"Happy Pride" is the New "Merry Christmas"



I just finished driving a float for Iowa Atheists in the Pride Parade where I now live in Des Moines, Iowa. After watching society change over my long life I was surprised by it again today.

When some gay young men in Fargo asked me in the early 80's if the city could hold a pride parade I talked them out of it. I didn't know how the Police Department would respond and was not sure those in the parade would be safe. Not long before a Police Chief had told me he would like to shut down the only gay bar in town--not because of trouble at the bar, but because he hated it.

I've been in this parade for three years so I thought I knew what to expect. When I arrived at the staging area I realized something was different. Last year there were about 40 parade units--this year almost 100. The first several blocks had a lot of people but then the route move into the downtown. There were people several deep. One person estimated the crowd at 10,000.

All along the way, people gave our atheists float a thumbs up. Hundreds of times they shouted, "Happy Pride." The gaudy outfits in the parade were matched by gaudy outfits people dressed in to watch it.

Yesterday, about a dozen of the Democratic Party candidates for President spoke at a gay rights rally. None were there four years ago.

Several atheists walked beside our float handing out little cards that said. "Your Get Out Of Hell Free Card. Join Iowa Atheists." The cards got big laughs and people handed them to each other.

To have lived long enough to observe this societal rejection of religious cruelty against gay people has been a great pleasure.

In just four days, this site, The Skrive, will be discontinued and shut down. My thanks to the Fargo Forum for hosting this blog. My blog will be available at this site. I appreciate all who read my blogs:
https://freethinkerjon.blogspot.com/2019/06/happy-pride-is-new-merry-christmas.html



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