Franklin, a city of 85,000 people in central Tennessee, is Bible Belt and Trumper country. You don’t expect to see Pride festivals there. Yet when one was held in 2021, more than 5,000 people showed up (bottom photo). Maybe it was relief from pandemic isolation for some of those folks.
Or maybe, like me, they believe LGBQT people who’ve broken no laws have the same rights as the rest of us, including the right to get together in a public park for an enjoyable time.
But there are people in Franklin who don’t believe that, and they’re fighting to deny Pride organizers a permit for their planned 2023 festival (see story here). That’s not an isolated incident; across America, hate-spewing conservative bigots are attacking LGBQT people who’ve done nothing wrong.
Meanwhile, in Florida, state Rep. Webster Barnaby (photo, above left), a black pastor, being a church figure and a minority himself isn’t someone you’d expect to spew anti-LGBQT hate. But Barnaby, a Republican, referred to trans people as “mutants” and “demons” in a legislative meeting (see story here). He wailed there’s “so much darkness in our world today,” oblivious to the irony.
LGBQT people are born that way. Nobody in their right mind would choose to be LGBQT with people like these on the loose. The bigots ranting about “decency” are the same people who’ve saturated our society with guns. That irony is lost on them, too.
Update (4/12/23): The city council approved the permit by 5-4 vote; read about that, and the lengths one anti-Pride alderman went to, here.
