Fernandina Beach’s 21st Century “Pride & Prejudice”

Opinion

By Dave Scott, 6-13-25

The title of Jane Austen’s 19th Century book “Pride & Prejudice” would be applicable if it appeared in Fernandina Beach today.

Both “’pride” and “prejudice” are terms being bandied about by opposing local groups. One says efforts to ban the pride group’s public displays are prejudice against them. Those opposing say pride’s sexual displays offend public decency and morals and need to be kept private.

The pride group counters saying they’re being discriminated against. Church groups, courts, organizations, and individuals are taking the morality route, objecting to pride’s public exposure of sexuality.

The majority agree that public events touting sexuality should be conducted indoors and away from public view, particularly away from impressionable children.

Southwest of here the pride crowd took a hit when a United States Appeals Court ruled against Naples Pride after it attempted to host a drag queen event in a public park next to a popular children’s playground. That town’s pride festival must now be held inside, and all attendees must be 18 or older.

Isn’t the Fernandina Beach Pride festival held in a public park next to a children’s playground called Teddy Bear Park? And doesn’t the Fernandina pride crowd consist of several men in garish costumes pretending to be women?

So why don’t those that oppose the parade and the display at Central Park take steps to convince the court to make a similar ruling hereabouts? Many locals have expressed their dissatisfaction with the pride organization’s public displays and copied me on their correspondence.

They’re asking: “What’s the point of exposing small children to men in garish women’s makeup and clothing making sexual gestures and reading to them?” What is the pride crowd attempting to accomplish with these performances in front of young impressionable children? Would heterosexual strippers visible to children be tolerated at Central Park?

We’ve been taught from a young age that it is insulting, hateful, and distasteful to mimic others with exaggerated gestures, face paint, verbal expressions, and outlandish costumes. But we are told by the pride crowd that we must accept men that do just that by running around in dresses, garish wigs and makeup, high heels, and lingerie, and talking in high-pitched squeaky voices.

It’s perfectly normal, correct, and ordinary to mock women they angrily proclaim. It’s a strange hypocritical “Alice in Wonderland” world the pride folks life in.

Little kids are attracted to goofy characters in colorful costumes such as Bozo the Clown and Ronald McDonald. But they don’t expect Bozo or Ronald to show up in mommy’s lingerie, performing sexually suggestive gestures and dances.

The pride group says take your kids to the library, Central Park, a parade, etc.to see these strange guys proudly parade their abnormal behavior. Why?

I’ll pass, thank you. I like women without a five-o’clock shadow.

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Who’s In Charge At the News Leader? News Leader Publisher Todd Frantz has more house-cleaning to do.

One of his News Leader reporters has publicly condemned her publisher by publicly contradicting him over coverage of the paper’s pride reporting.

Following the departure of lefty Editor Tracy Dishman, the paper’s left-wing reporter with the fortunate name of Julia Roberts, raised her biased voice by stirring the pride pot, criticizing her employer’s lack of coverage of the pride parade and festival in Central Park.

This oblivious gal voiced her biases to extremes, expressing her opinion to a competitive outlet, lending credence to that outlet. Who pays this gal?

Pretend reporter and BLM activist, Mike Lednovich, wrote an article in the pathetic myopic online Observer saying: “Mounting public pressure Tuesday (June 10, 2025) led to the Fernandina News-Leader doing an about-face on the publisher’s decision to ban coverage of the local Pride organization. The newspaper printed a photo array on the back page of Wednesday’s edition and on its website.”

News-Leader reporter Julia Roberts said in an email to Pride President Jordan Morris on Monday that “…the newspaper would not write about Pride. I hate even typing these words, but our publisher has made the decision not to allow us to write about Pride. We pleaded our case, but he was not to be convinced,” Roberts wrote this tripe in an email Monday. Good Grief, does she still have a job there? If so, why?

Has Mr. Frantz explained to Roberts that she is not in charge of editorial content at the paper and that public criticism of him and the paper are not part of her job description? As soon as the paper can find a person that can sting together a factual coherent sentence, I’m assuming Ms. Roberts will be history, or should be. She should already be a “former employee”.

Covering the pride crowd’s drag queen shenanigans is similar to providing coverage of the flat-earth society (Yes, it really exists https://theflatearthsociety.org/home/ ) meetings. The only newsworthy issues are the novelty factors. Both groups are minuscule, representing infinitesimal proportions of the population. There’s likely few advertisers or readers out there willing to cough up money to cater to either crowd. They require specialty publications that cover their lifestyles and beliefs.

