How Do You Spell Irony? R-F-R-A!
From all accounts, Saturday’s Indy Pride parade was a roaring success and supporters have the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) to thank for it.
That’s right, RFRA was at the core of your success.
Think about it, because of the RFRA controversy more than 100,000 people showed up to express their support for equality and the LGBT community. Contrast that to years ago as my occasional political sparring partner Sheila Kennedy noted where the parade consisted of six floats and a few hundred people.
This year, there were easily more than 100 parade participants, and some names I would have only expected to see in the 500 Festival Parade.
And what got a lot of them there? I am willing to bet my box of Davidoff cigars it was RFRA, plain and simple.
They didn’t like it. They thought it was unnecessary. They thought it was bad for Indiana, and that translated into the biggest crowd Indy Pride has ever seen.
And by the way, from all accounts, the people you would expect to see there holding the signs telling everyone they have a first class ticket on the “Hell Express”, were much fewer and far between than previous years.
Like I said, I continue to be amazed at the irony of all this. And to think, the people to thank the most for this, are the ones who had the most issues with the LGBT community.
And by the way, if you folks at Indy Pride don’t mind a suggestion, may I recommend Micah Clark of the American Family Association of Indiana as your Grand Marshall for next year. Because if anyone is responsible for where Indiana is today on LGBT issues, it’s him.
