“So basically, if you’re a gay republican in Charlotte, you aren’t welcome to participate in the pride parade.”
June is considered Pride Month, and all across the United States groups mark the occasion by participating in pride parades. These entail various floats and events in the spirit of celebrating the LGBTQ community. The spirit of Pride Month centers around inclusion and acceptance; however, one group in Charlotte, North Carolina has found that not to be the case.
Gays For Trump recently submitted an application so they could have a float in this year’s parade. The group wanted to participate in order to demonstrate that they are neither racists nor bigots. Brian Talbert, the organizer of the group, received an email from the Charlotte Pride Parade team stating that Gays For Trump was being denied access to participate in the parade. “I’m very proud of my vote. I don’t regret my vote. I will vote for Donald Trump again. I don’t think I should be vilified because I’m proud of a U.S. president as an American,” Talbert said.
The organization released a written statement attempting to justify their decision by stating, “In the past, we have made similar decisions to decline participation from other organizations espousing anti-LGBTQ religious or public policy stances.”
So basically, if you’re a gay republican in Charlotte, you aren’t welcome to participate in the pride parade. Now, I’ve attended a pride parade in Philadelphia and have seen with my own eyes a float made of religious individuals who were preaching anti-gay messages. Some of their signs even alluded to hellfire and brimstone. They set up shop with a microphone, preaching to the gays, who partied around them, unaffected by Americans exercising their constitutional rights. That is exactly how those with differing views should handle things: like adults.
But here is a situation that offers the LGBTQ community a chance to come together and celebrate one thing they all have in common. I highly doubt that politics will be completely absent from the Charlotte Pride Parade. Discriminating against members of their own community over political beliefs is a new frontier of petty. This is an opportunity to promote acceptance and inclusivity and the Charlotte Pride Parade organization has chosen to ostracize gay members of the community based upon how they voted. The ridiculous move goes to show that the divisive behavior in the United States is also perpetuated by the very groups that are supposed to promote and uphold peace among humans.
There’s no doubt that featuring a Gays For Trump float in a pride parade would create buzz and start a conversation, but there shouldn’t be any fear in that. The way some citizens are carrying on about President Trump, you would think that he ordered the LGBTQ community to be rounded up and forced to attend a gay conversion camp hosted by Milo Yiannopoulos.
Rather than celebrate the huge accomplishments that the community has made, people want to focus on creating theatrical ideas implying that all rights will be stripped away and combatting the nonexistent attack on gay rights. The Charlotte Pride organization has failed.
