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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Comment
Arwa Mahdawi

Consider the plight of that poor oppressed majority: heterosexuals

Photo shows two men holding a Straight Pride banner in Boston.
Could the people who proclaim ‘straight pride’ name one country where heterosexual people are criminalised? Photograph: Chuck Nacke/Alamy

Spare a thought for the poor heterosexual: a wretched creature, shunned and marginalised despite living in a world built around their lifestyle choices. This oppressed majority has, finally, found an ally in the form of a bar in Idaho called Old State Saloon, which recently went viral for celebrating “Heterosexual Awesomeness Month”. On Mondays in June, “any heterosexual male dressed like a heterosexual male will receive a free draft beer” and on Wednesdays heterosexual couples get “15% off their bill”.

If this exhausting joke sounds a little familiar, it’s because these sorts of shenanigans happen every single Pride month. Some wag with a chip on their shoulder will decide that it’s unfair that the gays get a whole month to themselves and will launch something to increase awareness of heterosexual people. In 2011, for example, a Brazilian politician tried to get the city of São Paulo to establish a Heterosexual Pride Day. That didn’t end up passing but, in 2019, Boston held a Straight Pride Parade. A few hundred Trump supporters marched with signs bearing slogans such as “Straight lives matter”.

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