Some residents of the town of Franklin, Tennessee, are trying to ban an upcoming Pride celebration, and their reasons are straight out of the Old Testament (yes, the same text that bans bowl cuts). In a meeting that included several viral-worthy testimonials this week, these passionately homophobic citizens stood to express why the local Pride organization should be denied a permit to march this year.
Franklin’s Pride parade is only two years old, but residents there already have had more than enough and have been pressuring the town’s mayor to cancel it. Some claimed that Pride celebrations are “indecent, inappropriate, and explicit in nature,” per WKRN. The hysterical, moral panic-infused testimonies would be hilarious if the rampant homophobia wasn’t also terrifying.
It became pretty clear that the concerns weren’t really about stopping the Pride parade as much as they were about proving a point in some larger culture war.
“We’re at an inflection point in this city’s history and in this nation’s history where pronouns are being shoved down our throats,” one of the disgruntled citizens said.
“I don’t care who you date, this is about posing a very dark political movement,” said another.
Not to sound alarmist, but some of this seems weirdly reminiscent of the McCarthy era, which is reminiscent of the 17th-century witch trials, which is reminiscent of every persecution story ever. The inhabitants of Franklin are essentially accusing queer people of diabolical and nonsensical stuff, like giving children butt plugs, which we can assume definitely didn’t happen (where the hell is this so-called rainbow room they describe?). They are dangerously conflating queerness with pedophilia, and visibility with indoctrination. They are afraid of what they don’t understand, and that has never been a good thing.
Needless to say, Pride events are very important spaces for queer youth and folx who do not live in big cities, and might not have access to queer spaces. It’s one time of the year when queer people in smaller towns might feel empowered to express themselves in ways that might feel dangerous during other times.
We, of course, have to acknowledge the most WTF moment of the whole Franklin fiasco, which is when former “SNL” cast member Victoria Jackson got to the podium. She begin by describing God’s hatred for sodomy and homosexuality — and that wasn’t even the bizarre part.
“God hates pride,” she said. She then recited Proverbs 11:2 from the Bible, which talks about how much God dislikes pride — not that gay celebration kind, but you know, the emotion. She then implored people to go on YouTube, where there are allegedly videos of archeologists digging up Sodom and Gomorrah.
Let’s get real. Pride parades — at least the ones I’ve been to, and I’ve been to a lot — are mostly just giant block parties where people wear bright colors, dance, and blast Whitney Houston, which made me wonder if any of the people trying to cancel Pride have ever been invited to anything fun.
Thank god (who I imagine loves dancing to Whitney Houston), it looks like the parade in Tennessee is all systems go for now.