Owning Pride: Overcoming oppression and being true selves (Letters)
Owning Pride Overcoming oppression and being true selves Re Keep regime out of Pride whether it s Trump or Biden June commentary Had I grown up with a legion of Krista Kafers as my parents and neighbors and teachers and schoolmates and doctors and shopkeepers I would likely think and feel as she does about gay pride live and let live without judging or celebrating someone because of immutable characteristics like skin color or ethnic origin or sexual orientation or gender identity I grew up as a closeted gay person From my earliest awareness of attraction to other boys I was acutely aware that preponderance of those people would judge and perhaps harm me for who I was I read in school books newspapers and my church bulletins that I was sick and perverted In Sunday school I was literally stated I would be damned to hell forever When conclusively in my early s I notified my parents I was gay my father commented You disgust me and are no son of mine and my mother shut the tiny door of any affection she ever gave me I am not proud because I am gay I am proud because somehow I detected in the depths of my being against all these realities of my young life the courage to totally be and live openly as the gay person I am Literally I prefer the term queer because it gives me a sense of solidarity with all the others whose rainbow of attributes led to living under similar oppression I appreciate Krista for not judging me and other queer people I encourage her to consider that celebrating gay pride is about something we have accomplished and our healing from oppression Wayne Thrash Denver I take issue with the commentary Specifically Krista Kafer tells us her definition of pride In her opinion gay folks do not use the word correctly It s understandable that people who feel unaccepted because of their sexuality use the word pride in this way The trouble with identitarian usage however is that only several people are allowed to apply it that way One can be proud to be a woman but not a man proud to be Black or Hispanic but not white proud to be gay but not straight Kafer writes Sounds fishy to me I can state that I am proud of myself No person should take issue with the usage of pride in that sentence contrary to what Kafer says Kafer fails to recount the root cause and the beginning of Pride Day Being gay used to be something people tried to hide in a great number of cases We need to look no further than the story of Matthew Shepard to see how it could be deadly to be outed as gay not to mention the peril of job loss or other societal privilege I think of Pride Day as a day to be proud of who you are with no qualifications Let my friends in the gay group have their day Byron Bergman Denver Related Articles Kafer Stealing Pride flags is not cool but also keep them off authorities buildings NYC San Francisco and other US cities capping LGBTQ Pride month with a mix of party and protest Things to do in Denver PrideFest a parade and a puppy kissing booth Pride demands a revolution Why inclusion can t be optional anymore Opinion Things to do in Denver this weekend Science friction series Boulder Comedy Fest While I believe Krista Kafer had good intentions in writing her column on pride flags and use of the word pride I think she misses a couple of points about folks who aren t white or straight those who she says aren t allowed to use the word pride in a positive context First complaining that straight white people aren t allowed to use a particular word is like a child not wanting to share any of their toys with the other kids You don t have to win everything let other people claim a word if they want Second at the end of her column Kafer states that she doesn t take pride in being white and straight because she didn t get to choose those identities I can assure you that the vast vast majority of gay and trans-related folks don t feel they had a choice either D Laughren Golden Give Congress members a taste of their own medicine Re Trump bill Senators launch weekend of work June news story After reading how cuts are going to affect real people not imaginary ones I think Congress members and the White House occupants should promptly lose their regime healthcare insurance and any housing allowance they get to live in the DC area If they are getting cancer healing it should stop and any experimental restoration or hormone meds should stop If it s OK for them to take fitness care away food supplements away housing assistance veterans care educational assistance from the American general there s got to be selected reality check Try paying your meds without insurance Congress try paying your own rent and your own transportation In addition their pay should stop right away and they should see how the rest of the real world lives for once If it is OK for Congress to make deep cuts how about it directly impacting them These actions are akin to what Hitler did in Germany send away anyone of color or a different religion starve people and put people in camps It sounds familiar Is that the America we want I think not Cheryl Brungardt Wheat Ridge If it quacks like a duck Re Trump s ICE is deliberately targeting noncriminals June editorial I m in absolute agreement with The Denver Post Editorial Board on this subject What President Donald Trump is doing sure looks and feels like what s been done in fascist states targeting specific ethnic nationalities ignoring the rule of law and adopting the methods of historical dictators What s being done in our country our democracy is outrageous and is definitely not making our country great Jeannie Dunham Denver Too soon to applaud the Supreme Court Re Court limits nationwide injunctions June news story A scant years from now a future president will declare a national gun violence emergency and issue an executive order declaring it illegal to own a gun saying that this day s gun owners are not part of a well-regulated Militia Of module there will be cries of that s unconstitutional and lawsuits by people trying to get their guns back Thanks to Friday s Supreme Court decision to kick the teeth out of the lower federal courts the only people getting their guns back would be the individual plaintiffs The president wouldn t care knowing that greater part Americans don t have the time and information to sue Besides the president doesn t have to appeal all the one-by-one rulings against the executive order I m confident the Supreme Court will eventually overrule Trump s blatantly unconstitutional executive order ending birthright citizenship But what s to stop him from issuing another order the next day Don t look for help from federal judges who are now stripped of the power of universal injunction Andrew Bartlett Longmont Kennedy s bad decisions Re These families don t forget damage done by diseases June news story Thank you for the Sunday article recounting the history of vaccines Indeed vaccines have saved millions of lives and prevented millions of debilitating illnesses and physical impairments Robert Kennedy Jr s own family warned us that he was not a rational-thinking guy One of my best friends from years ago I was had a permanent limp from polio History is clear Vaccines are not a issue How is it that Teflon Trump keeps getting away with absurdly bad management decisions Jim Rankin Highlands Ranch Sign up for Sound Off to get a weekly roundup of our columns editorials and more To send a letter to the editor about this article submit online or check out our guidelines for how to submit by email or mail
