Pride Month? Seriously?

 

I don’t understand it. This level of sheer corporate pageantry doesn’t even happen for Black History Month. The US is not a country that undertakes mass PR campaigns celebrating abstract identity groups for an entire month. This seems a bit much for epater la bourgeoisie (the emotional need of certain rich people to constantly shock the sensibilities of the middle class). What is going on?

As a bisexual, I’m expected to think of myself as part of this weird amorphous “LGBT” thing, a category that includes a fantastic number of freaks and weirdos and people I want nothing to do with. Sexual orientation is not the same thing as identity. Seeing sign after sign proclaiming “Pride Month” in every store I go to is surreal. What’s the point?

This almost strikes me as a religious phenomenon. Aside from hardcore pro-binary trans people, most sexual identities are 100% socially constructed. That’s true for queer people, the non-binary, lesbians, and those gay men who have a “sexual identity” (many do not). So is Pride Month just a weird upper-class sexual cult? I don’t know.

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  1. Gossamer Cat Coolidge
    Gossamer Cat
    @GossamerCat

    It really does seem to be on steroids this year.   

    • #1
  2. James Lileks Contributor
    James Lileks
    @jameslileks

    As a bisexual I’m expected to think of myself as part of this weird amorphous “LGBT” thing, a category that includes a fantastic number of freaks and weirdos and people I want nothing to do with.  Sexual orientation is not the same thing as identity.

    Ah, so  you suffer from false consciousness, and do not understand that you have a contrapositive nature that refutes the bourgeoise paradigms. Class traitor! 

    The complexity of human nature must be sorted and coded to isolate one’s position on the intersectional matrix, so your status can be identified and used to position you accordingly. There will be a convocation in 2025, when the position of Q and B will be swapped; please use the proper order going forward, to indicate you understand the implications. Q is ascendent; B is archaic.

     

    Aside from hardcore pro-binary trans people, most sexual identities are 100% socially constructed.

    Hmm. I think the vast, vast majority of people instinctively inhabit their sexual identity because of innate biological imperatives. The norm, if you will.  It’s like saying right-handedness is a social construct. It seems to me that TRAs are the most socially constructed of all, given how Extremely Online and strenuously performative they can be. 

    • #2
  3. BDB Inactive
    BDB
    @BDB

    It is a display of power by Marxists.  It has nothing to do with the purple people.

    • #3
  4. Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patriot) Member
    Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patriot)
    @ArizonaPatriot

    BDB (View Comment):

    It is a display of power by Marxists. It has nothing to do with the purple people.

    Seriously?  You think that it’s all about the class struggle of the Proletariat?

    Marxism is bad.  Not everything bad is Marxism.

    • #4
  5. Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patriot) Member
    Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patriot)
    @ArizonaPatriot

    Joseph, I think that you are correct about Pride Month being a religious festival.  It appears to be a form of neo-Paganism focused on sexual perversion.

    Personally, I find it unusually repellent, even for neo-Paganism.  I have some respect for the Paganism of, say, the Stoics or the Vikings.  At least they were manly men.

    • #5
  6. Charlotte Member
    Charlotte
    @Charlotte

    Joseph Eagar:  This level of sheer corporate pageantry doesn’t even happen for Black History Month. 

    It’s overwhelming this year.

    Joseph Eagar: most sexual identities are 100% socially constructed

    This is a good and useful way to put it.

    • #6
  7. Charlotte Member
    Charlotte
    @Charlotte

    Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio… (View Comment):

    BDB (View Comment):

    It is a display of power by Marxists. It has nothing to do with the purple people.

    Seriously? You think that it’s all about the class struggle of the Proletariat?

    Marxism is bad. Not everything bad is Marxism.

    Maybe he meant cultural Marxists, a la John Derbyshire?

    • #7
  8. BDB Inactive
    BDB
    @BDB

    Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio… (View Comment):

    BDB (View Comment):

    It is a display of power by Marxists. It has nothing to do with the purple people.

    Seriously? You think that it’s all about the class struggle of the Proletariat?

