I’m A Gay Man. Here’s Why I Don’t Celebrate Pri Month

Contents:

• A GAY UPLE RAN A RAL RTRANT PEACE. THEN NEW NEIGHBORS ARRIVED.
• TIMELE: KEY MOMENTS FIGHT FOR GAY RIGHTS
• GAY PRI
• I’M A GAY MAN. HERE’S WHY I DON’T CELEBRATE PRI MONTH

A GAY UPLE RAN A RAL RTRANT PEACE. THEN NEW NEIGHBORS ARRIVED.

On Tuday, for the first time s four- history, Ameri’s largt lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr and queer civil rights anizatn clared a natnal state of emergency for members of the LGBTQ+ muny. ” After same-sex marriage was legalized natnwi and LGBTQ+ people uld openly start servg the ary, right-wg activists turned their attentn to transnal re for transgenr mors, barrg public drag shows, genr-ntral bathroom laws and gettg “progrsive” books banned om schools, Myrick prott at the school, Myrick said, shows the revalizatn of “gay panic” — the belief that beg gay is “ntag” and that “we n’t let our kids hear there are gay people bee might turn them gay.

Democratic policians across California nmned a volatile anti-gay prott outsi a suburban Los Angel school board meetg on Tuday, as the school board heard public ment on whether to officially signate June as LGBTQ+ Pri month. The cy uncil Huntgton Beach had prevly voted not to display the Pri flag on cy the state’s Inland Empire regn, a school board Temecula rejected a history curriculum bee of s mentn of the murred civil rights activist Harvey Milk, the first openly gay elected official California history, who was posthumoly award the printial medal of eedom.

”Lol news acunts and footage of the volatile anti-gay protters Glendale and North Hollywood showed some protters g rhetoric now mon far-right protts across the Uned Stat, suggtg that LGBTQ+ people are pedophil or predators, and argug that any mentn of the existence of gay people or gay fai is appropriate for young children.

TIMELE: KEY MOMENTS FIGHT FOR GAY RIGHTS

Many wore intil T-shirts readg “Leave our kids alone, ” and some voked Christian fah as the reason for their opposn to Pri events are faiar l of attack that have often been mobilised by anti-gay activists the past, cludg by Ana Bryant her “Save our Children” mpaign the 1970s, which also foced on “parents’ rights” as a way to ph back agast advanc civil rights for gay as equaly for LGBTQ+ people has bee creasgly popular and accepted the US, wh 71% of rponnts a recent Gallup poll exprsg support for same-sex marriage, many Amerins scribed the renewed attacks as ighteng and disturbg. Trans people have been sgled out as the foc of much of the legislatn, and ntue to be the target of many particularly vilent polil attacks, but, as Florida’s “don’t say gay” law, which regulat what tors are allowed to discs public school classrooms, any mentn of genr inty or homosexualy is now g unr attack. The bsman and his wife, Melissa, first plaed to the Front Porch proprietors about pre-dawn vendor liveri 2019, not long after the nservative Christian uple moved their fancial firm right next door to the rtrant, which fli a gay Pri flag.

(Front Porch Market and Grill)What’s more, the Washers say, the ad rat was jt one more sult that the uple, who once planted an “all liv matter” sign their ont yard, have endured sce movg next door to a rtrant owned by a gay uple. They married 2020, five years after they opened the Front Porch, which quickly beme a statn The Front Porch has been flyg a Pri flag on s pat sce 2016, not long after a gunman killed 49 people a gay bar Orlando. “I had so many threats agast me that even the Dallas police statned squad rs outsi our home, ” Waybourn an activist, Waybourn says, his goals were clear: same-sex marriage, gays and lbians the ary, accs to lifavg medic.

GAY PRI

“I have que a few gay iends, clients and a fay member, and I have patronized a gay-owned rtrant for years, ” he whether the Washers are tryg to remake The Plas to their image of Ameri — Whe, nservative, Christian — Melissa said, “I n see where you’re g om. If approved by the full Congrs, the bill uld force Stonewall Natnal Monument, an NPS se New York dited to tellg the story of the gay rights movement, to take down s Pri flags. While a rerd high 71 percent of Amerins last year said they believed gay and lbian relatns were morally acceptable, that fell to 64 percent this year Gallup’s most recent Valu and Beliefs poll released June.

Last month, his mpaign released a vio that cricized former Print Donald Tmp for his earlier ments on gay rights and Pri Month, llg him “the polician who did more than any other Republin to celebrate .

The Bin admistratn also plans to make the monument larger stature next year, when NPS opens a new visor center that will be the first of s kd the Uned Stat voted exclively to the gay rights movement. “This Hell” tak that famo assertn and throws back the fac of the homophob wieldg as their cudgel — if we’re all gog to Hell anyway, then we may as well enjoy the ri down.

I’M A GAY MAN. HERE’S WHY I DON’T CELEBRATE PRI MONTH

” An explosn of bottled-up dignatn, the song se the sger-songwrg barrg his way through societal failur like homophobia, e equaly, police btaly, gun vlence, polil rptn and much more. Instead of wrg a song wh thly veiled metaphors about relign, queerre ins Team Drch stead cid to opt for “Hate the Christian Right!, ” a fiery, scream-rock track lettg relig homophob know exactly where they uld stick their prayers.

While the song may not have the fiery energy of other prott songs, the lyrics directly ll out police btaly, homophobic vlence and those who sist that queer people are ls than human.

Image source, RtersImage ptn, Protters broke through a police rdon to stop the Pri eventUp to 2, 000 anti-LGBT protters stormed a gay pri ftival Geia's pal Tbilisi on Saturday, forcg s right-wg protters, who clud Orthodox Christian clergy, scuffled wh police, shed the stage and burned rabow anisers and Geia's print blamed anti-LGBT hate speech that preced the event, and said the police had failed to protect ftival-goers. TBILISI, Geia (AP) — Hundreds of opponents of gay rights on Saturday swarmed the se of an LGBT ftival the pal of the untry of Geia, vandalizg the stage, settg fir and lootg the event’s Geian Interr Mister Aleksandre Darakhvelidze said participants the Tbilisi Pri Ft were safely evacuated om the scene.

Tangible evince of cultural progrs — a giant beer maker partnerg wh a transgenr fluencer, for example — is now often met wh fire and brimstone om right-wg fact, new rearch found that the recent effort to roll back gas for gay and trans Amerins spiked durg Pri celebratns, cludg "blue" stat such as California, which was home to a full 1 5 of the anti-LGBTQ+ monstratns last month, acrdg to the Armed Conflict Lotn and Event Data Project. Such actns were rerd 26 stat and the District of Columbia, but were ncentrated Texas, New York, and California, wh jt unr 20% of rerd anti-LGBTQ+ events takg place the Goln fdg after ACLED prevly reported a more than 300% crease anti-LGBTQ+ actns by far-right extremists 2022, pared to the year before, which said "strongly" rrelat wh ensug acts of vlence agast people who are perceived as gay or transgenr. Former Print Donald Tmp — who once boasted about a transgenr performer takg part his Miss Ameri ntt — has monstrated that many whe evangelils are willg to overlook personaly flaws and other disagreements, and vice versa, if means achievg polil power and victori the culture 's 2016 mpaign helped fe such alns, wh far-right groups themselv explog issu of sex and genr — topics ripe for magoguery — to rec new members and make roads wh more mastream negative reactn to the creased acceptance of LGBTQ+ people, ma pecially visible by rporatns such as Target celebratg Pri Month, self risks a backlash, however: Most Amerins support gay marriage, for example, and many are likely unfortable wh imag of armed vigilant cidg for themselv who n read books at a library.