Just say "No" to Pride Month

The first Gay Pride marches occurred in June of 1970, in commemoration of the Stonewall riots, dating back a year earlier in Greenwich Village, New York City. It wouldn’t be until June, 1999 that President Bill Clinton would declare June as Gay and Lesbian Pride month. Ever the astute politician, Clinton recognized the LGBT “alphabet mafia” (even if that term did not yet exist) as a potent cultural and political force.

It’s worth remembering that the main goal of Stonewall was simply “tolerance.” But, it’s even more worth remembering what Archbishop Fulton Sheen had to say about tolerance, back in 1931:

America, it is said, is suffering from intolerance. It is not. It is suffering from tolerance: tolerance of right and wrong, truth and error, virtue and evil, Christ and chaos. Our country is not nearly so much overrun with the bigoted as it is overrun with the broadminded…

In the face of this false broad‐mindedness, what the world needs is intolerance. The mass of people have kept up hard and fast distinctions between dollars and cents, battleships and cruisers, ʺYou owe meʺ and ʺI owe you,ʺ but they seem to have lost entirely the faculty of distinguishing between the good and the bad, the right and the wrong.

The best indication of this is the frequent misuse of the terms ʺtoleranceʺ and ʺintolerance.ʺ There are some minds that believe that intolerance is always wrong, because they make ʺintoleranceʺ mean hate, narrow-mindedness, and bigotry. These same minds believe that tolerance is always right because, for them, it means charity, broad‐mindedness, American good nature…

What is tolerance? Tolerance is an attitude of reasoned patience towards evil, and a forbearance that restrains us from showing anger or inflicting punishment. But what is more important than the definition is the field of its application. The important point here is this: Tolerance applies only to persons, but never to truth. Intolerance applies only to truth, but never to persons. Tolerance applies to the erring; intolerance to the error….

Tolerance does not apply to truth or principles. About these things we must be intolerant, and for this kind of intolerance, so much needed to rouse us from sentimental gush, I make a plea. Intolerance of this kind is the foundation of all stability.

Not surprisingly, the notion of Pride Month was taken up—with great alacrity—by corporate America, government, and the educational system. In 1978, San Francisco artist Gilbert Baker created the rainbow pride flag. Baker chose a rainbow motif since he regarded it as a beautiful symbol that perfectly represented the diverse nature, inclusivity, and hope of the homosexual community. Notably, this was before the militant trans faction—especially targeting children—came to the fore.

However, there is a much more ancient and profound use of the rainbow symbol. I refer you to Genesis 9:13-16. This is after the Great Flood, and God reassures Noah:

¹³ I set my bow in the clouds to serve as a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. ¹⁴ When I bring clouds over the earth, and the bow appears in the clouds, ¹⁵ I will remember my covenant between me and you and every living creature—every mortal being—so that the waters will never again become a flood to destroy every mortal being. ¹⁶ When the bow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature—every mortal being that is on earth.

By the same token, pride is one of the seven deadly sins; some say the deadliest. Yet, it is being richly celebrated, even as the notorious Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence mock the lay brothers and sisters, who take vows to lead a consecrated life.

Better that we should celebrate June as the month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus—as proclaimed on 25 May 1899 by Pope Leo XIII. The Sacred Heart represents nothing less than the boundless love and mercy God has for us.

For all those classrooms that commemorate Pride Month, do a “compare and contrast” with the month of the Sacred Heart.