Why is there so much enthusiasm by so many people to celebrate non-heterosexual sexuality? For a whole month?
It was June 11, 1999 that President Clinton proclaimed June as “Gay and Lesbian Pride Month.” President Obama changed it to “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Month” on May 31, 2011.
Why do we even have it? Why are certain groups selected to have a day or a month dedicated to their recognition, celebration, honor, or just acknowledgment?
In his proclamation creating what has become known simply as Pride Month, President Clinton made this comment:
“America’s diversity is our greatest strength. But, while we have come a long way on our journey toward tolerance, understanding, and mutual respect, we still have a long way to go in our efforts to end discrimination.”
What’s interesting is the use of the phrase “diversity is our greatest strength.” It is a concept that has been around for many years but became popularized during the nineties, especially in business publications.
Several books and articles focused on what made for success and failure in the business world. Researchers determined that diverse teams were better at innovation, creativity, problem-solving, decision-making, and meeting the challenges of a global marketplace. This is true, depending on what you mean by diversity.
This is not true if you mean diversity alone.
Diversity of height on an NBA team, for example, would ensure the team’s defeat. Diversity of skill, regardless of certification, for welders used to build our submarines would guarantee no sailor would volunteer to become a submariner. Diversity of character in our elected officials would assure out-of-control corruption in our government—which we have.
Diversity, alone, is not a strength. Calling diversity a strength is an empty phrase that sounds good but is meaningless in real-world application except when combined with other qualities.
What is most important is unity of purpose.
A unified team of average players will beat a team of skilled loners at odds with each other every time. A team of highly skilled professionals who have diverse perspectives usually will solve problems, be more creative and innovative than a skilled team that has similar backgrounds, experience, training, and outlooks. The variety of perspectives helps guard against developing destructive blind spots.
For diversity to have a positive impact, it requires both unity and skill . . . or knowledge, or character, or whatever is required to accomplish the task.
The phrase “diversity is our strength” or “greatest strength” as it was used by President Clinton and as it has become commonly used today is not promoting highly skilled unified teams.
No. It is a phrase that is used to pander to identity politics.
Designating a month to celebrate gay and lesbian heritage celebrates only the superficial characteristic of sexual desire, but it’s under the guise that those diverse desires add strength to our nation.
That is preposterous.
The elites who are promoting 2SLGBTQQIAA+ (soon to add MAP) identities know the saying is vacuous. Just as vacuous as promoting identities based on race, ethnicity or sex, or any other identity the so-called literati dreams up. Presidents Clinton and Obama knew this, as does President Biden and every other politician, like Lindsay Graham, who promote the idea.
The ultimate goal of the DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) crowd is to divide us. And it’s working. What would you expect when you cast an entire race as the privileged oppressors and the males of that race as the apex oppressors?
The average person who buys into the false claims about the value of diversity has not considered the implications, instead has focused on how egalitarian it sounds. Even major Christian leaders have bought into the narrative because it sounds like something Christ might have said, just like He told his disciples that “God helps those who help themselves.”
Oh, wait. He did not say that.
Just like he did not say anything close to “diversity is a strength.” Quite the contrary, Jesus’ prayer right before his arrest, trial and crucifixion was to ask God, in John 17:21, to make all his disciples one. In Galatians 3:28, Paul instructed the church that
“[t]here is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
The very foundational principle of our country is embodied in our national motto which was adopted by Congress in 1782, “E Pluribus Unum,” from many, one.
Our founders did not want our nation to be like nations in the rest of the world that were fragmented, by race, ethnic group, language, religion or anything else. From the very beginning, our leaders took a stand against hyphenated Americanism, and for the common principle of unity.
We should return to that.
Our founders would be horrified by the celebrations of Pride month which destroy unity, not bring it about. How do men marching naked through the streets of major cities advance understanding? How does it help bring about tolerance when a group chants in those parades “We’re here, we’re queer, we’re coming for your children” as they have for years in the New York Pride parade?
How does it promote mutual respect and help end discrimination when the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence are given a platform to mock Catholicism, all of Christianity, at a pride celebration before the start of a baseball game, America’s game?
This should be the last year we celebrate Pride Month. We are Americans whose identity is embodied in our founding documents. These same founding documents allow Christians to celebrate their identity in Christ without detracting from the unity we all find as citizens of the greatest nation to have ever been established anywhere.
Instead of pride, it would be much more appropriate for all of us to adopt a grateful heart for the blessing of being an American.
How about Gratitude Month? Isn’t that something we all could get behind?
