Kris Cravens-Hutton
Kris Cravens-Hutton fell into counterspeaking unexpectedly, after she and her husband Dave Hutton, both U.S. Army veterans, began depicting the renovation of their old Detroit house on Instagram, in 2019. Their account 1910.craftsman.on.burns was mostly about the house and its holiday decorations until 2023, when during a home and garden tour, a man approached the house and urged them to remove the rainbow flag that they were flying for Pride month. Cravens-Hutton rebuffed him. Then she did it again publicly, on Instagram, with her signature smile and calm, lilting voice (she is originally from the southern state of Arkansas):
He wanted to tell us that we needed to take our flag down. Well, um, sir, that’s not going to happen. It’s not going to happen anytime this month of June, and it’s not going to happen in June of 2024. It’ll be up then, and it will be up in June 2025, and it will be up every other June after that that Dave and I have the ability to make that happen, and any other time the spirit moves us to put that flag up because you know what? We like it. And we like what it represents. So, um, to the gentleman who felt he needed to tell me to take my flag down, I’m sorry, it’s not going to happen, and so you go on and have the day you deserve.”
After that, Cravens-Hutton became increasingly famous online, with many new fans and critics alike. As she promised, she and her husband continue to fly the flag for Pride, post photos, and often receive hateful messages about it. In counterspeaking on behalf of the Pride community, responding to hate speech that is not directed at her, Cravens-Hutton is an example of a counterspeaker who is an ally. Many other counterspeakers instead respond to attacks on them, as members of ethnic, religious, or other groups.
During the U.S. presidential campaign in 2024, Cravens-Hutton received many more attacks and became an active counterspeaker. “Those of you who have public facing accounts that lean to the left, are y’all seeing an increase in these nutjobs on your accounts as well?” she asked in August 2024. Over the few weeks after that, Cravens-Hutton also began posting screenshots of the hateful comments she had received, hiding the names of their authors, and often responded to them.
She does not counterspeak to them all - in some cases she simply blocks and deletes. But certain comments are likely to get a reply, for instance those that refer to veterans. On June 9th, 2024, she posted a reel with a screenshot of a comment reading, “Good luck getting those rainbow people to go to war for you.” Cravens-Hutton shot back - in sweet tones as always - “Sir, they already are. The LGBTQIA+ community has been soldiering and serving for our country since before we ever were a country. They’ve been soldiering and serving since folks have been soldiering and serving. Come on now. Do better. Be better. Read a book. Learn your history.” Her husband then chimed in, “To the Pride community that served with Kris and I both on and off the battlefield, thanks for your service.” Cravens-Hutton ends with “Have a good day, y’all. Happy Pride.”
Cravens-Hutton’s counterspeech isn’t always civil, to say the least. She was called “the clapback queen” by another online influencer who called her in to respond to someone who had objected to the listing of pronouns in a bio. Cravens-Hutton told him, “listen, dude, if you don’t want to use pronouns that’s perfectly fine. We’ve got some for ya. I’ll think I’ll just call you a piece of shit. Yeah. Have a good night.” She also likes to end her reels by telling people “y’all have the day you deserve!”
In one recent reel, however, she noted that she always looks at the profiles of people who criticize or attack her, and this time she saw that the man in question was a veteran. Addressing him by his first name, she thanked him for his military service and went on to say that she and her husband had been protesting against the current U. S. government “in support of you too” She went on: “normally this is the portion of the reel when I clap back and I say ‘fuck off troll’ or ‘have the day you deserve.’ “ But this time she said, “I’m not going to say that. I’m just going to say ‘thank you for your service. We appreciate you and so does your nation.’"
