Official Tea Party sponsor in hot water for selling "Straight Pride" shirts.

[SemiCharmedQuark]

LANSING– State and national organizations who represent the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community are expressing outrage over t-shirts bearing the slogan “Straight Pride” offered for sale at a Saturday rally of the Tea Party Express.

The person selling the t-shirts told the Michigan Messenger that his company — the name of the company could not be made out on the tape due to a loud blast of noise, but it ended in “free media” — was an official sponsor and financial supporter of the Tea Party Express, saying that they typically give 10-15 percent of their sales to the organization. He wore a button saying “official sponsor.”


...


The connection comes as a new University of Washington poll found that of those Americans who supported the Tea Party movement, “only 35% believe Blacks to be hardworking, only 45 percent believe Blacks are intelligent, and only 41% think that Blacks are trustworthy. Perceptions of Latinos aren’t much different. While 54 percent of White Tea Party supporters believe Latinos to be hardworking, only 44% think them intelligent, and even fewer, 42 percent of Tea Party supporters believe Latinos to be trustworthy. When it comes to gays and lesbians, White Tea Party supporters also hold negative attitudes. Only 36 percent think gay and lesbian couples should be allowed to adopt children, and just 17 percent are in favor of same-sex marriage.”

http://michiganmessenger.com/36668/straight-pride-shirts-at-tea-party-rally-draw-fire

[Cha]

1. The teabaggers are an ignorant bunch

who are easily led around by the nose..those fueling this hate have no idea when and where this timebomb is going to implode.

[Mother Smuckers]

2. Well crap...as a gay man, I find those incredibly offensive, BUT

I just can't imagine supporting any effort to prevent them from saying it. It's just that free speech is meaningless if it doesn't apply equally to all sides, as much as it pains me to admit.


sorry made a dumb typo

[WillParkinson]

3. Agreed...

I don't understand the 'outrage'.

If we're allowed to proclaim our pride as gay people then straight people must be afforded the same opportunity.

[Bluebear]

4. Surely you understand that this is deeper than a statement of straight "pride".

[Mother Smuckers]

8. Of course it is...and it's just one more misguided usage of "pride".

There have been plenty of others...all sorts of expositions of "pride" based on accidents of birth. I find every one of them equally bogus...one has not the right to be proud of anything other than a personal achievement that results in some kind of individual advancement NOT at the expense of others. Examples are few and far between.

[Toasterlad]

10. Please See Post #9

[WillParkinson]

13. Of course...

But the 'outrage' affords them the chance to turn it back on the 'uppity gays' by saying that we expect acknowledgment of gay pride but don't want them to express what they believe.

At least that's how I see it.

[Toasterlad]

9. Gay Pride Does Not Mean Taking Pride In the Fact That You're Gay

It means taking pride in the WAY THAT YOU HANDLE THE FACT that you're gay. It means standing up to persecution and bigotry and hate.

What, exactly, do you imagine is meant by "straight pride"?

Yes, they have a right to their stupid t-shirts. But please don't make the mistake of equating gay pride with "straight pride" again.

[Mother Smuckers]

11. Well, I carry a S&W Chief Special as a tool against the chance that bigotry and hate

might escalate into a personal attack on me. I'm perfectly aware that the "straight pride" slogan probably always includes the implied corollary "not gay/one of those queers." I promise you I'll continue to be appalled by that sort of bigotry but I don't think anyone is going to convince me to abandon my support for the First Amendment (or the Second.) :D

[WillParkinson]

12. Straight pride

I know full well what gay pride means.

If they want to claim straight pride that's fine. We see how they handle it. It reduces their credibility even further than before.

Please don't think that I'm equating the two of them because that is not the case.

What I am saying is that from a free speech standpoint they can go ahead and wear it. Doesn't mean the same thing.

[emulatorloo]

14. If hetereosexuals were as oppressed as gays, then I would be ok with a "Straight Pride" t-shirt

[Toasterlad]

7. Don't Worry: If the "National Organizations" Who Are Outraged Include the HRC...

...free speech is not in jeopardy.

The Human Rights Campaign leaders only have so much time for outrage before the next cocktail party.

[Toasterlad]

5. Wrong Place

[alp227]

6. Isn't straight pride already obvious in American culture these days?

Go outside and have a walk in the park or your local high school/college campus. Look at all the pretty (heterosexual) couples holding hands, hugging each other as they walk, kissing passionately while ignoring the rest of the world around them.

Go to the mall and look at all those scantily clad women modeling designer clothes...with the purpose to rile up men's lustful feelings!

How many popular romantic movies have involved male/female couples as opposed to gay couples?

C'mon, Teabaggers feel so insecure and persecuted that they really need to express "pride" in what's already a social norm? Pssh.