I’m gay, but I’ll pass on Pride Month
June is nationally recognized as LGBT Pride Month, with events in major cities across the country planned to celebrate gay history and social progress, like last weekend’s Pride Parade in Washington, D.C.
But even though I’m proud to be gay, you won’t find me at any rallies this June. The Pride movement has been hijacked by a left-wing agenda, and some of its advocacy is actually setting gay people back.
A quick look at the national Pride website reveals not a neutral agenda advocating for all gay people, but a blatant endorsement of progressivism — even on issues that have little to do with gay rights. Advocate.com, a news website affiliated with the Pride movement, contains a glowing profile of gun-control advocate Emma Gonzalez on its homepage, even nominating her for their “Hall of Fame.” Another article openly calls on gay people to “fight for gun reform.”
The Pride rallies last year in New York, Boston, and Los Angeles could have easily been mistaken for the gun-control-oriented March for Our Lives, pro-choice Women’s March, or any other left-wing rally. Rainbow flags reading “Make America Gay Again” openly mock President Trump’s signature slogan, and ignore the obvious reality that America has never been more gay-friendly than it is in 2018. One anti-Trump chant at last year’s D.C. rally went viral — “We’re here, we’re queer, get that Cheeto out of here.”
Apparently, so-called advocates of LGBT equality don’t think that gay people are capable of supporting gun rights or President Trump, even though he won 15 percent of the LGBT vote. The 2017 Charlotte Pride rally even went so far as to bar a pro-Trump group, “Deplorable Pride,” from entering a float in the parade, because their version of pride was deemed “anti-LGBTQ.” For all their talk about gay rights, too many in the Pride movement don’t think gay people should have the right to think for themselves.
I may not personally support Trump, but I want no part of a movement that strips gay people of our individuality. By conflating gay pride with an anti-Trump attitude and support for progressivism, advocates insinuate that gay people must be liberal, and in doing so, they succumb to the same stereotyping they claim to be #resisting. An authentic approach to LGBT equality would treat gay people as individuals with different life experiences and values that shape our political views, not just shove us into a box with Bernie Sanders.
The sinister side effects of the modern Pride movement don’t stop there. It’s understandable that after decades of oppression and discrimination, gay people might want to let loose and celebrate their sexuality — but too often, these marches devolve into the same stereotypes of sexual deviancy that they’re supposed to be dispelling.
A 2015 Pride rally got national news coverage after an ISIS flag featuring dildos and butt plugs was mistaken for the real thing. At almost any Pride event, you’ll find scantily-clad marchers, rainbow-themed sex toys, and profane posters.
The hypersexualization of the Pride movement is so extreme that it’s reinforcing the biases some Americans still have against gay people. Attitudes toward gay rights are shifting in the right direction, but a portion of the country remains deeply opposed to homosexuality, and views it as a deviant, immoral lifestyle. How will we change their mind? This isn’t an easy question, but progress certainly won’t be promoted by streaking through the streets in the nude, as some men did at last year’s Pride rally in New York.
If anything, real societal acceptance comes through assimilation — after all, that’s how we won public support for same-sex marriage. Jonah Goldberg writes about this in his book Suicide of the West: “Why did the struggle for gay marriage succeed? Because it appealed not to radicalism but to bourgeois values about family formation.” At the Republican National Convention, tech entrepreneur Peter Thiel said “I am proud to be gay … but most of all I am proud to be an American.” A nervous moment passed, and then the conservative-filled stadium exploded in applause.
This modest approach might not be sexy, but it produces results. Fox News commentator Guy Benson made a splash with a viral video he did for Prager University: “I’m Gay … Conservative … So What?” In the video, he says “My values define me, while my sexual orientation sometimes feels more like a footnote.” His reserved approach to his sexuality outraged some on the left, but when Benson recently announced his engagement to a man, he was widely congratulated by conservatives, even by members of the religious right like Ben Shapiro. If Pride advocates really want to increase LGBT acceptance, they should embrace this approach.
Don’t get me wrong: The Pride marches aren’t all bad. They do place important emphasis on AIDS awareness, and gay love is worthy of recognition. But as long as the Pride movement puppets progressivism and engages in self-defeating hypersexualization, I won’t be joining in the celebration.
Brad Polumbo (@brad_polumbo) is a writer for Young Voices.
www.washingtonexaminer.com
June is nationally recognized as LGBT Pride Month, with events in major cities across the country planned to celebrate gay history and social progress, like last weekend’s Pride Parade in Washington, D.C.