    Different angle.  It is about power.  The left has become a power-oriented machine with no real remaining purpose.  Each of them a footsoldier dying to deliver power to his betters, their Internationale, right or wrong, and Death to America printed on their coins.  

    Marxism is bad. Not everything bad is Marxism.

    You are correct, of course.  Gay people are just people.  But the gay agenda is something which many gays oppose, seeing it for something foreign to them as well as to us.  

    Black lives do not matter to the admittedly Marxist BLM, and gays do not matter to the forces that have brought us Gay Pride Decade every quarter. 

     

    • #8
  9. HeavyWater Inactive
    HeavyWater
    @HeavyWater

    These days homosexuality is considered acceptable in “mainstream” society.  I agree with the mainstream in the sense that I think it is better if homosexuals can be openly gay/lesbian rather than be in the closet, pretending to be heterosexual.  

    But given that homosexuality is accepted by a large majority of people in America, it would seem that the need for something like pride month would be pretty low.  Maybe it’s a throwback to the bad old days when homosexuals were subjected to social ostracism.  

    • #9
  10. Henry Racette Member
    Henry Racette
    @HenryRacette

    I think we will someday look back upon the trans and gender-identity movements as the flash-in-the-pan social contagions they are. (Not homosexuality; that’s actually a real thing.)

    This topic continues to fascinate me because of how comprehensively incoherent it is. At every level, the alphabet soup following the B in LGB is a mess, a fractally broken and destructive compendium of twisted words and irrational self-justification in service to low-grade psychological illness.

    The post-mortem on the gender identity movement will, I think, be written — and probably fairly soon. I’m looking forward to it.

    • #10
  11. HeavyWater Inactive
    HeavyWater
    @HeavyWater

    Henry Racette (View Comment):

    I think we will someday look back upon the trans and gender-identity movements as the flash-in-the-pan social contagions they are. (Not homosexuality; that’s actually a real thing.)

    This topic continues to fascinate me because of how comprehensively incoherent it is. At every level, the alphabet soup following the B in LGB is a mess, a fractally broken and destructive compendium of twisted words and irrational self-justification in service to low-grade psychological illness.

    The post-mortem on the gender identity movement will, I think, be written — and probably fairly soon. I’m looking forward to it.

    I think some sort of transgenderism is real too, in the sense that some men really do “feel” as though they are women and/or like dressing up like a woman.  

    But I think I agree with you in that this idea that if a man says he is a woman, then he is a woman.  Yes, I think in the not too distant future, our society is going to say, “We’ll play along with that a little bit.  But you aren’t going to be competing in the women’s swim meet.”

    • #11
  12. RushBabe49 Thatcher
    RushBabe49
    @RushBabe49

    I am mightily sick of having homosexuality thrown in my face literally everywhere.  No article on high-end real estate is complete without showing the home, or detailing the real-estate search, of a homosexual couple.  No book is complete without at least one homosexual character, including the wonderful book I just finished (The Cartographers, by Peng Shepherd).  How about the “pride cupcake”?

    Is it any wonder that kids today say that 50% of the population is homosexual?  Only less than 10% is.

    • #12
  13. Skyler Coolidge
    Skyler
    @Skyler

    Even Jesus only gets a day for his birthday.

    • #13
  14. Skyler Coolidge
    Skyler
    @Skyler

    RushBabe49 (View Comment):

    Is it any wonder that kids today say that 50% of the population is homosexual?  Only less than 10% is.

    A few years ago my 8th grade daughter told me she’s the only one among her friends that isn’t bisexual.  In 8th grade!  They barely even know what that means.

    • #14
  15. James Lileks Contributor
    James Lileks
    @jameslileks

    Henry Racette (View Comment):

    I think we will someday look back upon the trans and gender-identity movements as the flash-in-the-pan social contagions they are. (Not homosexuality; that’s actually a real thing.)

