Why we should oppose government displays of ‘Pride’ flags
Christopher Tremoglie
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Currently, in the Philadelphia suburb of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, there is a controversy involving the display of a “Pride” flag on government property on June 1 to commemorate the so-called “Pride” month. In doing so, local politicians made a unilateral decision to impose their morality and beliefs on a community. Yet, there is no need for this flag to be on any government property — especially since it doesn’t represent everyone’s values.
While many leftists have embraced the “Pride” flag, the reality is that the flag itself is incendiary. It is divisive, it imposes a specific group’s morality on others, it is meant to exclude people, and it promotes one group above another. We should unite our country, not divide it — especially on government properties.
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Objectively, this has nothing to do with any member of the LGBTQ community. I have no objection to any LGBTQ person being proud of who they are. I am a proud male, Christian, Italian-American, and heterosexual. I see no reason why an LGBTQ person should not be proud of their individuality. However, promoting the “values” of “Pride” over others — especially when the contemporary LGBTQ movement has a history of trying to infringe on other people’s rights — should not be celebrated by governments. It is inimical to unity, patriotism, and cohesion among the citizenry.
Consider the aggressive actions taken by members of the LGBTQ community to force compliance over the years that, had it been any other group, would have been deemed bigoted, discriminatory, and hateful.
For example, there was the Stop the Church protest on December 10, 1989, at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York. LGBTQ activists rioted. They not only interrupted Mass, chanted slogans, blew whistles, and screamed like banshees, they chained themselves to pews, threw condoms in the air, blocked aisles, intimidated worshippers, and one rioter spit the Eucharist out of his mouth.
Conversely, I do not feel compelled to organize a group of Catholics who oppose homosexuality, walk into a church service performed by gay clergy, and disrupt the mass by throwing blood or simulated blood on priests, chanting anti-LGBTQ slogans, and mocking LGBTQ people. But this is precisely what Act UP, Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, and other Left-wing Democratic Party LBGTQ groups have done to Catholics.
Consider the “Straight Pride” parade in Boston in Aug. 2019. As Democrats have championed the importance of “protecting our democracy” in recent years, the city’s Democrats actually tried to silence speech and prevent the parade. It was a peaceful event and even had Milo Yannipoulis, a member of the LGBTQ community, as a grand marshal.
But the mere existence of something that went against the beliefs of the radical LGBTQ movement caused quite the outrage. LGBTQ agitators came to the parade not as spectators but to violently disrupt it. They hurled insults, vulgarities, objects, and eventually fists at the women and kids parading. They even assaulted the police.
Among the LGBTQ disruptors was a militia-like group, the Rhode Island John Brown Gun Club, an armed organization that describes itself as a “leftist working-class community defense organization based in and serving the communities of Rhode Island.” Of course, also present was the Left-wing Antifa militia.
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And, of course, there was the case of Masterpiece Cakeshop in Colorado, in which a gay couple specifically targeted a bakery for the owner’s (Jack Phillips) religious beliefs. They tried to force him to make a cake for their wedding. Much like the parade in Boston, the local government sided with LGBTQ activists and tried to force the baker to go against his religious beliefs. The Supreme Court eventually ruled in Phillips’ favor, protected his First Amendment rights, and delivered justice.
While most of those on the political Left and even some on the political Right will claim that the LGBTQ community are benevolent activists, this is far from true. We are all human, and nobody has a monopoly on virtue or evil. “Pride” flags do nothing to further the discussion of this idea and certainly do nothing to further the cause of unity. The only flags flying over government buildings should represent all of us.