Hamtramck. It’s a place in the United States most on here will not have heard of. In the heyday of car production in Detroit, this small city in the suburbs was notable for its huge Polish-American population who mostly worked in the motor industry. Since the decline and fall of Detroit (with de-population rates unparalleled in any other city in the country), it has gradually been demographically transformed by the arrival of Muslims – especially during the presidency of Barack Obama, where the Muslim population of the USA almost doubled during his 8-year tenure in the White House. As a result, Hamtramck now has the label of ‘America’s first Muslim-majority city’. Halal take-aways; mosques; women fully clothed in face-concealing garments; etc,. these are now very much the hallmarks of Hamtramck. We’re talking Manningham in Michigan. And, as you might expect, where there is a large concentration of Muslims you soon find that political representation mirrors that of the general population (https://hamtramck.us/city-council/).

June is ‘Pride Month’. It’s the 4-week period when everything from ATM screens to council logos to toilet cubicle doors are adorned with rainbow colours in response to the promotion of ‘gay rights, gay identity and gay equality’. It perfectly encapsulates the hysteria of progressivism as pride colours are now used as icons of high-society acceptability. If you question their ubiquity, you’ll be banished to the dark side by every Guardian or BBC hack for the remainder of your days. It won’t matter if you point out that homosexuality has been legal in the UK since 1967, that Illinois became the first US state to decriminalise homosexuality 61 years ago, or that gay identity and relationships now crucially enjoy both legality AND widespread acceptability across both countries and have done so for some considerable time. For much of the political and media elites, you either like Pride flags on every corner or else you’re seen as someone who wears an Anita Bryant fan club t-shirt.

I dislike the continuous moral lecture that symbolises so much of the discourse surrounding Pride. I couldn’t care less what a person’s sexual orientation is, but I firmly believe people should have the right to live in whatever relationship brings them the most love. Do I want Pride flags effectively shoved down my throat in every supermarket in the land? Absolutely not! Do I think it’s right that gay people are as much a part of society as anyone else? Of course! I suspect my opinions are representative of the vast majority of folks – here and in the United States.

So why the mention of Hamtramck? It’s due to the fact this small council has just hit the headlines by voting to ban the flying of Pride flags on council property? (https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jun/17/hamtramck-michigan-muslim-council-lgbtq-pride-flags-banned). In response, a local theatre has decided to host an evening dedicated to LGBTQ festivities (https://www.cbsnews.com/detroit/news/hamtramck-lgbtq-festival-planned-in-response-to-flag-ban/) . It will be interesting to see if a Muslim counter-protest is held outside. After all, folk from this religion are hardly reticent when it comes to demonstrating opposition to books, movies or grammar school teachers who’ve fallen foul of their theocratic mania. For opposition to homosexuality amongst many, many Muslims goes far deeper than, say, parental disapproval. These are people quite prepared to ostracise (or worse) members of their own communities who’ve ‘come out’. I’ve worked with homosexual Muslims in Bradford who either keep a very low profile in their own neighbourhoods, or else live a total lie masquerading as happily-married men with children. This is Britain in 2023! Similarly, across the Pond I suspect the motives of Hamtramck City Council derive much more from the basic Islamic aversion of all things gay (https://wikiislam.net/wiki/Islam_and_Homosexuality), than they do from mere illiberal discomfort. Eight countries across the globe have the death penalty for homosexual acts: Afghanistan, Qatar, Iran, UAE, Yemen, Somalia, Saudi Arabia and Mauritania. What do they all have in common? Islam! Of the remainder where imprisonment is mandated, 75% are predominantly or wholly Islamic.

This brings me to the nub of my argument. The very same people who champion Pride flags from one end of June to the other are exactly the same people who advocate for open borders to accommodate people from lands fundamentally intolerant of gay people and lifestyles. The headline and sub-heading in the Guardian article sums up their disjointed worldview:

‘‘A sense of betrayal’: liberal dismay as Muslim-led US city bans Pride flags

Many liberals celebrated when Hamtramck, Michigan, elected a Muslim-majority council in 2015 but a vote to exclude LGBTQ+ flags from city property has soured relations.’

A ‘sense of betrayal’? That’s tantamount to a couple expressing a sense of betrayal that, when they one day approached the skunk they had rescued from certain death at the roadside, it decided to open up its anal glands and spray them with thiol! Sorry, that’s what skunks do, rescued or not. Intolerance of gay lifestyles and identity is what Islam does. Don’t believe me? Then check out the most recent survey of their attitudes to homosexuality in the UK. It’s very revealing (https://edition.cnn.com/2016/04/11/europe/britain-muslims-survey/index.html). Where Muslims in Britain lead, those in America are sure to follow as they grow in demographic and political strength. The erstwhile Mayor of Keighley can tell you all about that (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-65962037).

I am not defending the ridiculous omnipotence of Pride flags here. Far from it. I like things in moderation, which is increasingly hard to come by in a world often animated by polemical hysteria. I am simply demonstrating that we are gradually moving towards a societal equivalent of a Mexican standoff, created by two phenomena (Pride exhibitionism versus mass immigration/settlement of incompatible cultures) both advocated by the doyens of Left-wing progressivism. In short, the Left are shocked that the religions they supported to create multiculturalism don’t support the sexual orientation of those in the LGBTQ+ community. The only thing that shocks me is that they ever thought they would! We are getting the first glimpses of the final destination of the political experiment with intersectionality…..and it ain’t gonna be pleasant.