RFK Jr. Can Take Dunkin' Iced Coffee From Our Cold Dead Gay Hands | Them

It’s a truth universally acknowledged that the LGBTQ+ community runs on iced coffee.

Health secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. has declared war on Dunkin’ iced coffee, per Axios, a policy move that directly puts him at odds with the queer and trans communities.

While speaking to an Austin crowd last week at a “Make America Healthy Again” rally, the secretary — who has misguidedly promoted the false theory that poppers cause AIDS — says that he is going to force companies such as Dunkin’ and Starbucks to prove that the sugar content in their drinks isn’t harmful to Americans.

“We’re going to ask Dunkin’ Donuts and Starbucks, ‘Show us the safety data that show that it’s OK for a teenage girl to drink an iced coffee with 115 grams of sugar in it,’” Kennedy said to the audience as they applauded, the Boston Globe reports. “I don’t think they’re gonna be able to do it.”

Though Kennedy pointed out the specific sugar content, it was unclear exactly which beverage he was referencing. A quick search of Dunkin’s nutrition information cheat sheet found only one item on the extensive menu that boasts 115 grams of sugar, a medium Mocha Swirl Frozen Coffee with Cream. (Did RFK just give away his order?) Of course, depending on size, several items on the menu do exceed 115 grams of sugar, though the menu also includes many sugar-free options. (In fact, on Wednesday morning, Dunkin’ released a Zero Sugar energy drink.)

In 2025, as part of his Make America Healthy Again platform, Kennedy declared that sugar is a poison, and recommended Americans have no added sugar in their diets, “Sugar is poison and Americans need to know that it is poisoning us,” he said, per the Guardian. He later added, “I don’t think that we’re going to be able to eliminate sugar, but I think what we need to do, probably, is give Americans knowledge about how much sugar is in their products, and also, with the new nutrition guidelines, we’ll give them a very clear idea about how much sugar they should be using, which is zero.”

Iced coffee has regularly been memed as part of a nutrient-rich homosexual diet for some time, leading GQ to publish the piece asking “Why Is Iced Coffee So Gay?” in 2019. RuPaul’s Drag Race season 17 queen Kori King, who is both gay and a resident of Massachusetts — the state most closely associated with Dunkin’ — even performed a song about iced coffee called “Shake That Ice” for the season 17 talent show and entered the workroom wearing an orange-and-purple dress while sipping from a reusable coffee cup.

Maura Healey, the lesbian governor of Massachusetts, even tweeted out a rebuff to Kennedy following news of his anti-iced coffee position on Wednesday. The flag, featuring a play on the “COME AND TAKE IT” flag from the Texas Revolution, featured a Dunkin’ coffee cup and a lone star.

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Several people responded with their own punny flags, including one with the caption, “Donut Tread on Me.”

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People from Massachusetts, it really does seem like your liberation is bound up in mine.

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