Trending
We frequently hear comments about, "when is it our turn?" regarding Pride celebrations. There are myriad ways to respond to this, but with the juxtaposition of the Pride in the Haven celebration, happening this weekend, and the 4th of July holiday in less than a week, we wanted to point out -- respectfully -- that there are striking similarities between the desires of the LGBT community and most Americans.
A few examples from an Associated Press story which ran in late April on how most Americans agree on core values include:
-- 91% of Americans polled find "the right of everyone to equal protection under the law" to be "extremely or very important."
-- 90% of Americans polled find "freedom of speech" to be "extremely or very important."
-- 83% of Americans polled find "the right of people to assemble peacefully" to be "extremely or very important."
There were other values polled on which most Americans still agree, including the right to privacy, freedom of religion and even the right to keep and bear arms, which despite the discourse, 78% of Americans consider "extremely or very important" or "somewhat important."
Many of those values are also considered core to the Pride movement, which has been celebrated throughout America since the early 1970s -- even the right to bear arms, with LGBT groups like the Pink Pistols who advocate for gun ownership within the community.
This isn't a recent change or a sudden shift.
They've been here the whole time.
Locally, perhaps less visibly -- this year's Pride in the Haven is only the third annual -- although as local historian Lou Bernard recently wrote, Clinton County has its own history with the LGBT population.
Consider: over 30 vendors and artisans are expected at Pride in the Haven. There will be face painting and food.
This is a community event: a group of like-minded equals assembling peacefully to build something bigger and better than any of them could have ever managed on their own.
Sound familiar?
There has long been a stark disapproval of the LGBT population in America -- we were founded in part by Puritans, after all, a group whose name has become synonymous with "one who practices or preaches a more rigorous or professedly purer moral code than that which prevails," per Merriam-Webster.
We will not tell you that your disapproval is wrong. That is for you to decide for yourself.
We are a community newspaper. We report on as much of what is happening in the area as we can, and that includes many things which our readers disapprove of -- regardless of ideological alignment.
Americans disapprove of things ranging from the color of our neighbors' houses to the height of their grass to their favorite sports teams and everything in between.
We judge others for hairstyles and colors, tattoos, styles of dress and the sound their laugh makes.
But they're still Americans, with the same core values as us -- and so is the LGBT community.
And, certainly, every community has its bad actors: those who take advantage of a system, a populace, or, yes, an identity, to commit heinous acts.
Those bad actors should absolutely be held accountable socially and legally for those actions -- but not every member of a community should be held to their lowest common denominator.
This weekend, when Pride in the Haven is held, consider keeping an open mind.
Maybe, if you're feeling adventurous, stop by for a while to check out the vendors and artisans, the booths and the face-painters.
You might learn that their community and yours are the same.