As I have mentioned before, we have a diversity problem at Beacon of Speech. The Blog is 99% me and 1% Ted. When we did our YouTube production, It was 49.5% me, 49.5% Ted and 1% Joe K.
In my personal life, I am what the old-timers would call a Square.
Ted, Joe K, and I are all straight, white males. None of us makes any money from Beacon of Speech.
Why am I bringing this up? My Facebook feed lit up with rainbows this week. We do not like colors of any sort at Beacon of Speech. This is our de facto emblem until we put some effort into replacing it. The image represents black and white and shades of grey. It was purposely chosen to lack colors for a reason.
Companies pandering (adjective) to the rainbow emblem for Gay Pride Month are missing the point. At our core we are a free speech website. Out of the nearly 900 articles we've published, I think 3 were about sex. If you want to talk about sex, we freely admit that our website is the wrong place to go. We can talk about sex, but we rarely do.
Which leads us to our topic today. What does sex have to do with Coca Cola, for example? Coca Cola is a drink. A drink of sugar, water, and caffeine mixed together in a flavorful way that stimulates your taste buds. If you drink too much Coca Cola, your body could, potentially, develop diabetes.
When the Stonewall Riots erupted in 1969, was Coca Cola or anyone affiliated with Coca Cola, there, on ground level, handing out Cokes to the thirsty rioters? Of course not.
Is a drink of sugar, water, and caffeine inherently gay or straight? Of course not.
Back in 1969, it was not popular for large corporations to market to the LGBTQ+ population. In 2022, it is very popular for large corporations to market to the LGBTQ+ population. What's the difference? Back in 1969, Coke only cared about selling sugary water, today they are about being corporate citizens.
But what if your values differ from what Coke is selling you, which is sugary water and Gay Pride? Well, I suppose you could drink Pepsi...
Or not. Maybe RC or Faygo?
What's my problem? Am I anti-gay? I certainly am not, I'm not changing my logo for any cause. One of my friends at work wears the Red MAGA Hat. I'm not changing my logo to that.
I don't agree with Black Lives Matter, I am certainly not changing my logo to that.
There are very few causes I would change my logo for, period. Our core philosophy is free speech. I have free speech, you have free speech, the straights and I have free speech, the spectrum of the rainbow have their free speech.
Now let me slap an asterisk on my own article.
Before Dave Thomas, the founder of Wendy's, died, Wendy's corporate cause was adoption. I think it's been their mission to find parentless children homes for nearly 50 years now. If a corporation wants to set up a charity like Thomas', or something more like the Ronald McDonald House, I don't have a problem with that. Again, we don't make any money here, but if awareness really counted, we have written about Guillian Barre Syndrome more than we've written about sex.
If you don't have a problem with corporations changing their core marketing for Gay Pride Month and then every other left-wing manufactured month, you better not have a problem with what Chick-Fil-A or Hobby Lobby does.
As I sit in my basement listening to Frankie Goes to Hollywood and reading Dan Savage's latest advice column, I quietly wonder what people don't understand.
We are in a culture war. If you're an LGBTQ+ advocate, you should thank your lucky stars that your speech is protected by the 1st Amendment of the Constitution and you don't live in Iran-
"C'mon Fred Hunt, quit your whinin', just do what everyone else does and try the pink beacon."
I've had it with all of you.