Proposed 'Straight Pride Parade' gets roasted by Smash Mouth, George Takei, others on Twitter



Actors, musicians, and more lambasted the idea on Twitter on Tuesday. Check out what they said. >>> less FILE – Organizer Mark Sahady, center, leads the rally goers through the Boston Common as they arrive for the "Resist Marxism" rally in Boston in this Nov. 18, 2017 file photo. Sahady and two other men have applied for a permit from the Boston city government to have a Straight Pride Parade this summer. FILE – Organizer Mark Sahady, center, leads the rally goers through the Boston Common as they arrive for the "Resist Marxism" rally in Boston in this Nov. 18, 2017 file photo. Sahady and two other men have ... more Photo: Boston Globe/Boston Globe Via Getty Images Photo: Boston Globe/Boston Globe Via Getty Images Image 1 of / 33 Caption Close Proposed 'Straight Pride Parade' gets roasted by Smash Mouth, George Takei, others on Twitter 1 / 33 Back to Gallery

Click or swipe through the slideshow above to see what people had to say about the idea of a Straight Pride Parade.

As Pride Month, a worldwide celebration of LGBTQ rights, kicks off, three guys in Boston want to throw a "Straight Pride Parade."

Several news organizations are reporting that Mark Sahady and two other men are organizing the parade to make fun of "identity politics" on the American political left. It's an idea that many around the world have lambasted as ridiculous in the hours since Sahady broke the news about the parade on his Facebook page on Tuesday morning.

Some of the people speaking out about the proposed parade have compared it to white people asking why there isn't a White History Month during Black History Month celebrations in February, or having a men's rights movement in response to the struggle for women's rights.

Central to the counterarguments on Twitter against having a Straight Pride Parade? Society already privileges heterosexual people and discriminates and oppresses people who are not heterosexual, plus there's already plenty of space for straight pride and – despite recent advances around the world for LGBTQ people – not a lot of space for people who are not heterosexual.

One person posted a meme saying that gay pride isn't just to celebrate being gay, but "our right to exist without persecution. So instead of wondering why there isn't a straight pride movement, be thankful you don't need one."

For those seeking a Straight Pride Parade: read this pic.twitter.com/7ZvlWl3H1C — Shawn Olson (@OOOlson) June 4, 2019

That was one of the more civil responses to the idea. Others, like the one that came from the Twitter account of the Bay Area band Smash Mouth, were less patient.

"Straight Pride Parade???" a tweet from the account read. "F– OFF!!!!!!!!"

Native Californian, actor, and gay rights activist George Takei shared an article about the proposed parade and said he "almost threw up a little in my mouth."

Another actor, Jeffrey Wright, tweeted out a photo of a man holding a blow up doll, with a tweet that read, "Straight Pride Parade Grand Marshal."

Straight Pride Parade Grand Marshal pic.twitter.com/69AkJD5HCB — Jeffrey Wright (@jfreewright) June 4, 2019

Adam Best, co-host of the podcast "The Left," shared skillful jokes about the parade. "A more accurate name for the Straight Pride Parade would be Incelebration," he said, in reference to men who claim they are involuntarily celibate. In a follow-up tweet, he said the floats in the parade would look like the food from the infamous Fyre Festival.

Instead of telling jokes, another person brought the critique back to the Stonewall Riots, the series of spontaneous and violent demonstrations in 1969 in response to police violence against gay people living in New York that many credit with sparking the modern gay rights movement.

"Y'all want a Straight Pride Parade but where's your straight Stonewall?" she asked rhetorically. "Where's the families throwing you out for being straight? Where's the police raiding your bars, invading your privacy, finding & locking you up for existing?? Y'all want the fun part but can't handle the worst part."

Drew Costley is an SFGATE editorial assistant. Email: drew.costley@sfgate.com | Twitter: @drewcostley