    This topic continues to fascinate me because of how comprehensively incoherent it is. At every level, the alphabet soup following the B in LGB is a mess, a fractally broken and destructive compendium of twisted words and irrational self-justification in service to low-grade psychological illness.

    I wouldn’t say illness – more like disordered thinking, frustrations and confusions poured into ready-made molds provided by online culture, reinforced by the same. The Tumblr/TikTok culture rewards and reinforces non-traditional identities, convincing ordinary and unremarkable people that they’re on the Vanguard of something new. Within that culture there’s a kaleidoscopic array of subcultures, and inside of the subcultures,  a jostling for fame in the new hierarchy.

    In the sexual-identity subculture, there’s an ever-expanding series of genders and definitions that allow one to stake out new territory, and demand validation. (I was reading today about a category of aces that includes “dreamsexuals,” i.e., people whose sexual interest is confined to nighttime somnambulant fictions.) All of these new identities can be gathered into the Queer fold, so a word that once applied specifically to a certain set of people now encompasses bored heterosexual teenaged girls who discovered they are Kpopsexual, and thus deserve a stripe on the flag.

    There’s a mental-health subculture as well, where people feign autism and multiple-personality disorders, and get clout for TikToking the supposed manifestations of their “alters” and “stims” and the like, but I think this is on the way out; it’s a lot of work, and it’s easier to be a remora on whatever new sexual identity has swum into the cove. 

    The M2F trans-rights activist twitter / Tumblr/tiktok axis is a whole different kettle of clownfish, to cite another species that changes gender.

    The post-mortem on the gender identity movement will, I think, be written — and probably fairly soon. I’m looking forward to it.

    It will take some courage and clarity. Andrew Sullivan’s pretty good on this subject. Whatever he comes up with will probably meet with howls and hatred, but down the line, it’ll be a useful reference.

    • #15
  16. Joseph Stanko Coolidge
    Joseph Stanko
    @JosephStanko

    Skyler (View Comment):

    RushBabe49 (View Comment):

    Is it any wonder that kids today say that 50% of the population is homosexual? Only less than 10% is.

    A few years ago my 8th grade daughter told me she’s the only one among her friends that isn’t bisexual. In 8th grade! They barely even know what that means.

    They know precisely what it means: it means they are cool. Heteros are so L7. 

    • #16
  17. Annefy Member
    Annefy
    @Annefy

    HeavyWater (View Comment):

    Henry Racette (View Comment):

    I think we will someday look back upon the trans and gender-identity movements as the flash-in-the-pan social contagions they are. (Not homosexuality; that’s actually a real thing.)

    This topic continues to fascinate me because of how comprehensively incoherent it is. At every level, the alphabet soup following the B in LGB is a mess, a fractally broken and destructive compendium of twisted words and irrational self-justification in service to low-grade psychological illness.

    The post-mortem on the gender identity movement will, I think, be written — and probably fairly soon. I’m looking forward to it.

    I think some sort of transgenderism is real too, in the sense that some men really do “feel” as though they are women and/or like dressing up like a woman.

    But I think I agree with you in that this idea that if a man says he is a woman, then he is a woman. Yes, I think in the not too distant future, our society is going to say, “We’ll play along with that a little bit. But you aren’t going to be competing in the women’s swim meet.”

    In the words of my daughter: How the hell do you know what it feels like to be a woman?

    These are people who want to wear the other sex’s clothes. Always has been. So the hell what.

     

    • #17
  18. Skyler Coolidge
    Skyler
    @Skyler

    Henry Racette (View Comment):

    I think we will someday look back upon the trans and gender-identity movements as the flash-in-the-pan social contagions they are. (Not homosexuality; that’s actually a real thing.)

    Why on earth would you feel a need to make that rather bizarre exception?

     

    • #18
  19. Hugh Member
    Hugh
    @Hugh

    Henry Racette (View Comment):

    I think we will someday look back upon the trans and gender-identity movements as the flash-in-the-pan social contagions they are. (Not homosexuality; that’s actually a real thing.)

