by Michael Tremoglie
Pride Month and the ubiquitous displays of rainbow colored flags as well as the concomitant ceremonies are puzzling practices to say the least. It is one thing not to be ashamed of one’s sexual orientation. But it is quite another to be proud of it.
How does emphasizing the differences between people benefit American society as a whole? Ordinarily, the response to criticisms of lauding pride in sexual orientation is to compare it to Black pride and the struggle to eliminate racism. But this raises the same questions. Should one really be proud of one’s race? Is it not pride that got us into the racism mess in the first place? The idea of proclaiming one race superior to others? So why extend this exaltation to sexual behaviors?
If the purpose of “gay pride” and other types of “pride” is to eliminate bigotry and prejudice, this plan has failed miserably. All that has been accomplished is removal the stigma from one group and replacing it by stigmatizing another. People who are proud to be White heterosexual Christian males are automatically labeled as “racists,” “sexists” and “homophobes.”
Over a generation ago, political leaders such as Jesse Jackson were chanting “Hey hey, ho ho, Western Civ has got to go.”
This past May, actress Jane Fonda and television host Sunny Hostin expressed disdain if not hatred of Whites. The Southern Poverty Law Center has made a cottage industry of labeling organizations like the Christian Family Research Center a hate group. Vilification of White police officers and the so-called “Christian Right” is a staple of American journalism.
So why is it permissible for one to be proud of being homosexual, transexual or bisexual while autosexuals, zoosexuals, zoophiles, polygamists, polyamorists and other types of sexual attractions or practices not considered worthy of pride? What is the criterion that makes declaring one group to be proud acceptable, but declaring another group proud unacceptable?
What other human behaviors need to be exalted? Are human sacrifice, self-mutilation, gambling addiction, drug addiction, alcoholism and spousal abuse worthy of praise? What about Zoroastrianism, Shintoism, planomania and others?
Why is it acceptable for other groups to be persecuted? Take for example the resurgence of anti-Catholicism primarily by LGBTQ and pro-abortion advocates. Anti-Catholicism is one of the oldest and most vicious American prejudices. Indeed, it has been called “the last acceptable prejudice.” Catholic Churches have been burned and vandalized. Catholic clergy have been assaulted. Even worse, Catholic Churches are targeted by the FBI for conspiracies of domestic terrorism. This ironically occurred despite an increase in anti-Catholic violence. Even more ironic — or perhaps not so ironic — is that the federal government has done little or nothing to investigate these blatant civil rights violations. Does the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division believe, as the former head of the US Civil Rights Commission Mary Frances Berry once said, “Civil rights laws were not passed to protect the rights of white men and do not apply to them?” She said this in 1991. Is this how far we have declined?
Consider the rise of — or, for that matter, the implicit condoning of — anti-Catholicism compared to the dread Americans experience criticizing Muslims or the Muslim faith. Islam is accorded deferential treatment by news media. Meanwhile reportage about desecrating Christian symbols is almost nonexistent.
Who determined what types of sexual behavior deserve acclamation and why? How was it proclaimed? When and where was it proclaimed? Why were other sexual behaviors omitted? Why are pride months for other human behaviors — like the aforementioned for example — omitted from public ceremonies?
Society in general is subject to fragmentation. What has made America unique in human history is that it contains every type of person and culture and these people have for the most part coexisted peacefully. This cannot be said by any other nation or culture. Europeans have killed each other enthusiastically for centuries. Canadians live in two separate worlds, English and French. African nations are as bad as their western counterparts; tribal rivalries have been the catalyst for massacres and slavery pre-dating the arrival of Europeans. And Asia, well, just the slaughter that resulted by implementation of communism alone is greater than any other in human history.
America is not a tapestry — despite this oft-repeated claim by the Leftist intelligentsia. Tapestries become shredded. America is a melting pot. A metal alloy made stronger by adding various other peoples and cultures.
There will be no balkanization of America no matter how much America’s enemies wish it to be. This is why practices such as “pride” months are so dangerous.
Proverbs 16:18-19 is worth noting in America: “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.”
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Michael Tremoglie is a writer and former Philadelphia police officer with a master’s degree in criminal justice from Saint Joseph’s University.
