Gays Against Guns Hails FedEx Move to End NRA Partnership

Gays Against Guns, which formed shortly after the June 2016 mass shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, is elated over FedEx's decision to cut ties with the National Rifle Association, something GAG has long campaigned for.

FedEx announced Monday that it was ending discount programs for more than 100 organizations, including the NRA. It had offered NRA members a 26 percent discount on shipping guns, NBC News reports.

"GRASSROOTS ACTIVISM WERKS!!!" GAG wrote on its Instagram page. "EVERY NATIONAL CHAPTER of Gays Against Guns has been protesting FedEx EVERY SINGLE MONTH, and calling for a boycott, because they were the ONLY major corporation that hadn't severed its ties with the National Rifle Association after the Parkland shooting. But now, in the wake of the Tree of Life massacre, they have FINALLY MADE THE RIGHT CHOICE!"

In addition to the monthly demonstrations, GAG held a 26-hour protest outside FedEx offices in New York City last spring, "It was a lot of effort, but we were there," GAG official John Grauwiler told NBC.

A FedEx spokesman, however, said GAG's action had nothing to do with the decision to end the NRA relationship. "The alliances involved in this transition don't have the shipping volumes to sustain a dedicated program," Jim McCluskey told NBC News.

Nonetheless, GAG members are happy with the decision and do take some credit for it. The group has become known for its direct actions, and its members have donned veils to represent themselves in Pride parades and other marches as "Human Beings" lost to gun violence.

Grauwiler, a veteran of the AIDS direct action group ACT UP, said that experience has informed his work with GAG. "I learned a lot about organizing, and I learned how to talk through the media, the importance of direct action and civil disobedience, and I learned that through those initiatives, that's where you find empowerment, and that's where you inspire others to do the same thing," he told NBC News.