    This topic continues to fascinate me because of how comprehensively incoherent it is. At every level, the alphabet soup following the B in LGB is a mess, a fractally broken and destructive compendium of twisted words and irrational self-justification in service to low-grade psychological illness.

    The post-mortem on the gender identity movement will, I think, be written — and probably fairly soon. I’m looking forward to it.

    And the Flag! (Or should I say: Flags)

    • #19
  20. Hugh Member
    Hugh
    @Hugh

    I have a daughter who identifies as a tree.

    Its not too bad. 

    You just have to water her once a week.

    • #20
  21. Charlotte Member
    Charlotte
    @Charlotte

    James Lileks (View Comment):
    it’s easier to be a remora on whatever new sexual identity has swum into the cove

    Magnificent, James.

    • #21
  22. Charlotte Member
    Charlotte
    @Charlotte

    Hugh (View Comment):

    I have a daughter who identifies as a tree.

    Its not too bad.

    You just have to water her once a week.

    We could use more Colonel Potters.

     

    • #22
  23. Fake John/Jane Galt Coolidge
    Fake John/Jane Galt
    @FakeJohnJaneGalt

    To some degree this is all camp.

    The powerful and look at me crowd using camp to rub the noses of the conservative / god / wholesome types and cause their discomfort.  

    It is also a display of power.  As those with the power want us to know they can force us to do what they want.  That we really have very little power or control.  Even over our town square, grocery store, work place, child’s classroom, or even their education.

    From my point, I am a bit saddened.  Most homosexuals and trans I have known were not very happy people.  Many could be helped by some therapy in a civilized culture.  Instead we are going to promote their mental problems as the norm and push it on all us and not help them.  

    • #23
  24. I Walton Member
    I Walton
    @IWalton

    Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio… (View Comment):

    BDB (View Comment):

    It is a display of power by Marxists. It has nothing to do with the purple people.

    Seriously? You think that it’s all about the class struggle of the Proletariat?

    Marxism is bad. Not everything bad is Marxism.

    They run matters along with other top down folks who think  they’re not  marxists.   I suppose they don’t see China as Marxist?    We could call them fascists or Nazi’s just as well, but it’s the same thing and it ends up in the same place.   I call them totalitarians.

    • #24
  25. I Walton Member
    I Walton
    @IWalton

    Henry Racette (View Comment):

    I think we will someday look back upon the trans and gender-identity movements as the flash-in-the-pan social contagions they are. (Not homosexuality; that’s actually a real thing.)

    This topic continues to fascinate me because of how comprehensively incoherent it is. At every level, the alphabet soup following the B in LGB is a mess, a fractally broken and destructive compendium of twisted words and irrational self-justification in service to low-grade psychological illness.

    The post-mortem on the gender identity movement will, I think, be written — and probably fairly soon. I’m looking forward to it.

    It may be written by the left after they close down what liberty remains.  Blacks and other minorities will come to realize they are shut out and will have to be shut down.  Our hope is that enough minorities and women realize whats  happening and where it leads before  electoral integrity is completely shut down. 

    • #25
  26. BDB Inactive
    BDB
    @BDB

    Henry Racette (View Comment):

    I think we will someday look back upon the trans and gender-identity movements as the flash-in-the-pan social contagions they are. (Not homosexuality; that’s actually a real thing.)

    This topic continues to fascinate me because of how comprehensively incoherent it is. At every level, the alphabet soup following the B in LGB is a mess, a fractally broken and destructive compendium of twisted words and irrational self-justification in service to low-grade psychological illness.

    The post-mortem on the gender identity movement will, I think, be written — and probably fairly soon. I’m looking forward to it.

    Your lips to SMOD’s ears.

    • #26
  27. Fake John/Jane Galt Coolidge
    Fake John/Jane Galt
    @FakeJohnJaneGalt

    Henry Racette (View Comment):

    I think we will someday look back upon the trans and gender-identity movements as the flash-in-the-pan social contagions they are. (Not homosexuality; that’s actually a real thing.)

