An idea for a Straight Pride Parade has been floated about in recent weeks and I'm here to tell everyone, regardless of the organizers' intentions, it's a straight-up bad idea.
There's often debate among Straight White Christian Men's rights advocates that there's a seemingly constant societal double-standard against them. Why can there be a Black History Month but not a White History Month? Why should women's employer-based healthcare plans include contraception coverage, but not men's? Why is it okay to poke fun of Christianity but not Islam? Why can gays get their own parade but not straights?
The fact of the matter is straights have a Constitutional right to hold their own pride parade. Such an event is protected by the First Amendment. That's not what this is about, though. The LGBT community doesn't hold a pride parade every year to tell the world, "Look at us! We can say we're gay because of the Constitution! Hip-hip-hooray!" It's about far more than that.
For any person who thinks there should be a Straight Pride Parade, let me ask you this... When have you ever been prevented from marrying the love of your life because of your sexuality? When have you ever been told you can't adopt children because of your orientation? When have you ever been arrested, fired, or asked to leave an establishment because you're straight? When have you ever been condemned, beaten, or contemplated suicide due to societal norms and pressures because you're heterosexual? When have you ever had to tell your parents, shaking from fear in the process, that you're attracted to the opposite sex and been disowned by them? I'm guessing never.
Whether we want to admit it or not, heterosexuals, such as myself, intentionally or unintentionally parade our privileges to those beneath us according to the law. We take these things for granted. It's literally impossible to fully comprehend what the LGBT community has had to endure throughout their years of oppression. That's what we need to do - listen and try to understand. We may never get there in the literal sense, but the very least we can do is try, and the last thing we need to do is hold a pride parade which touts the rights we've always possessed, taken for granted, and have been withheld from the LGBT community - basically spitting in their faces as a result. We can't cry over our privileges not being displayed in a parade all the while our LGBT brothers and sisters are still being oppressed from that which we've taken for granted. What we should take pride in is helping all oppressed communities attain equality. Then and only then can we legitimately call America the land of the free.
There's often debate among Straight White Christian Men's rights advocates that there's a seemingly constant societal double-standard against them. Why can there be a Black History Month but not a White History Month? Why should women's employer-based healthcare plans include contraception coverage, but not men's? Why is it okay to poke fun of Christianity but not Islam? Why can gays get their own parade but not straights?
The fact of the matter is straights have a Constitutional right to hold their own pride parade. Such an event is protected by the First Amendment. That's not what this is about, though. The LGBT community doesn't hold a pride parade every year to tell the world, "Look at us! We can say we're gay because of the Constitution! Hip-hip-hooray!" It's about far more than that.
For any person who thinks there should be a Straight Pride Parade, let me ask you this... When have you ever been prevented from marrying the love of your life because of your sexuality? When have you ever been told you can't adopt children because of your orientation? When have you ever been arrested, fired, or asked to leave an establishment because you're straight? When have you ever been condemned, beaten, or contemplated suicide due to societal norms and pressures because you're heterosexual? When have you ever had to tell your parents, shaking from fear in the process, that you're attracted to the opposite sex and been disowned by them? I'm guessing never.
Whether we want to admit it or not, heterosexuals, such as myself, intentionally or unintentionally parade our privileges to those beneath us according to the law. We take these things for granted. It's literally impossible to fully comprehend what the LGBT community has had to endure throughout their years of oppression. That's what we need to do - listen and try to understand. We may never get there in the literal sense, but the very least we can do is try, and the last thing we need to do is hold a pride parade which touts the rights we've always possessed, taken for granted, and have been withheld from the LGBT community - basically spitting in their faces as a result. We can't cry over our privileges not being displayed in a parade all the while our LGBT brothers and sisters are still being oppressed from that which we've taken for granted. What we should take pride in is helping all oppressed communities attain equality. Then and only then can we legitimately call America the land of the free.
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