Opinion
By George Miller, 7-6-23
This is one of several articles submitted for Pride Month Retrospective
Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall- Proverbs, 16:18
We’ve been bombarded by a month of so-called “LGBTQ” “Pride” propaganda. It’s actually 24/7/365, but was more heavily concentrated than ever for the 30 days of June. But, it seems to be starting to have the opposite effect intended of normalizing deviant behavior. There has been more pushback than ever this year, even as the movement’s effort nears its zenith. The huge, stunning boycotts of Bud Lite/Anheuser and Target are just some of the more visible indicators of growing massive resistance to “Pride” propaganda. Locally, people are still less aware of who and what is pushing this.
In summary, “Pride Month” was an all-out attempt to aggressively push the full LGBTQ agenda, while not only attempting to normalize it, portray it as accepted by most segments of society, but to also suppress all dissent and demonize dissenters. What is new this year is a growing groundswell of opposition.
Let me preface this with a biblically supported position that we are commanded by the Lord to love one another, but not necessarily behaviors.
You couldn’t see a newspaper (except ones like this) without seeing glorification and active promotion of the LGBTQ “lifestyle.” Ditto with movies, ads, TV, ad nauseum.
Even the slightest opposition, or less than total acceptance and support, any hesitation or ambiguity in doing so- is viewed as hate, bigotry, backwardness, anti-“gay,” anti-homo, anti-“queer,” anti-LGBTQ, or whatever. Retribution often follows.
I get it that consenting adults should be able to do what they want in privacy- but provided that it is not harming or severely inconveniencing someone else- which is too far. When their message is not merely tolerated, even accepted, but actively promoted by taxpayer-funded governments, that is too far. When business behemoths and shadowy NGO’s promote it, usually with customers’ or even government (taxpayers’) money, that is too far. When gross “parades”, “drag queen” shows, movies, ads, TV shows, are rammed down the public’s throats 24/7 from every quarter and so many shows/ads feature them, that is too far. Equating gay relationships with actual marriage is too far. “Canceling” people via firing, demoting, boycotting, deplatforming, demonetizing, vilifying, shunning, banning, for merely objecting, is too far.
But the absolute red line is when this is pushed on children, sometimes while deliberately hiding it from parents- that is way too far over the red line. “Pushed on children” means propagandizing them, attempting to normalize deviant and even harmful behavior, legitimizing it through inclusion in school curricula, book lists, handouts, making sexual “transitioning” available through schools and government, withholding notification from parents, even paying for this. Ditto with blanketing media with such messages. LGBTQ advocates will hate my saying this, but this is the very definition of grooming. Transitioning activity goes way beyond grooming. It should be a felony and already is in some jurisdictions. It can be tragic and often irreversible.
Using the logic employed by the “Pride” movement, would there be anything to stop it from also promoting pedophilia, bestiality, necrophilia and more insanity? In fact, there are fringe movements already doing so. Would Harris Teeter, Bank of America, Story & Song, Starting Point, etc., also line up to promote and even finance these, too, if enough pressure and propaganda were applied, which is what got them to their current untenable stances? I know that this paragraph may sound outlandish to you, but so might the current “Pride” agenda have, say, 30 years ago. Their creeping incrementalism over time is like the “boiling frog” analogy.
The movement, full of “pride” in its significant successes, has overreached badly, causing their upswinging pendulum to slow down and about to reverse.
Local “Pride” Event
I was mercifully out of town for the local “Pride” parade and expo this year. Read our article on last year’s event. We hear that it wasn’t too different this time, except that event publicity left out the “drag queen” and “kid’s zone” stuff. Two local attendees who went to both told us that it seemed a bit more subdued this year, but still definitely not “family-friendly,” as advertised.
As “Pride” events go, this one was nowhere near as disgusting and outrageous as some of the big city events you might have heard about. But their real damage is the attempt not only to normalize various LGBTQ behaviors but to recruit children, in spite of their vehement and spurious denials.
The local Pride group, which is an LGBTQ umbrella organization, holds events, supports members and communicates with the public. They hold an annual parade downtown and an expo at Central Park, adjacent to the children’s playground. See our article on their 2022 event.
We understand that the June 2023 event was approved by a committee months ago without Commission involvement. The committee did request Commission approval, we are told, but no City Commission action was ever taken. Genece Minshew, Pride group head and failed City Commission candidate, was at least one meeting when it was deliberated. When asked to cancel the venue arrangement, the Commission indicated that it had already been approved- a bit deceptive, not mentioning that they had never debated or voted on approval. The Commission would not take a positive action one way or another, but by doing nothing, they de facto approved it.
On March 29, Jack Knocke, Executive Director of the Nassau County Chapter of Citizens Defending Freedom (CDF), sent an email to the Commissioners objecting to the playground venue for the June Expo and the April picnic, objecting to an expo location which is designed for children.
It quickly leaked to the local Progressive News-Leader, which published an article on it in their April 5 paper edition. They front page headlined: “Knocke tells commission Pride events are inappropriate.” That is a misstatement since he was objecting to the aforementioned venue, not the event itself. But this is what Pride and the public latched on to.
The News-Leader article also identified CCDF (now CDF) and some of the things that they did and stood for, such as:
- “CCDF has been involved in efforts to remove books from school libraries in Travis County, TX. Key omission- those were books that didn’t meet Texas’ own standards.
- A lawsuit questioning the results of a local referendum election in Montgomery County, Texas. The News-Leader did not comment on whether this was justified or what the outcome was.
- Worked to have churches in each of the county’s school districts to start their own “Community Impact Ministry” in order to bring back biblical values by participating in civic duties within their communities.”
- They pointed out that CCDF supported Gov. DeSantis’ legal battle with Disney.
