Gay Activist Discriminated Against By Pride Organizer For Being Pro-Second Amendment

by
Micah J. Fleck


[dropcap size=small]S[/dropcap]ome people might say discriminating against one’s fellow supporters for a common cause may not be the best way to win the fight. But one gay pride event organizer in Washington last week decided it was worth doing so if it meant keeping those damn libertarians off her lawn.

James Holcomb
 is a loud, proud gay activist who wished to participate in the 25th Capital City Pride Festival in Olympia, WA.  One problem – Holcomb is also an equally proud libertarian who likes the Second Amendment. According to the organizers of the event, this fact made Holcomb an agenda-pushing troublemaker. When he simply called up the organizers and asked if open carry would be allowed as part of participation, Holcomb was surprised at the response he got at his Libertarian Party of Washington office: a nasty voicemail from Capital City Pride Chairwoman Anna Schlecht accusing Holcomb of foul intentions:

“By the power vested in me, as the chair, you are banned and you will never have a booth as long as I’m involved in Capital City Pride,” said Schlecht. “Don’t bother calling back. I’m very frustrated. I know y’all have a political agenda.”

Holcomb’s LP chapter in Washington has attended this event years prior and had always been welcome, but now it seems the pride festival is under new management – someone with a very, very short memory, apparently. When discussing this story with a trusted significant other, I was gobsmacked by what she said in response: “Accusing someone of having an evil hidden agenda is exactly what the anti-gay activists have been using as a way to fight gay equality all these decades.”

She’s right, you know. How can it be that someone who is supposed to represent the fight for equality like Schlecht would fall into the trap of the same smear tactics and misrepresentation to edge out other minorities (or indeed, other members of her own minority group) she simply happens to not 100% agree with? Isn’t that the height of hypocrisy? And isn’t it dangerously devisive?

Now that the SCOTUS has ruled all bans country-wide of same-sex marriage unconstitutional (and rightfully so), the fight for marriage will have to move onto other frontiers. What’s next for those of us who understand that legally allowed marriage is much bigger than simply same-sex unions? The fight for legalized plural marriage between consenting adults? Perhaps, but how many pride activists will potentially shun them simply because they no longer 100% represent their specific fight? If this story is any indication, the real fight for marriage has still just begun.

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