June is Gay Pride Month, but President Bush has refused to issue a proclamation recognizing it as such. Some groups are planning activities, but not agency officials are able to offer any sort of official support without such a proclamation, which shows just how important it is and why people should care.

New York Blade reports:

Last year, Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), who strongly criticized Ashcroft and the Department of Justice’s initial decision not to allow its employees to celebrate Gay Pride Month, scheduled an alternative celebration for DOJ Pride members and other gay federal employees at the Capitol. Nichol said she was in discussion with officials to provide an alternative setting for DOJ Pride festivities and hinted that her group is considering legal action against the Justice Department.

Last year, President Bush issued a series of proclamations honoring, for example, National African-American History Month, Save Your Vision Week and Leif Erikson Day, which honors the memory of the 11th century explorer. He has yet to issue a proclamation declaring June Gay Pride Month, breaking with a precedent set in the 1990s by President Clinton.

The choices of what proclamations to issue send a message about what sorts of groups and views are “included” in the community and which are “excluded.” The president wouldn’t issue a proclamation for “Nazi Pride Month” and that sends a justifiable message that Nazism is disapproved of by the government. Similarly, the refusal to issue a proclamation for “Gay Pride Month” sends the message that gays, or at least gay pride, is disapproved of by the government. But is that justified?

Read More:

• Religious Right
• Christian Nationalism
• Religious Intolerance & Bigotry
• Evangelicalism
• Gay Rights, Gay Marriage