Yesterday we told you about the Canadian village of Chipman which pissed people off by flying a “straight pride” flag. The village council took down the flag after a day of citizen complaints, but now CTV News has reported that Glenn Bishop, the man who originally asked the Chipman council to fly the flag, is considering legal action for his flag being removed.
According to CBC.ca, Bishop approached Chipman Mayor Carson Atkinson two months ago to request permission for the city’s main flagpole to fly his straight pride flag.
“I made it very plain at that meeting that there was no animosity against the gay pride people at all,” Bishop said. “I know most of them.”
He added, “I’m very disappointed. Why should I not be allowed to fly my flag? That’s disgraceful. This is disgraceful. This is discrimination against straight people.”
How about we take this to the next level?
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Related: Feeling left out, fans demand ‘Straight Pride Night’ after Red Sox paint pitcher’s mound rainbow
Less than half an hour after the flag was taken down, Bishop went to the local flagpole to see what had happened. There he met with some LGBTQ people and a local straight ally who explained that there’s no such thing as straight pride because straight people have never faced the level of societal discrimination that LGBTQ people have.
Bishop responded, “When they flew their flag for six days, there was nothing said about it.” While he thinks it’s wrong to discriminate against gay people, he doesn’t see what that has to do with taking his flag down.
Even though he doesn’t realize it, Bishop has unwittingly flown an emblem of animosity against gay people. The very concept of straight pride was only invented by social conservatives in the late ‘80s and ‘90s as a tactic against media coverage of gay people proclaiming gay pride in the face of anti-sodomy laws and the HIV epidemic.
If he decides to sue, Bishop may have a legal leg to stand on. A 2001 U.S. court case involving a Minnesota high schooler asked to remove his “straight pride” shirt over concerns for his safety ruled that the removal constituted a violation of his right to free speech.
But unlike the U.S., Canada’s free speech laws have clearer provisions against hate speech, meaning that a court could possibly recognize Bishop’s flag as an emblem of hate and rule that he has no right to fly it.
Josh in OR
Man. Those cis/het white men…so oppressed and under-represented…
WON’T SOMEONE THINK OF THE WHITE MAN!?!?!
Kieran
You sound racist. That’s not cool.
DCguy
@Kieran
Awww, poor Kieran, trolls gotta troll.
Josh in OR
@Kieran
And, as usual, you sound like a subliterate moron who thinks ‘racism’ is a thing that applies to the dominant ‘race’. Sorry, pal. Racism is a tool of the oppressor, not the oppressed.
Deal with it.
Kieran
Its people like DCguy and Josh that helped elected President Trump. Deal with that reality.
Josh in OR
@Kieran
No, honey. It’s people like you, who pretend – badly – that you give a shit about anything but yourself, while just going about trolling as usual that got Trump elected. Cis/het white christian men have dominated the world and brought us to the brink of disaster. It must suck for you to be held accountable. Poor, oppressed wypeepo…
dwes09
No, it is people like you, dull and clueless that helped elect trump….that actually VOTED for him.
Just because you don’t know how to use your brain does not mean that most people do not.
Noting the nature of racism is not racist.
richardNobbs
A few people seemed to missed that you were being sarcastic. Josh is not the problem. As for the flag guy. He reminds me of my pal Trudy’s when she said to me, “Two steps forward drag your boyfriend.”
Polaro
Its like the All Lives Matter people. Of course all lives matter, except their point is to ridicule the intent of Black Lives Matter. Of course straight people should be proud, but this flag’s point is to ridicule Gay Pride. In both cases the antagonist puts forward an idea that is glib to undercut an important message of a minority. This dumb, old, white guy just doesn’t get it and he never will, which is why we all need to vote. Vote, damn it. Really make these dumb, old, white guys with sticks up their butts mad.
Kieran
Another racist comment. What does this guy’s skin color have to do with this?
Craig
@Kieran Calling a white man “white” is not racist…
Polaro
Kieran missing the point again. I’m an old, white guy. I know old, white guys. There are way too many of them who are dumb with sticks up their butts. Facts are not racist.
JackM
He doesn’t get it. He’s been the recipient of white privilege all his life, but when he sees gay people talking about their equal rights, he thinks he’s missing out on something. This is called being uneducated.
Polaro
If we’re going to throw around PC hot buttons…it is straight privilege, not white privilege. The fact the he is also white is ironically predictable in Canada.
DCguy
In an earlier article they said the Straight pride flag was in response to a Rainbow flag being flown.
Translation: This isn’t about pride, this is in retaliation to LGBTs daring to exist.
PinkoOfTheGange
You know Canada is a whole other country not a state.
So any case decided in the US has no effect on what a Canadian court decides.
radiooutmike
Well, when the whole culture is built around you…any acknowledgement of anyone else seems like a loss of your personal power.
nitejonboy
The guy looks like a serial killer.
Lacuevaman
i think he’s been caught on his knees in the woods by the boat ramp on the Salmon river…. just saying
James
TROLL.