- News-Leader believes that CCDF was instrumental in the ouster of City Manager Martin.
These are all things that the Left has objected to, but the right mostly is comfortable with. The News-Leader identified no common ground.
A blizzard of reader letters was published by the News-Leader, overwhelming critical of or even abusive to Knocke and CDF. One 932 word letter was published very prominently as an op-ed in the April 19 News-Leader paper edition. It was particularly bombastic and offensive, containing none of the “common ground” rhetoric more recently promoted by the writer and his (sorry- my pronoun assignment) partner, who is the President of the local Democratic club.
Knocke refrained from commenting for this “retrospective” article.
Here’s a smoking gun of a FB Pride Festival video- an admission of possibly unlawful activity. It is a bit of a Blockbuster- an undercover video that easily teases an admission out of a Starting Point representative that it may be possibly illegally withholding vital information from parents about their children’s counselling sessions (click below):
More videos from Quisha King
Relevant: Florida Medical Association advice on FL HB 241. FL HB 241 text.
The recent Pride event in New York featured nude paraders displaying their genitalia and a group chanting that “we’re near, we’re queer and coming for your children.” Youtube forces you to sign in and confirm your age to even see it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=et0e3gKJWxI . Or just watch this: https://youtu.be/bflTAnFSm98?t=61 . The corporate LeftMedia has bent over backwards to either ignore such things or spin them into satire and taunting parents. But there is an obvious truth to this, when matched with what is actually happening.
Business is Promoting It
Even supermarket flyers, like Harris-Teeter’s promote “Pride.” The infamous recent Bud Lite and Target stores LGBTQ overreaches/gaffes have received national attention and overwhelming pushback in the form of damaging boycotts.
But thousands of companies have kowtowed to the LGBTQ cartel. Difficult to boycott all of them without starving to death and cutting off most communications.
Just a few examples:
https://about.bankofamerica.com/en/making-an-impact/lgbtq-equality
https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/27/business/starbucks-pride-decorations-clarity/index.html
https://www.actionnewsjax.com/news/local/vystar-credit-union-hosts-lgbtq-empowerment-summit/YF2XMLC2A5BV3M6TUV7A4RSYDI/ (also supported FB event)
https://fullyvested.com/insights/lgbtq-friendly-banks/embed/#?secret=VomnWWbJuD#?secret=hcf1asywI7
Some additional local sponsors are: Nassau Democratic Executive Committee, Democratic Club of Amelia Island, Millennium Physicians Group, First Love Brewery, Foundation Community Impact, P5 Productions, Biz Bolster Web Solutions, Bath Planet, Granite Transformations, MÜV (cannabis dispensaries), Disco Witch Brewing, but most of the money came from several LGBTQ organizations, per the FB Pride web site.
Conclusion
Statement from Dave Scott:
Pride Month Keeps Us Alert
“Pride Month is an annual wake-up call about why we should be alert to those intent on inserting toxic theories such as gender identity into classrooms or any other day-to-day activity.
The push to bring transgenderism into the mainstream is so irrational that children are being disfigured for life. A child can’t make life-altering decisions that aren’t reversible? That’s why we are fortunate to have Gov. Ron DeSantis looking after our kids much to the chagrin of the pride crowd that touts transgender education in public schools. Governor DeSantis is ensuring that parents, not school officials, teachers’ unions, and others, who claim to have the best interest of our children at heart, have a say over the upbringing of our children.
It’s frightening that the Amelia Island chapters of Big Brothers/Big Sisters and Take Stock in Children were part of the pride celebration at Central Park and only withdrew at the last minute when their funding was threatened. Think about that the next time they request donations, or you consider having your children participate in any of their functions.
Governor DeSantis’s education agenda focuses on “student success, parental rights, and curriculum transparency,” all elements that prevent idealogues from taking over and keeping child learning in the right hands. Responding to a reporter recently Gov. DeSantis said: “They’ll say it’s health care to cut off the private parts of a 14 or 15-year-old. That’s not health care. That is mutilation and we’re standing up against that.”
This vile, obscene nonsense needs to stop. Hopefully November 2024 will usher in sweeping changes. Until then pride celebrations are a constant reminder of why we need to stay vigilant.”
We asked Pastor Zach Terry of First Baptist Church Fernandina beach to comment. What he sent was a full article, which you can read HERE. Excerpt:
“As such, Christians view themselves as a city within a city – existing for the Gospel good of that city. Having been placed in a world system, we speak truth in love to those caught up in Babylon. In our congregation and throughout our listening audience online and on the radio, we minister to some people who are caught up in gender dystopia, sexual strongholds, and a variety of other struggles. We intend to show them a better way than bowing down and embracing the Babylonian idol of Pride. We point them to Jesus, who offers to “make all things new.””
John Hawkins summarized things very nicely here:
“Additionally, our society has gone beyond the original idea of encouraging tolerance to promote being gay, which is insane. You shouldn’t hate someone for being gay but promoting it also shouldn’t be encouraged if only because gay people aren’t going to be making babies. Yet, our country does more to promote being gay than it does to promote patriotism at this point. We have a handful of patriotic holidays like “July 4th” and “Veteran’s Day,” but a whole month dedicated to Pride activities. Why? Why do we have drag queens of all people reading to kids? Why do we have government buildings flying Pride flags? Why do we have teachers talking to kids about something as bizarre and (not so long ago before it started being promoted) incredibly rare as feeling like you’re a different sex than you are? Why are we putting Pride flags in churches? Why are they being painted on roads, only to spur hysterical reactions when someone inevitably spins out on them?”
George Miller is Publisher and Co-Founder of Citizens Journal Florida, based in Fernandina Beach. He is a “retired” operations management consultant, software and publishing executive and manufacturing management professional.
The views expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official position of Citizens Journal Florida.
