Despite marriage equality, LGBTQ Americans in 2019 still face many challenges, including higher rates of teen suicide and the prospect of being denied homes or losing jobs over their sexual orientation.
But to Samson Racioppi and fellow organizers of a Straight Pride Parade on Saturday in Boston — an event expected to draw dozens of supporters and perhaps 800 counterprotesters — heterosexuals are victims, too.
Straight people have “been disregarded, and that’s a form of attack,” Racioppi said, citing a Netflix show about drag queens and his friend’s preteen daughter questioning her gender. “People need to be reassured that even though there’s all this mixed messaging, it’s still perfectly natural to identify as a heterosexual.”
LGBTQ leaders, however, say that the parade — despite organizers’ insistence that they seek to celebrate straight people, not tear down others — is led by radical bigots and predicated on an insidious, inaccurate idea: that LGBTQ Americans already enjoy full equality, and that attempts to celebrate them or end discrimination somehow come at the expense of straight Americans.
***
Some groups — including Boston Pride, which organizes the city’s massive annual LGBTQ pride parade — are trying to ignore the provocation.
“It has become increasingly clear that the Straight Pride Parade is organized by a group of white supremacists and is an attempt to bait the Boston LGBTQ community,” the organization said. “It’s a trolling event, designed to get a rise out of vulnerable communities.”
