People outside the LGBTQ+ community are often asking, “What about Straight Pride?” and this year, a group in Boston, Massachusetts, is taking that rallying cishet cry seriously.
The organization Super Happy Fun America, which advocates “on behalf of the straight community in order to foster respect and awareness with people from all walks of life,” is organizing the event. The organization’s vice president, Mark Sahady, posted about the proposed event on Facebook. It’s scheduled to take place on August 31 in Boston and mimic the LGBTQ+ Pride parade that takes place in June (this year’s local parade and event, which honors the 50th anniversary of Stonewall, is on June 8).
As of now, the event is pending approval from the City of Boston. Boston officials report that the group has been in contact but hasn’t obtained the necessary permits to host the event. In his Facebook post, Sahady writes, “It looks like the Boston Straight Pride Parade will happen. We filed a discrimination complaint and it appears the City of Boston understands they would lose in litigation.” Sahady is a member of the right-wing group Resist Marxism, which organized a free speech rally on the Boston Common in November 2017.
The group wants the proposed one-day event to include a parade and ceremony that will include the “straight pride flag” being raised over Boston’s City Hall. They claim that the event is welcome to everyone but that the group Antifa is not welcome.
The LGBTQ+ community is rightfully angry about the event. I grew up twenty minutes outside Boston, and while the area isn’t perfect and has a long way to go, I’ve always been proud that we were the first of the 50 states to legalize same-sex marriage in 2004. My fiancée and I are getting married in Provincetown in September; we’re privileged in that we usually feel fairly safe when we’re out in our local area. If this event happens as proposed on August 31, it will be a significant step back for the community in Greater Boston and beyond, especially for trans and nonbinary folks and LGBTQ+ people of color.
The only positive from the situation has been following all the great meme clap backs.
boston straight pride parade u have to come in costume as your favorite mark wahlberg character everyone walks around ordering a cranberry juice at a bar and saying how do u like them apples …….. madness
— hunter harris (@hunteryharris) June 4, 2019
The Straight Pride Parade is just five guys wearing this pic.twitter.com/rBMUzdqjk7
— Josh Billinson (@jbillinson) June 4, 2019
To my understanding, the straight pride parade is just the checkout line at Costco.
— Nick Wanserski (@NWanserski) June 4, 2019
Props to everyone supporting the Straight Pride Parade
We know it was tough for you coming out to your parents, getting kicked out of your house, forced to get straight conversion therapy, lost your job, not allowed to marry who you love, and just generally discriminated against
— Rogue NASA (@RogueNASA) June 4, 2019
A straight pride parade is just 5 guys bullying someone wearing their school football team jersey in the middle of the street.
— ImAllexx (@ImAllexx) June 5, 2019
What color khakis are we wearing to the straight pride parade? I was gonna go beige but I have an old navy gift card so I am also open to warm beige or light tan
— monica vasandani (@monicavas) June 5, 2019
Found this in a fb thread where some guy is talking about organizing a straight pride parade. Hilarious and accurate! pic.twitter.com/V8INRY5GiN
— Jessie Bee (@seejessiedraw) June 4, 2019
Isn’t a straight pride parade just the drive thru line at Chick-Fil-A?
— Christine Thompson (@Druncan_Hines) June 4, 2019
i can’t wait for the straight pride parade pic.twitter.com/EPhNxt51jj
— steven j. horowitz (@speriod) June 4, 2019