Robert Bridge: As LGBTQ+ Pride Month kicks off, is it time to give straight folks their parade too?
It’s already the merry month of June and, according to the woke calendar, time to celebrate the smorgasbord of sexual proclivities now available to all and sundry. But why not also honor the oldest carnal preference of them all?
On June 11, 1999, then-President Bill Clinton, the philandering Democrat who forced Americans to wonder whether oral sex constituted actual sex, designated June as ‘Gay and Lesbian Pride Month’. And it’s been a joyride ever since. Today, in the spirit of inclusivity and diversity, the celebration has sprouted some glorious wings and is now known as ‘Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ+) Pride Month’.
The origin of the celebration dates back to June 28, 1969, when police conducted an early-morning raid on the Stonewall Inn in trendy Greenwich Village, a popular meeting place for the gay community in New York City. As the story goes, the patrons of the bar, as well as neighboring watering holes, fought back against police as they attempted to make arrests. The rest is history. Today, due in no small part to the Stonewall riots, the LGBTQ+ community can claim some major cultural victories: Same-sex marriage has been legalized in all 50 states, while gay and transgender employees are protected from discrimination in the workplace.