the end of December, uses another popular format that relies on the creator walking toward the camera and greeting various people they might see at a particular location. On each tag, many of the videos are related to the conversion-camp meme, mixing it with other popular TikTok trends. #Pence has accumulated some 4.6 million views, while #mikepencesummercamp has amassed more than 237,000 views. The #mikepence tag on the platform, which is used by creators to tag their videos to appeal to a wider audience, has some 11.1 million views, per data from TikTok.
The videos, in turn, seem to have struck a chord among a large portion of TikTok's user base, which according to a previous Insider report has been a vital platform for LGBTQ youth. Such camps have been found to be ineffective and harmful. Creators on TikTok have taken to the popular social-networking platform to share videos that imagine a world in which Vice President Mike Pence assumes the role of president and sends LGBTQ people to "conversion camps" meant to turn gay people straight.