    This topic continues to fascinate me because of how comprehensively incoherent it is. At every level, the alphabet soup following the B in LGB is a mess, a fractally broken and destructive compendium of twisted words and irrational self-justification in service to low-grade psychological illness.

    The post-mortem on the gender identity movement will, I think, be written — and probably fairly soon. I’m looking forward to it.

    Not sure how I feel about the rains sulfur and fire part of this, nor do I have a desire to be turned into a pillar of salt.

    • #27
  28. Henry Racette Member
    Henry Racette
    @HenryRacette

    Skyler (View Comment):

    Henry Racette (View Comment):

    I think we will someday look back upon the trans and gender-identity movements as the flash-in-the-pan social contagions they are. (Not homosexuality; that’s actually a real thing.)

    Why on earth would you feel a need to make that rather bizarre exception?

     

    Skyler, I don’t think it’s bizarre in the least to distinguish between a sexual preference and a mistaken sexual identification.

    I like vanilla ice cream more than I like chocolate ice cream. That’s a fact, a statement that comports with and in no way contradicts reality. I am attracted to women: that also is a fact.

    If I said that I were a marmot, that would not be a fact. Similarly, if I claimed that I were a woman, that too would not be a fact.

    A man who claims to be sexually attracted to other men is, I assume, stating a fact: while I can’t know his true feelings, it’s entirely plausible that he is in fact attracted to other men, that his homosexuality is real, an accurate description of his sexual preference.

    In contrast, a man who claims to be a woman is making an implausible claim. For a variety of reasons rooted in well understood biology, I feel confident rejecting that claim as dishonesty, delusion, or lexical confusion on his part.

    Incidentally, that same biology that helps explain why Mr. Lia Thomas should never, ever compete against women swimmers also suggests that suppression of exposure to testosterone in the womb correlates with an increased tendency toward homosexuality in adult males (if I’m remembering my Hooven correctly).

    I think same-sex attraction, while abnormal, isn’t a great outlier on the human sexual spectrum. I think it’s pretty common among women, and not surprised that it occurs in a single-digit percentage of men. I think those who experience significant pain and discomfort due to the sex “assigned them” at birth have a mental disorder. And I think the flood of new “trans” people consists of silly children embracing the latest fad.

    • #28
  29. TBA Coolidge
    TBA
    @RobtGilsdorf

    Fake John/Jane Galt (View Comment):

    To some degree this is all camp.

    The powerful and look at me crowd using camp to rub the noses of the conservative / god / wholesome types and cause their discomfort.

    It is also a display of power. As those with the power want us to know they can force us to do what they want. That we really have very little power or control. Even over our town square, grocery store, work place, child’s classroom, or even their education.

    From my point, I am a bit saddened. Most homosexuals and trans I have known were not very happy people. Many could be helped by some therapy in a civilized culture. Instead we are going to promote their mental problems as the norm and push it on all us and not help them.

    You’re saying it’s warmed-over Dadaism? 

    • #29
  30. HeavyWater Inactive
    HeavyWater
    @HeavyWater

    Fake John/Jane Galt (View Comment):

     

    From my point, I am a bit saddened. Most homosexuals and trans I have known were not very happy people. Many could be helped by some therapy in a civilized culture. Instead we are going to promote their mental problems as the norm and push it on all us and not help them.

    I know some homosexuals and they appear happy to me and certainly it would seem that these homosexuals would be much less happy if they lived in the 1950s when homosexuals felt that they needed to pretend to be heterosexual in order to avoid social ostracism.  

    There are homosexual men who did get married to women in an effort to fit in with the mainstream and avoid social ostracism.  

    But the result was often an unhappy wife because her husband was not truly attracted to her and an unhappy homosexual man who might eventually have sex with men in an extramarital affair.  

    So, a live and let live perspective on homosexuality seems like the proper policy.  

    That does not mean that we should let men who claim to be women to compete in women’s sports, in my opinion.  

    I am glad that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is willing to push back on this, openly criticizing the NCAA.  

    • #30
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