A response to Pride Month editorial

The Daily Herald’s recent editorial endorsing Pride Month reflects a common cultural trend, but one that deserves scrutiny. While all people are worthy of respect and dignity, we must be cautious when public institutions promote a moral and social agenda that not all citizens share.

The editorial rightly affirms the humanity of those who identify as LGBTQ+. However, it goes further, promoting a view of human identity and sexuality that many Americans respectfully but firmly reject. Celebrating Pride Month in official public contexts is not a neutral act; it implicitly endorses a specific understanding of sexuality, gender and personal fulfillment that runs contrary to long-standing moral, religious, civilizational and natural law traditions. It also supports a political agenda.

Disagreement is not hate. A commitment to truth and moral integrity often involves resisting cultural pressures, even when doing so is unpopular. Many in our communities believe that true compassion does not mean affirming all desires but upholding a vision of human flourishing rooted in moral responsibility and the created order. Pride Month, as publicly celebrated, often rejects those foundations and instead advances a worldview that celebrates sexual expression as central to identity.

We should treat all people with love — but that does not mean we must affirm every lifestyle or ideology because not every lifestyle or ideology leads to human flourishing. True diversity includes room for traditional moral convictions in the public square.

Respect does not require celebration. And tolerance does not demand agreement.

Mark Bodett

Wheaton