Pride and Prejudice

The title of this email probably made you think of the book by the same name, authored by Jane Austen. It is a beloved novel that has been translated into 40 languages and has been produced for the silver screen at least 17 different times. However, that is not what I am referring to when I talk about pride and prejudice.

Unless you’ve been hiding in a cave for the past couple weeks, you’ve probably been assailed with advertisements, media stories, and companies and groups proclaiming how June is “Pride Month”. According to the Library of Congress, “This month-long celebration demonstrates how LGBTQ Americans have strengthened our country, by using their talent and creativity to help create awareness and goodwill.” Well, good for them, however, I don’t believe it for a minute. I guess that makes me prejudiced.

Let me explain. I will be the first to admit that there have been individuals in the LGBT community who have contributed in significant ways to American culture. The part I strongly disagree with is the, “have strengthened our country” portion. Put simply, the family is the foundation of culture. Families give rise to communities, communities to societies, and societies to governments. Strengthening the family strengthens the country, but the opposite is also true. No major civilization has ever continued to exist once its family foundation crumbled.

I would argue that the LGBT movement has not strengthened the family, but has furthered its demise. Their community’s philosophy of “anything goes” with regard to sexuality and marriage, their embracing of moral relativism, and the irrelevance with which they regard the biblical and foundational family structure upon which our country was based have all hurt our country. I am not saying that we should ignore the LGBT community or the contributions of particular individuals, but we can’t ignore the other side of the issue either – the rather obvious deleterious effect their movement has had on social values.

Those in the LGBT community often say that they just want equality. We consistently hear that they are merely trying to eliminate the discrimination against them. I imagine they would regard my previous comments as just more evidence of this prejudice.

Let me make one thing clear: pride is not the opposite of prejudice. The opposite of prejudice is when something is fair or impartial or unbiased. You will be unsuccessful if you try to make a level playing field by being proud.

Undoing prejudice is also not pressuring someone to abandon their set of beliefs for yours; it just causes resentment. “Live and let live” is no longer in the LGBT playbook. Force feeding the LGBT agenda to the rest of us via the media, pushing companies to virtue signal, participating in the local gay pride parade, or shoving one’s social ideology on our children in the classroom is not the way to overcome prejudice. Just look at the last elections in ND or the outcome of our recent legislative session. It backfires.

Let me close with this. Do you know what June is besides “Pride Month”? It’s also Immigrant Heritage Month, which focuses on “honoring the rich contributions that immigrants and their descendants have made to our shared history and culture.” My parents were immigrants. Did they experience prejudice or unequal treatment because of their cultural roots? You bet they did.

I don’t imagine we will see parades for Immigrant Heritage Month. There will be no companies feeling the need to recognize all the contributions made by immigrants (far more than those made by the LGBT community, I might add). The media will not laud the praises of immigrants, nor will a special flag be hung from the White House balcony (especially not illegally) in celebration of immigrants. And you know what, that’s OK.

My parents would not have wanted any of it. They worked hard and showed that they could contribute to our society and nation, despite being marginalized at times. They did not insist on special recognition or fame – they earned respect. And if you think that there is societal prejudice today, trying living as an immigrant in the 1950s.

Our country has always been the land of opportunity. I am far more impressed with someone who may be openly LGBT and demonstrates their desire and ability to contribute and move us forward, than someone who is shouting, “Look at me! I’m gay and insist that you validate my life choices and give me special rights”.

Opportunity has always been there for Americans, and still is, but it takes more than shouting to get what you want. You don’t have a right to be successful, celebrated, or approved– you earn it.