By Sesali B. • @BadFatBlackGirl • 10 years ago

Is the LGBT pride flag unpatriotic?

Pride in the Park, a celebration of June being Gay Pride Month, the downfall of DOMA and the striking down of California's Prop 8, included the raising of a gay pride rainbow flag near the recreation center, food, games and raffles.

Of course not! But that’s not what a Louisiana councilman thinks.

After one of his constituents, a Korean war veteran, complained to him about the waving of the LGBT pride flag by a local LGBT organization, City-Parish councilman Andy Noquin took issue with the flag as well. The flag in question was raised at Lafayette, Louisiana’s Annual Pride In The Park celebration, which took place against the backdrop of National Pride Month and the recent striking down of DOMA. Noquin, a Republican (shock!), is now drafting legislation to ban the waving of any non-government flag in any public venue. “I did not go overseas and fight for our country so that we could come back and be subject to something like that,” said the Korea vet constituent Ray Green last week. “Several of us (veterans) feel that the flying of this flag is a poke in the eye of a way of life.”

And before you go jumping the gun, assuming he’s homophobic and asserting that LGBTQ people ought to prefer his American “way of life,” you should know:

“Green told the paper that while he is not ‘against the gays,’ he is opposed to ‘the act itself.'”

So, you see? He’s not against that sub-species known as “the gays,” he’s against humans actually being gay and displaying pride of such affliction in a fashion so close to that of American pride. Totally not homophobic at all!

Feministing's resident "sexpert", Sesali is a published writer and professional shit talker. She is a queer Black girl, fat girl, and trainer. She was the former Training Director at the United States Student Association and later a member of the Youth Organizing team at Planned Parenthood Federation of America. She received her bachelors in Women's and Gender Studies from Depaul University in 2012 and is currently pursuing a master's in Women's, Gender, and Sexuality studies at Georgia State University in Atlanta. A self identified "trap" feminist, and trained with a reproductive justice background, her interests include the intersections of feminism and: pop culture, youth culture, social media, hip hop, girlhood, sexuality, race, gender, and Beyonce. Sesali joined the team in 2010 as one of the winners of our So You Think You Can Blog contest.

is Feministing's resident sexpert and cynic.

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