Western Standard - Pride movement has run its course

00:00:00.000 Let's talk about Pride Month. Yes, it's June and it is Pride Month.

00:00:04.260 Okay, it doesn't bother me. It really doesn't. I don't care.

00:00:07.400 And that's the thing. So, I mean, it got me thinking on some things, though.

00:00:10.500 And it's something that recently happened with me. 0.90

00:00:13.000 I realized that Liberal Cabinet Minister Seamus O'Regan is gay.

00:00:18.280 Okay, I know it's not a profound revelation. It's been common knowledge for quite some time.

00:00:22.780 And O'Regan hasn't made a secret of it.

00:00:24.120 But despite myself being a rather avid political watcher, I actually didn't know O'Regan's sexual orientation.

00:00:31.080 I doubtless must have run across references to it over the years, but it never really stuck in my memory.

00:00:35.640 Because you know what? It doesn't matter.

00:00:38.080 The only reason I suddenly noticed O'Regan's orientation was that he gave a rant in Parliament a few weeks ago

00:00:43.140 about how people like him had rights suppressed in his lifetime.

00:00:46.460 And I was wondering to myself, what the hell is this privileged white-pred man from Newfoundland going on about it?

00:00:51.880 And there wasn't much Irish oppression. And I had to think about it and look into it.

00:00:54.620 And then I realized, oh, he's not straight. Okay.

00:00:57.300 Well, I'm utterly indifferent to O'Regan's sexual orientation, just as I am with everybody else.

00:01:01.940 And it's a great development, though, because things haven't always been this way.

00:01:07.000 If you might remember some of the older political watchers, former NDP MP Sven Robinson,

00:01:12.000 he was the first openly gay member to serve in Parliament when he came out in 1988.

00:01:17.100 Now, for most of his term, whenever Robinson was mentioned in a news or commentary,

00:01:22.500 his status as a gay MP was almost always mentioned.

00:01:25.900 Not necessarily in a derogatory way, but it was considered an oddity.

00:01:29.200 His sexual orientation ended up defining who he was in the public eye for most of his time in office,

00:01:34.440 whether he liked it or not.

00:01:35.860 At least until he was convicted of stealing a ring and was thereafter remembered as a petty thief.

00:01:40.920 Canada's evolved a lot in the last few decades, and mostly for the better.

00:01:43.800 Most of us don't reference a gay MP or a same-sex marriage anymore.

00:01:47.620 It's just an MP, and it's just marriage.

00:01:49.580 It's not a gay couple. It's just a couple. 0.99

00:01:51.460 This is where we need to be.

00:01:53.120 This didn't happen overnight, though.

00:01:54.800 It took decades of effort from activists within and outside the LGBTQ community.

00:01:59.380 The Pride movement was an integral part of what fostered the changes in societal attitudes towards LGBTQ people.

00:02:06.420 I was dragged down to a Pride parade by a girlfriend in the late 1990s,

00:02:10.260 and the reason I was dragged wasn't quite because I was terrified of gay people,

00:02:13.200 but yeah, I was still awkward and squeamish on the issue,

00:02:15.620 as most of the people who grew up in the 1970s were.

00:02:18.560 When I went to school, I would have been sent to detention for swearing in class, 0.97

00:02:22.560 but wouldn't have gotten much more than a finger-wagging if I'd have called a fellow student a fag. 0.95

00:02:26.900 The word was in popular use back then, even on TV and in movies, believe it or not. 0.78

00:02:30.520 Spending a day around people from the LGBTQ community was good for me.

00:02:34.040 It helped me grow out of my intolerance.

00:02:35.480 The term Pride is appropriate for the movement, too.

00:02:38.680 I mean, LGBTQ, boy, those letters get to me, though.

00:02:41.520 We're constantly told they should be ashamed of who they are,

00:02:44.580 and that they should keep their sexuality hidden and suppressed. 0.61

00:02:47.500 I can understand why they want to celebrate who they are loudly and without shame at events.

00:02:52.300 So yeah, Pride's the right word.

00:02:53.760 Pride parades and gatherings allowed for that.

00:02:56.600 It's come up to now, though.

00:02:57.820 Sexual orientation's protected by law.

00:03:00.100 And LGBTQ people enjoy all the same rights as straight people do.

00:03:03.980 And more importantly, most people, anyways, most, have learned to set aside prejudices

00:03:08.280 and accept people for who they are.

00:03:10.040 Sure, there's still some acts of intolerance and some hateful people out there,

00:03:13.180 but that's a dwindling subset of society.

00:03:16.220 But this led to a different problem.

00:03:17.940 This has left radical activists with a quandary.

00:03:20.680 They've reached the goal line.

00:03:22.940 But instead of being content and stopping,

00:03:25.120 they're now continuing to push the line farther down the field.

00:03:28.560 They're angry.

00:03:29.480 They thrive on protest, and they're running out of things to protest for.

00:03:32.560 That's why they're insisting on getting more militant at Pride events,

00:03:36.000 and ironically, exclusionary, as they're starting to pick and choose who's even allowed to attend them.

00:03:40.520 People don't want to take their kids to a parade where a nude man is going to simulate sexual acts

00:03:45.620 as activists keep working to push the shock envelope.

00:03:49.160 As the movement embraces more radical stances, they've begun eating their own.

00:03:53.540 Edmonton canceled a Pride parade a couple years ago because Black Lives Matter activists got upset. 0.53

00:03:58.080 And Philadelphia had their Pride parade disrupted by the ridiculous Queers for Palestine movement. 1.00

00:04:03.600 This week, Winnipeg's Pride parade was reportedly temporarily blocked by Queers for Palestine activists.

00:04:10.100 Queers for Palestine. 0.91

00:04:11.180 Really, guys, really think a little harder.

00:04:13.960 And this was apparently in the traditions, as though there was,

00:04:16.680 of two-spirit queer and trans resistance.

00:04:19.420 What the hell does that even mean? 0.99

00:04:20.500 Are we really expected to embrace and respect groups this nutty?

00:04:24.680 It isn't enough to be tolerant or accepting anymore.

00:04:26.860 Activists now are demanding open displays of support for their cause.

00:04:30.500 Businesses are shamed if they don't have enough rainbow flag stickers on display,

00:04:34.480 and public figures are called out if they dare miss even one of the many, many Pride events

00:04:38.480 that happen in every city now.

00:04:40.320 It really is reminiscent of the Seinfeld episode where Kramer wanted to take part in an AIDS march

00:04:44.640 but didn't want to wear the ribbon.

00:04:45.640 I don't know if you guys remember watching that.

00:04:46.640 He was eventually chased by an angry mob for literally not wearing his allegiance to a cause on his jacket.

00:04:52.640 The Pride movement went from being a brave minority, and they were,

00:04:56.200 to becoming accepted by the majority, to now starting to get dominated by a fringe minority.

00:05:02.520 There's always room for a society to evolve further,

00:05:04.860 and further there's always going to be pockets of intolerance to battle.

00:05:08.860 If the hill now, though, for Pride activists to die on has become the perceived right

00:05:11.960 for elementary school children to change their gender pronouns,

00:05:14.400 I think we can safely conclude the Pride movement has run its course.

00:05:19.540 Maybe it's time to set that aside and move ahead.

Western Standard - June 06, 2024

Pride movement has run its course

Episode Stats

Summary

Transcript