OPINION:
Boston authorities gave the thumbs-up to an event application to hold a “Straight Pride Parade” in the city, sparking tensions among the LGBTQ community and prompting critics to call out the organizers as homophobic.
Yet another example of the left’s famous tolerance for all, right?
But if LGBTQs get a “Pride Parade,” then certainly, tit for tat, heterosexuals can have their “Straight Pride Parade.” In Boston, it’ll be held August 31.
And it wasn’t exactly easy for organizers to, well, organize.
The city initially said no to the organizers of “Straight Pride,” the “Super Happy Fun America.” But after SHFA members filed a discrimination complaint, Boston officials switched course.
There’s that whole First Amendment thing, dontcha know.
Mayor Marty Walsh didn’t seem happy about announcing the event, though, issuing this rather sheepish explanation on the heels of the city’s flip: “Permits to host a public event are granted based on operational feasibility, not based on values or endorsements of beliefs. The city of Boston cannot deny a permit based on an organization’s values,” he said in CNN.
Yes. Boston would surely have been sued if it denied the event. And what’s more, Boston surely would have lost.
Still, the left isn’t done with the fight.
The parade is being branded by critics as homophobic — which raises the rather strange question: How come it’s OK to support LGBTQ rights, but not heterosexual rights?
Or, another way to look at it: Why is it wrong to stand strong for traditional and conservative and even biblical values?
Mayor Walsh might spit on these “values.” But he’s in the minority with that — and so are the “Straight Pride Parade” critics. America, by and large, is still a country filled with people who believe in the classical, traditional, Bible-based definition of male and female — the classical, traditional, Bible-based definition of family unit.
They deserve a parade as much as anyone else.
• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley.
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