But even though I’m proud to be gay, you won’t find me at any rallies this June. The Pride movement has been hijacked by a left-wing agenda, and some of its advocacy is actually setting gay people back.
A quick look at the national Pride website reveals not a neutral agenda advocating for all gay people, but a blatant endorsement of progressivism — even on issues that have little to do with gay rights. Advocate.com, a news website affiliated with the Pride movement, contains a glowing profile of gun-control advocate Emma Gonzalez on its homepage, even nominating her for their “Hall of Fame.” Another article openly calls on gay people to “fight for gun reform.”
The Pride rallies last year in New York, Boston, and Los Angeles could have easily been mistaken for the gun-control-oriented March for Our Lives, pro-choice Women’s March, or any other left-wing rally. Rainbow flags reading “Make America Gay Again” openly mock President Trump’s signature slogan, and ignore the obvious reality that America has never been more gay-friendly than it is in 2018. One anti-Trump chant at last year’s D.C. rally went viral — “We’re here, we’re queer, get that Cheeto out of here.”
Apparently, so-called advocates of LGBT equality don’t think that gay people are capable of supporting gun rights or President Trump, even though he won 15 percent of the LGBT vote. The 2017 Charlotte Pride rally even went so far as to bar a pro-Trump group, “Deplorable Pride,” from entering a float in the parade, because their version of pride was deemed “anti-LGBTQ.” For all their talk about gay rights, too many in the Pride movement don’t think gay people should have the right to think for themselves.
I may not personally support Trump, but I want no part of a movement that strips gay people of our individuality. By conflating gay pride with an anti-Trump attitude and support for progressivism, advocates insinuate that gay people must be liberal, and in doing so, they succumb to the same stereotyping they claim to be #resisting. An authentic approach to LGBT equality would treat gay people as individuals with different life experiences and values that shape our political views, not just shove us into a box with Bernie Sanders.
The sinister side effects of the modern Pride movement don’t stop there. It’s understandable that after decades of oppression and discrimination, gay people might want to let loose and celebrate their sexuality — but too often, these marches devolve into the same stereotypes of sexual deviancy that they’re supposed to be dispelling.
A 2015 Pride rally got national news coverage after an ISIS flag featuring dildos and butt plugs was mistaken for the real thing. At almost any Pride event, you’ll find scantily-clad marchers, rainbow-themed sex toys, and profane posters.
The hypersexualization of the Pride movement is so extreme that it’s reinforcing the biases some Americans still have against gay people. Attitudes toward gay rights are shifting in the right direction, but a portion of the country remains deeply opposed to homosexuality, and views it as a deviant, immoral lifestyle. How will we change their mind? This isn’t an easy question, but progress certainly won’t be promoted by streaking through the streets in the nude, as some men did at last year’s Pride rally in New York.
If anything, real societal acceptance comes through assimilation — after all, that’s how we won public support for same-sex marriage. Jonah Goldberg writes about this in his book Suicide of the West: “Why did the struggle for gay marriage succeed? Because it appealed not to radicalism but to bourgeois values about family formation.” At the Republican National Convention, tech entrepreneur Peter Thiel said “I am proud to be gay … but most of all I am proud to be an American.” A nervous moment passed, and then the conservative-filled stadium exploded in applause.
This modest approach might not be sexy, but it produces results. Fox News commentator Guy Benson made a splash with a viral video he did for Prager University: “I’m Gay … Conservative … So What?” In the video, he says “My values define me, while my sexual orientation sometimes feels more like a footnote.” His reserved approach to his sexuality outraged some on the left, but when Benson recently announced his engagement to a man, he was widely congratulated by conservatives, even by members of the religious right like Ben Shapiro. If Pride advocates really want to increase LGBT acceptance, they should embrace this approach.
Don’t get me wrong: The Pride marches aren’t all bad. They do place important emphasis on AIDS awareness, and gay love is worthy of recognition. But as long as the Pride movement puppets progressivism and engages in self-defeating hypersexualization, I won’t be joining in the celebration.
Brad Polumbo (@brad_polumbo) is a writer for Young Voices.
I’m gay, but I’ll pass on Pride Month - Washington Examiner
June is nationally recognized as LGBT Pride Month, with events in major cities across the country planned to celebrate gay history and social progress, like last weekend’s Pride Parade in Washington, D.C. But even though I’m proud to be gay, you won’t find me at any rallies this June. The Pride...
www.washingtonexaminer.com
