I would rather they do that than opt not to do it because they fear getting blasted by LibsofTikTok, etc. There is a not insignificant chance that in our lifetime gay marriage is overturned and gay Americans are pressured to hide back in the closet for fear of violence in places where they can openly exist now.

That COD opted to do this this year even as homophobia and transphobia have resurged among their key demographics is at the least a whimpering stand.

Gay rights are attained through hard and soft power, and in fact having US military propagandists–one of the most evil but effective soft power forces in the known world–on your side is objectively strength and social proof. You don’t have to find it moral to view it as a barometer for what degree LGBTQ+ acceptance has held up against the recent relentless attacks on it.

In the future should America regress to full gay and trans oppression and you wanted to regale people with tales of a time when it wasn’t so, there would be fewer details more evocative of how different it once was than “They even had pride flags in Call of Duty.”