California’s “Straight Pride” event, taking place this month, is a thinly veiled white supremacist rally.
BY ORLY LYONNE
A failed US Senate candidate who believes that the LGBTQ community is waging a “cultural attack” on society is planning a “straight pride” rally in Modesto this month to promote “whiteness” and “Western civilization,” and is asking members of a far-right extremist group to show up in force, reports Stephanie K. Baer at BuzzFeedNews.com.
Don Grundmann, founder and director of the National Straight Pride Coalition, submitted a special event permit application to hold the Stanislaus County Straight Pride Parade/Event—a thinly veiled white supremacist rally—scheduled to take place on August 24 at Modesto’s Graceada Park.
On its website, the National Straight Pride Coalition claims the “inherent superiority” of whiteness, Christianity, Western civilization, and heterosexuality.
Grundmann, a 67-year-old chiropractor based in San Jose, told BuzzFeed News that the event aims to celebrate masculinity, femininity, “the natural family of man, woman, and children,” babies, “Western civilization,” Christianity, and “whiteness.”
“A celebration of life is just a celebration of natural functions of heterosexuality which are under attack actually, culturally in our society,” Grundmann said. “All those things we are defending and celebrating and that makes up the core of our beliefs.”
The LGBTQ movement, he said, “is a massive multibillion-dollar social engineering movement to destroy the foundations of our culture,” resulting in a “24/7 psychological war against the appearance of conscience.”
On its website, the National Straight Pride Coalition claims the “inherent superiority” of whiteness, Christianity, Western civilization, and heterosexuality.
The event has sparked outrage in the Central Valley city, with many calling on officials to deny the permit, but officials may not have the legal grounds to do so, reports BuzzFeedNews.com.
Thomas Reeves, a city spokesperson, said permits for special events are granted based on “operational feasibility” and “without regard to the content” of the event or views of the organizers or speakers.
“Although the city may not share in the beliefs of some groups who choose to hold events here, the city cannot deny a permit based on an organization’s values or the views of the speakers,” Reeves told BuzzFeed News.
A similar event is being planned in Boston for Aug. 31, but if the Modesto event moves forward, it would likely be the first such public event in the country, according to Grundmann.
He estimates 500 people will attend and said he has invited members of the Proud Boys, a group that proclaims itself to be “Western chauvinists” and has been designated a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
“Any Proud Boy who wants to come is welcome to come,” said Grundmann, who recently joined the group’s Modesto chapter. “We support everything that they’re doing.”
