By DEXTER DUGGAN
SAN DIEGO — Including six color photos, this area’s largest newspaper co-celebrated the annual “Pride Parade,” positioned as its Sunday lead story, with about half the news space on page one and about three-quarters of an inside page, marching to the activist theme of “Allied in Action, United for Justice.”
The San Diego Union-Tribune quoted Bianca Burt, co-chair of the San Diego LGBT Pride board:
“We are hoping that Pride can bring the entire community together. There’s more that unites us than divides us. We are open to hearing from parts of the community that feel left out.”
Even in what’s called liberal California, state voters twice affirmed traditional male-female marriage in statewide ballots, Proposition 22 in 2000 and Proposition 8 in 2008. However, an activist judiciary and unrelenting dominant media, unbending to democracy, kept pounding away for their contrary objectives, to overturn historic traditional stands.
The July 16 issue of the Union-Tribune said that more than 100,000 people “thronged” the Pride parade, with a total turnout at events over the July 15-16 weekend estimated at more than 200,000.
On July 14 its website posted the headline, “San Diego Pride: See how excited the city is about #SDPride.”
The accompanying article included illustrations of shops’ foods with “rainbow” colors, the Chipotle Mexican Grill proclaiming “Cause an effect” along with the San Diego LGBT logo, the San Diego Public Library with recommended reading for the Pride weekend, and library staff wearing the requisite colors, and the exterior of St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral correspondingly lighted.
Along with San Francisco, San Diego is considered one of California’s most LGBT-friendly cities, with the first official “Lesbian and Gay Parade” here in 1975.
However, the tension between the activists’ beliefs and the rest of the nation couldn’t be wished away. A photo of a marching military color guard carrying the U.S. services’ flags, and a California state flag restyled with the LGBT “rainbow” colors, raised some people’s concerns.
A San Diego-area orthodox Catholic, Allyson Smith, told The Wanderer on July 17 that “as usual, many local law-enforcement agencies and military personnel participated in” the Pride parade. “What does this tell Christians about how fairly they can expect to be treated if they speak out against homosexuality? Law-enforcement and military agencies should be neutral and not participate in this parade.”
Derry Connolly, president of the media-oriented, orthodox John Paul the Great Catholic University in suburban Escondido, told The Wanderer on July 17 that LGBT domination of Hollywood is “a real tough challenge” to others.
His school draws some of its instructors from the entertainment world, and its degree offerings include the BS in communications media and in business.
Ten years ago, Connolly said, “I never thought it would be to this extent,” referring to the previous Saturday’s Pride parade. “. . . It’s pretty systematic, from the left’s perspective.”
The California legislature “has been taken over by the LGBT contingent,” which “is anti-Christian,” and churns out legislation reflecting their perspective, Connolly said.
The Union-Tribune quoted one parade participant, a motorcycle club president and retired U.S. Navy chief petty officer: “I think it’s becoming more political, especially in light of the current administration, the current president. People are concerned they might lose their rights.”
The story noted opposition expressed against Donald Trump, including a call on some T-shirts and buttons to “Make America Gay Again,” an unfavorable twist to Trump’s campaign slogan of making America great again.
“I’d like to see the guy impeached,” the paper quoted a marcher with the ACLU contingent, adding that Alexandra Kogan also said, “We are here to support our community and take our country back.”
Considering that LGBT activists contend the United States is only emerging from a hateful history of sexual discrimination, one wonders why a marcher of theirs would yearn for taking the country “back.”
Oblivious to certain quarters, the Union-Tribune said marchers “represented the full spectrum of life in San Diego.” It named segments from industry, medicine, sports, religion, and politics, including San Diego Republican Mayor Kevin Faulconer.
However, a San Diego-area pro-life woman told The Wanderer it’s unfortunate when people “confuse the issues” — for instance, at pro-life events, when they “start talking about what they call family issues” yet speak negatively about differences in sexual perspectives.
“I went” to the Pride parade, she said. “It was beautiful. It was a wonderful event.”
Some aspects there were perhaps “really wild,” but that also could be true about some people’s Halloween costumes, said the woman, who preferred not to be named because of her professional work.
“The vast majority of what I saw was families walking around or cheering from the sidelines, celebrating love. . . . The majority of people at a Pride parade aren’t gay. . . . It’s just everyone is happy, everyone is joyful,” she said.
However, she said, she never would go to what’s called a “women’s march” because it’s a pro-abortion march.
“To me, the life issue is the most fundamental issue we have,” she said, adding she doesn’t see the reason for using up energy to take an “ugly” stand against some. She likened that to saying, “I’m going to fight for life, but I’m not going to fight for whatever you turn out to be.”
She said her family and friends also went to the Pride parade. “My Mom is a pro-life, Catholic gay woman” who believes “everyone should have a chance at life.”
Christian Ministry
Smith, the area Catholic who objected to the apparent endorsement of the Pride parade by law enforcement and the military, told The Wanderer in an email:
“San Diego’s annual ‘sodomy shame’ parade was the usual celebration of sexual dysfunction and perversity. Naturally, The San Diego Union-Tribune, which is owned by the ultra-liberal L.A. Times, gave prominent front-page coverage to the spectacle, glorifying it by claiming it drew a record crowd this year. . . .
“Some Christian groups did try to minister to the parade-goers, including St. Paul’s Street Evangelization, a Catholic organization, which passed out rosaries and brochures about the Church’s teaching on homosexuality,” Smith said, adding:
“Protestant ministers held large banners and preached from a megaphone close to the St. Paul’s booth. However, these efforts seemed puny in comparison to the hundreds of thousands of people who participated in the parade and post-parade festival.
“The most distressing aspect of the parade, to me, was seeing how many young people, including children, were there. The current cultural zeitgeist in favor of homosexuality has sadly lured so many impressionable young adults into its snare,” she said.
“Worst of all was seeing so many small children brought there by adults,” Smith said. “Jesus told us that it would be better for a millstone to be hung around one’s neck than to offend one of the little ones, but His Word seemed to be entirely lost on those who brought children to this shameful event.”
Powered by WPtouch Mobile Suite for WordPress