POLITICS
Bombed in Boston: “Straight Pride” Parade
Far right ideologies predominate in male-dominated August 31 afternoon event
BY MATT TRACY
With messages like
“Trump, build the
wall” and fl ags
emblazoned with
“Trump 2020,” the purported celebration
of straight people in Boston
on August 31 seemed less about
sexual orientation and more about
championing the far right causes.
The male-dominated Straight
Pride Parade went ahead as
planned and led to clashes between
police and protestors who
were fed up with far-right themes
infi ltrating the streets of a city that
rejected Donald Trump by a six-toone
margin in 2016.
The parade featured grand marshal
Milo Yiannopoulos, the controversial
out gay former Breitbart
journalist, as well as organizers
such as former suburban Boston
GOP congressional candidate John
Boston’s “Straight Pride” Parade — a small affair with a big route — in Back Bay heading downtown.
Hugo, who told Gay City News during
a June phone interview that
the parade would “be a fun way to
get together with straight friends
and gay allies.”
“Gay allies,” however — with
the exception-proves-the-rule exception
of Yiannopoulos — were
TWITTER/ @COSMAN18
not welcomed with open arms.
Marchers fl ocked to City Hall,
where Straight Pride speakers
drew cheers from the crowd when
they railed against the emergence
of “LGBTQ curriculums in public
schools,” according to The Guardian
.
Police dressed in militarized
gear closely guarded those who
marched in the parade and aggressively
reacted to protestors who
pushed back against the event.
Thirty-six people were arrested,
according to the Boston Herald ,
and videos posted on social media
showed cops physically pushing
and pepper-spraying protestors.
Numerous reports indicated that
the parade only yielded a couple
hundred attendees and that counter
protestors far outnumbered
those supporting the event.
The parade was widely blasted
across the nation and triggered
reactions from local and national
elected offi cials. Boston Mayor
Marty Walsh, a Democrat, said in
a tweet that the parade would not
“overshadow the tremendous role
Boston plays in the national movement
for equality” and said the city
would “continue to be a leader in
the fi ght for civil rights.”
Congressmemeber Ayanna
Pressley, whose district is in Boston,
called the event a “hate march”
in a tweet on the day of the event,
and Bronx/ Queens Representative
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez pointed
out the lack of women there before
ripping the entire notion of a
“Straight Pride” parade.
“Seems more like a ‘I-Struggle-
With-Masculinity’ parade to me,”
Ocasio-Cortez wrote on Twitter.
“Hope they grow enough over the
next year to support/ join LGBTQ
fam next #Pride!”
The plans for a Straight Pride
Parade emerged at the height of
Pride month in June. Organizers
sought to generate interest in the
event — that clearly didn’t work
out so well — and launched a website
called superhappyfunamerica.
com, which quotes Hugo as saying
that straight people represent “an
oppressed majority.”
“We will fi ght for the right of
straights everywhere to express
pride in themselves without fear
of judgement sic and hate,” Hugo
added in his statement. “The day
will come when straights will fi nally
be included as equals among all
of the other orientations.”
With French Native
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