Gay Son of Straight 'Pride' Organizer Wants Event Shut Down

The straights are at it again. In addition to all of the craziness that's happening with Straight Pride in Boston -- for the record, even Brad Pitt has condemned the event -- a similarly Pride in Modesto, California is getting push back. And the best part? The call is coming from inside the house.

Matthew Mason, the gay son of Modesto Straight Pride event co-organizer Mylinda Mason, is condemning an event planned for Graceada Park at the end of August. Mason plans to ask Modesto officials at an upcoming City Council meeting to refuse access to the park. According to the Modesto Bee, Mason "supports the right to free speech and peaceful assembly" but believes the protest could be potentially violent.

"They believe Western Civilization should be straight, white and Christian with a very specific gender binary," Mason said. "They believe this should be a culture war. It's rhetoric I've heard my whole life. ." Mason says, "you can have straight pride but you don't have to say that means [(LGBTQ+ community members]) are deviants. You can be Christians, but you don't have to dictate that people in the LGBTQ+ community are not Christians. You can celebrate Western Civilization without saying, 'West is best.'"

According to the website for the National Straight Pride Coalition, which you can thank for the recent uptick of these events, the coalition is to protect traditional gender roles, Christianity, heterosexuality, Western Civilization, and white people.

Though Mason expects that the turnout for the Pride to be "small and pitiful", he will be working with others to hold a candlelight vigil before the council meeting to protest the Straight pride event which is planned for Aug. 24. And says he expects the turnout for the event to be "small and pitiful." Grundmann on the other hand, has said he expects at least 500 people to attend.

As to be expected, the organizers of the festival have a long history of anti-LGBTQ+ remarks. Don Grudmann went on a transphobic tirade in May, saying "there is no such thing as transgender" and calling the acceptance of trans people, "a form of child molestation."

According to The Bee, Mason and his adoptive mother had been estranged for two years but Mylinda alleges the estrangement was his choice and that she loves and adores her son, "I would say it's heartbreaking," she says "any parent feels this way."

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