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Maybe It’s A Mental Issue? Mental health studies say that the pride group itself, with its public displays of emotional fervor and histrionics, may reveal something called Cluster B Personality Disorder.

Members of pride organizations see themselves as being oppressed. Most folks don’t agree. Quite the contrary. Like every other minority group, they are looking to turn their alleged oppression into a special status, along the lines of India’s sacred cows.

Dr. Marshall Runge, who has been involved with the University of Michigan Medical School and is CEO of Michigan Medicine says there is not a sharp line between Cluster B traits and exaggerated behavior. He says one of the four diagnoses of the symptoms of this disorder are Histrionic traits: the dramatization with highly theatrical messaging and exaggeration of harm or threat, and attention seeking or needing to be the face or voice of a movement. Additional traits include a disregard for laws or norms, such as justifying harmful or illegal actions as a means to an end.

Social media often rewards Cluster B personality disorder sufferers with attention and validation says Dr. Claudia Ressel-Hodan, who was in private practice in Florida and the Midwest as a therapist for decades. She said: “The anti-social individual will care less about social norms and is more likely to hurt others in their process for a cause without social remorse.”

Instead of pride month maybe these folks should participate in a mental health awareness observance.

A very vocal local gal, wife and mother, Ms. Kelley Yates, (aka Classy Conservative Classy Conservatives) has frequently voiced her concerns about the local pride crowd’s negative influence on children by speaking at City Commission sessions, posting on social media, and various other venues. She is often shouted down by local leftist zealots and the pride crowd even in City Commission chambers.

Some pride supporters, including even one involved in the education of local children, have personally confronted Ms. Yates, mocked her and her English accent, created false social media sites deriding her and more. Their efforts have only resulted in exposing their own shallowness and extremism, making them appear petty and malicious. Pride’s behavior is alarming to many parents whose children may be in the care of these local unhinged haters and pride enthusiasts.

Many local folks that wholeheartedly agree with Ms. Yates – and there are many – stay silent fearing they will be called bigots, homophobes, or haters.

The vast majority of locals don’t give a rip about pride members and their sexual preferences or what they do in private. However, they demand public attention. And when their demands are met with condemnation, they scream they’re being oppressed. Observers question why the pride crowd has to have public festivals, parades, proclamations, etc. to publicly demonstrate their sexuality. Only the LGBTQA+ crowd does this. No others.

There is a time and place for everything and everyone and drag shows time and place is far away from kids and family friendly events and places. Just like we wouldn’t want heterosexual women dressed as stripper’s at these types of venues and events.

Bringing children to watch “drag queens” and other perverse acts reveals and promotes their agenda. They wish to normalize that which simply insults nature and isn’t normal.

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Speaking Of Devious: City Commissioner Genece Minshew, who headed the local pride outfit, advocated for making Fernandina Beach a gay vacation destination. When she ran for office she refused to comment on that position and has said nothing about it since she was elected by a miniscule 19 vote margin. This is the same gal who was a Democrat before running for office, switched to Republican when running, and changed back to Democrat after winning her race. This is not a person to be trusted.

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Students & Professors Sing The Bluebook Blues: Essay questions are the bane of most college students while grading them is the bane of their instructors. Answers are traditionally scribbled in “Blue Books, inexpensive small booklets of lined paper that cost about 30 cents.

Used mostly by students studying the humanities, the booklets give many professors headaches as they strain to decipher their students’ handwriting, in a culture that no longer values penmanship and no longer teaches cursive.

Students born after the invention of the iPhone aren’t used to writing on paper. They submit answers that resemble chicken scratching, except for many of them that would be an insult to poultry.

Students that thought that ChatGPT was the answer to their easy question struggles will be disappointed. I read that Blue books are making a comeback following the widespread use of ChatGPT that prompted one Tulane professor to comment: “It’s like going to the gym and having robots lift weights for you.”

So it’s back to Blue Books, chicken scratching, headaches, and eye strain.

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Something Is Rotten In The Post Office In Denmark: If you plan on visiting Denmark in 2026 or after, don’t plan on sending any post cards or letters to the folks back home. They won’t get them. Denmark’s state-run PostNord won’t deliver letters after 2025 saying letter volumes have dropped 90% since 2000. All of the 400-year-old company’s post boxes are being removed this summer

Republished with the author’s permission. Read The Dave Scott Blog– subscribe Free