The Normal Majority

Will somebody please, PLEASE tell me what the protestors really have gained this past week? Mega-thousands took to the streets around the nation to protest the proposed changes to immigration policy. The TV news is still full of footage of affluent-looking Hispanic teens, merrily chatting to one another on cellphones as they play hooky from school. And amid the marches themselves last weekend, we got a pretty good look at all the Mexican flags, the upside-down American flags, and the stupid and ugly slogans on the picket-signs. What has it all accomplished?

Non-Hispanic Americans are angrier about illegal immigration than they ever were before. They are more certain than ever that the criminalization of undocumented aliens is a necessity. Was that what the protesters were trying to achieve? I can't help but think not. Had they stopped to give it any intelligent thought beforehand, there's no doubt they would have come to the conclusion that, at the very least, this was a boneheaded way to do it.

Americans don't scare easily. We resent attempts to intimidate us. We're being bled to death by taxes to pay for all the services undocumented immigrants are using, and we know the game well enough to realize we're being asked to give even more. What makes this so wickedly ironic is that Mexico so unceremoniously boots out anyone who tries to emigrate there from the countries further South. It's "hospitality for me, but not for thee."

The real shame of it is that the very hard-working families who really need the chance to come to America are going to get the shaft. And those who genuinely hate Latinos are going to make America that much less hospitable to those who have come here legally. The troublemakers always screw things up for everybody else.

Next weekend, Phoenix holds its annual Gay Pride Festival. This is, I have heard, expected to be the largest parade ever to march down Central Avenue. What a wonderful opportunity for us to let the people of the Phoenix area -- and all over Arizona -- see who we are. We are their neighbors, their coworkers, their customers and their friends. We are part of their very families.

But is that what they'll be shown? I can't help but wonder. Let a bunch of Leftists get ahold of a march, and they will ruin it every time. Will Arizona see the real face of its gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered citizens, or will they see Tinkerbell, popping out of a cake? Will they recognize us as a part of them, or will they think we're all a bunch of depraved loonies?

Of course TV coverage makes it look worse than it is. They won't show Log Cabin or Faith Lutheran -- they'll focus on Tinkerbell and the Leather Dykes. I intend to help hold the media accountable, this year, for how the parade and the festival are portrayed. Sure, all the usual wackies will be there, but so, too, will the normal majority.

The Normal Majority. Sounds like a good name for a movement!

Stay tuned. I'll have a report on the action once I've been a part of it. Although not everybody would agree that I'm entirely "normal," by and large I count myself as part of that Normal Majority. We'll just have to see how accurately this majority is reflected in the news coverage.

Given all that's at stake in the legislature concerning us right now, this year's impression could be make-or-break.

Let's see whether we actually help our cause along, or shoot ourselves, once again, smack in the foot.