Joe.My.God. LGBT News
They say they’re going to sue. Charlotte’s Fox affiliate reports:
A group says Charlotte Pride is pushing them out of the Gay Pride Parade because they support President Trump. “I’m very proud of my country, proud of my president, and was once proud of my community,” said Brian Talbert, who said he’s proud to be gay and proud to be a Trump supporter. His truck has a Trump-Pence bumper sticker and ‘Not a liberal’ sign on the back window.
Talbert said he and a fellow gay Trump supporter sent in an application to Charlotte Pride so they could have a float in this year’s Charlotte Pride Parade. “It was going to be fun. We wanted to be energetic. We wanted to show that we weren’t racist, bigot, misogynistic. We wanted to show that we are Americans, love our country and our president. We wanted to be there to celebrate gay pride. Everything fell into place except being able to celebrate who I am,” he said.
Charlotte Pride has issued a statement:
Charlotte Pride reserves the right to decline participation at our events to groups or organizations which do not reflect the mission, vision and values of our organization, as is acknowledged in our parade rules and regulations by all groups at the time of their parade application. In the past, we have made similar decisions to decline participation from other organizations espousing anti-LGBTQ religious or public policy stances.
Charlotte Pride envisions a world in which LGBTQ people are affirmed, respected and included in the full social and civic life of their local communities, free from fear of any discrimination, rejection, and prejudice. Charlotte Pride invites all individuals, groups, organizations and causes which share our values to join our community’s celebration of the LGBTQ community, history, arts and culture during the Charlotte Pride Festival and Parade, Aug. 26-27, 2017.
Of course, Todd Starnes is all over this:
Those who preach tolerance and equality are normally the least tolerant and least equal of all. “It was going to support Donald Trump,” group spokesman Derek Van Cleve told me. “It was going to be a patriotic float with American flags and a few ‘Make America Great Again’ flags.”
He also said the float would be populated with a number of drag queens – dressed as Uncle Sam and the Statue of Liberty. “We wanted to have a couple of drag queens on the float dancing in ‘Make America Great Again’ dresses,” he said.
Mr. Van Cleve told me there’s not all that much diversity in the local LGBT organization. “I’ve been to many pride festivals in the past and it’s pretty much a big DNC convention,” he said. “It’s extremely liberal.”
Charlotte Pride has a right to pick and choose who they wish to parade with – that issue is not in dispute. But their decision to ban “Gays for Trump” smells of narrow-minded political bigotry. Charlotte Pride should be celebrating diversity. Instead, it appears they are shoving gay Republicans back into the closet.
Perhaps it’s needless to say, but Starnes felt very differently about “tolerance and inclusion” when gays wanted to be in New York City’s St. Patrick’s Day parade.