Ever wonder where pride month started? It’s based on law breaking and on a lie. The LGBTQ community pride month was started to celebrate the anniversary of a riot in 1969 at Stonewall Inn, a bar in Greenwich Village NYC. The inn was a popular gathering place for the LGBTQ community. Police raided the bar because it was selling alcohol without a license. When the police arrived, the patrons fought back. The riot started.
The actions by police that day in 1969 were not targeting the patrons nor their sexual preferences. Instead, they arrived to enforce the law about selling alcohol. Although the solicitation of homosexual relationships was also illegal at the time, and most of the patrons were of course homosexual, the sexual orientation of the patrons was irrelevant to the alcohol violation. The LGBTQ community twisted the interpretation toward an unjustified privilege which created outrage when it was denied and that led to inappropriate behaviors and a riot. The LGBTQ community successfully turned the interpretation of this event from a violation of state regulations into a discrimination issue and an attack on the LGBTQ lifestyle. This is how pride leads to a lie which leads to destruction
What is Pride?
Pride is an exaggerated and unjustified view of one’s own importance and an assumption one deserves a particular privilege. Pride leads to entitlement which is another form of arrogance. The bible refers to pride as a deadly sin.
“Everyone who is arrogant in heart is an abomination to the Lord; be assured, he will not go unpunished.” Proverbs 16:5
Pride encourages one’s belief he/she is superior in some way and therefore deserving of special treatment of some kind. This godlike feeling encourages feelings of supremacy which can justify other sins such as lying, deception, and cheating to achieve a goal (the ends justify the means). In other words, “I’m entitled and therefore I am justified to behave anyway I want to get what I deserve”.
George Floyd
We can see this same pattern in the George Floyd riots in Minneapolis where the lies about this case turned the entire situation into a set of race riots and destruction of a great city and the destruction of the careers of policemen with impeccable records.
In the documentary “The Fall of Minneapolis” one can see how pride in the belief of systemic racism and the embrace of the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) philosophy by the Governor of Minnesota, the Mayor of Minneapolis, and his Police Chief led them to adopt lies about George Floyd’s death and Derek Chauvin’s behaviors. Assuming George Floyd was murdered by Derek Chauvin (even though the facts don’t support this) fit the narrative of systemic racism. The George Floyd incident started with pride, led to a lie, and brought about destruction.
Why does pride often lead to a lie? It’s because of the Machiavellian strategy of the “ends justify the means”. Rioting is justified to achieve the unjustified privilege.
“God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble” (1 Peter 5:5).
Although it’s healthy to feel pride when you have accomplished a goal, it’s equally important to be humble and give thanks to those who helped, especially to God. Those of us who believe in God acknowledge that everything we accomplish is a gift from God. It’s haughty, selfish, and arrogant to believe you achieved something completely on your own without any help. It’s much more useful for success in life to be humble. For example, the development of leadership skills is essential for success in life. Effective leaders demonstrate appropriate humility. Humility is the opposite of pride.
“Pride comes before destruction, and an arrogant spirit before a fall. Better to be lowly of spirit with the humble than to divide plunder with the proud” (Proverbs 16:18-19).
An example of humility is to accept the rule of law even if it doesn’t agree with your desired outcome. That’s not what the LGBTQ community did after the 1969 riot. It’s not what the Governor, Mayor, nor Police Chief of Minneapolis did during the George Floyd events in 2020.
The LGBTQ community justifies pride month celebrations as part of the struggle to achieve equal rights. This is also a lie. The LGBTQ community is not denied any rights. They are denied privileges. Their rights are protected by the Constitution. Our Constitution protects certain fundamental rights, such as freedom of speech and the right to bear arms, as inherent and inalienable entitlements. They are gifts from God (our creator or nature’s God).
While both rights and privileges are important concepts, they differ in their nature, scope, and protection. Rights are God given, unconditional, and protected. Privileges such as receiving a public education, a professional license, a marriage license or adoption rights are granted by the government (by law) and are conditional and may be revoked.
The LGBTQ community however argues they often experience discrimination in hiring, healthcare, education, housing etc. because of their sexual preferences. This is also a lie. Why would sexual preference even matter to a prospective employer or landlord unless it might impact their business results? And, if can be shown sexual preference could damage business results, isn’t it the responsibility of the employer to refuse the privilege?
We see this conflict playing out in the transgender ideology movement. Some state legislatures are passing bills ordering schools to allow special privileges to transgender women (a person who feels they are a woman, yet they were born a man). These privileges include using girls’ restrooms, or locker rooms and participating in girls’ sports.
Evidence shows these privileges put girls in danger (Virginia high school student raped). Isn’t it the responsibility of the leaders in the schools and health clubs to protect those girls and revoke the privileges of the transgender? That’s not how the transgender community sees it. Pride justifies lies (there are more than two genders) and this leads to destruction.
These unjustified privileges must be denied. The lies must be revealed. We must embrace the truth. We must not allow pride to lead to lies which lead to sin and destruction. Let’s do our part and tell the truth.
Thank you for asking Mark. I used the definition from Dictionary.com:
"...a high or inordinate opinion of one's own dignity, importance, merit, or superiority, whether as cherished in the mind or as displayed in bearing, conduct, etc."
Antonyms: humility
I am a proponent of systems thinking. In a system there are always multiple factors which contribute to a result. Although it's useful to feel pride when we accomplish a goal, i find it most useful to remain humble and appreciate to the factors which may or may not be obvious and which contributed to the outcomes. Humility and appreciation for a system helps us to optimize learning when a goal is reached.
In the case of LGBTQ, being gay is not an accomplishment. And, celebrating that feeling and that choice gives it inordinate importance which borders on superiority.
Does that help? Thank you for asking.
You mean humility don't you and gratitude to Jesus the King?