Every time a so-called “Straight Pride” movement pops up, it comes wrapped in moral posturing, usually from conservative voices claiming to defend traditional values, protect children, and fight against “groomers.” But if you follow the headlines, you’ll notice a disturbing pattern: those most loudly preaching family values often turn out to be the ones violating them behind closed doors.
Take Ryan Jenks, a GOP legislative candidate in Idaho. A vocal conservative and advocate for “family values,” Jenks ran a mental health clinic for children. Now, he’s been charged with two counts of sexually abusing a minor.
Yes, the man who claimed to protect kids is now accused of harming them.
It’s a sickening, yet sadly familiar, story.
Top Three Takeaways from the Article:
Conservative figures who promote “family values” and moral outrage are frequently exposed for the very abuses they accuse others of, such as child sexual abuse, highlighting deep hypocrisy in their rhetoric and behavior.
Movements like “Straight Pride” often serve as political distractions, deflecting attention from real abuses within conservative ranks while demonizing LGBTQ+ communities without evidence.
The real threat to children and public trust comes not from queer people, but from those in power who exploit positions of authority and hide behind moral posturing to avoid accountability.
A Pattern of Hypocrisy
Jenks isn’t an anomaly. He joins a long and troubling list of conservative politicians, religious leaders, and influencers who built careers on demonizing LGBTQ+ people while quietly committing the very crimes they project onto others.
From Dennis Hastert (former GOP Speaker of the House convicted of molesting teenage boys) to Roy Moore (accused by multiple women of inappropriate conduct when they were minors), the pattern is the same:
Moral outrage in public. Moral rot in private.
They preach “protect the children” while harming them.
They accuse others of being predators while shielding actual predators in their ranks.
They cry about “grooming” while using positions of trust, pastor, teacher, coach, counselor, to gain access to victims.
Straight Pride or Straight Distraction?
So what are we really celebrating with “Straight Pride” or “Straight Month”?
Because if it’s just a thinly veiled excuse to mock LGBTQ+ Pride and deflect attention from abuse and scandal within conservative circles, then it’s not pride, it’s propaganda.
LGBTQ+ people aren’t asking for special treatment. They’re demanding the right to live safely and authentically, something that’s been denied to them for generations. Meanwhile, the people using straightness as a political badge keep getting exposed for the very crimes they claim to be fighting.
Weaponized Morality as a Shield for Abuse
Let’s be clear: this is not about straight people. This is about a specific kind of weaponized straightness, used as a political tool to shame others while hiding systemic abuse.
When conservative candidates like Jenks stand on stages and preach about protecting children, they’re often hiding behind that platform to avoid scrutiny. They know that society tends to trust authority figures who perform piety and patriotism.
And that’s what makes them dangerous.
The Real Threat Isn’t LGBTQ+ People, It’s Unchecked Power
Despite years of right-wing rhetoric, there’s no epidemic of LGBTQ+ people abusing children. Study after study confirms that queer people are no more likely to harm children than anyone else, in fact, they are more likely to be victims of violence than perpetrators.
Yet right-wing media and politicians have spent years pushing fear-based narratives to justify anti-LGBTQ+ laws, book bans, and even attacks on trans healthcare. Meanwhile, it’s their own ranks that keep getting arrested, exposed, or convicted.
Maybe we should stop listening to people who tell us who to fear, and start looking at who’s doing the talking.
Pride Requires Accountability
If you want to celebrate “Straight Month,” go ahead. But maybe take a moment to ask:
- Why do so many conservative “family values” leaders get caught abusing the very children they claim to protect?
- Why is sexual abuse inside right-wing political, religious, and educational institutions so common, and so often covered up?
- And why are these same people so obsessed with attacking the LGBTQ+ community?
Until we confront this hypocrisy, “Straight Pride” will remain what it so often is:
A distraction from the crimes of those in power, not a celebration of identity.
And the victims, like the minor in Ryan Jenks’s case, deserve better than that.