MacIntyre: The bottom of the slippery slope

The long ordeal of Pride Month is almost at a close, but this festival would not be truly complete without prominent figures advancing the argument for child sexualization. Adults exposing themselves to random children on the street is de jure illegal; those who do so are criminals who should receive a prison sentence and a spot on the sex offender registry.

Until a few years ago, this was the obvious and unspoken consensus across America. No discussion on the issue was needed; perverts who waved their genitals at children went to jail and were viewed with scorn for the rest of their lives. Very little discussion was had on the issue, and no indecent exposure laws were really changed, but America finds itself in a place where proudly flashing a crowd full of children has been de facto legalized.

Police now stand idly by as grown men enthusiastically display themselves to the public while confused children look on, hoping that some adult will recognize the absurdity of the situation. Officers ignore the law, knowing better than to disrupt a state-sanctioned religious festival, and simply allow the public abuse and grooming to unfold. Doing otherwise would mean immediate personal and professional destruction for an officer or deputy who made the mistake of intervening. America has arrived at a very dark but entirely predictable place, paying the cost of apathy and decadence with the innocence of its own children.

At a Pride parade in Seattle over the weekend, a group of nude adults rode bicycles in the middle of the street as they waved giddily at a crowd full of children. Twitter accounts like Libs of Tiktok and the Post Millennial broke the story, including video of the shocking event, and the response from progressives was rather telling.

The left was outraged, not at the adults who had exposed themselves to children, but at the conservative media outlets that had dared to reveal what actually happened to minors in one of America’s largest cities. Attorney and progressive pundit Ron Filipkowski tweeted out, “As I said when Pride Month began, the Right uses this stuff to win elections and then pass laws and appoint judges to take away your rights.” "Star Trek" actor and outspoken activist George Takei quickly replied, “Even if there were no naked guys on bikes this year, they would find picture or generate them and push the same agenda anyway. There’s no 'fixing' this by calling for self-censoring.” The horrific honesty of this exchange is stunning. It would seem that grown men exposing themselves to children is not the real problem; it is, in fact, a right and a form of self-expression.

Takei characterized covering one’s genitals as self-censorship, which can only lead to one question: Why does he see getting naked in front of a crowd full of children as an essential expression of LGBTQ identity? The implication is that this activity is both normal and encouraged at Pride events and was only being curtailed due to concerns about optics now that minors are regularly in attendance. Takei, sure that the right will continue to oppose Pride events no matter what, simply sees no reason for LGBTQ parade participants to censor themselves by wearing clothes in front of children.

As stunning as that admission may seem, the reaction of progressive journalist Brian Krassenstein provided an even bigger mask-off moment. Like Filipkowski, Krassenstein took to Twitter to express his outrage, not at the adults who had exposed themselves to children, but at the conservative media outlets that shared the video taken at these events. Krassentein was wise enough to initially frame his protest as concern for children who might see the footage on Twitter, chastising conservative outlets for complaining about child exposure in one instance but facilitating it on another platform. It was obvious that his real intent was to shame conservative outlets for revealing what happened at the event, but at least he was clever about the way he went about it.

That changed once another account challenged Krassenstein, asserting that he was more angry with alternative media sources that had revealed the truth than he was with adults who flashed children in the streets. The journalist quickly replied, “Seeing a man naked on a bike isn't going to have much of an impact on any kid. They have likely see their father or bother [sic] naked before.” Krassenstein would later attempt to backtrack, stating that he opposed the men exposing themselves to children, but it was too late. The initial reaction painting the incident as insignificant had already revealed his true position.

Chants of “We’re coming for your children” were heard repeatedly at this year’s New York City Drag March. The phrase become infamous after a video of the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus singing a song with those lyrics went viral in 2021. As you might imagine, the normalization of this phrase among LGBTQ activists had many parents understandably concerned. NBC news decided to smooth over public relations by running a piece explaining that “We’re coming for your children” is a phrase that gay rights activists have been chanting for years and that there was nothing new about its usage at Pride events. Again, this article was meant to inform parent that their concerns were unfounded because Pride attendees had been chanting “We’re coming for your children” for a very long time.

The cycle of normalization has repeated so often that by now every conservative should be able to identify the phases on sight.

• Step one: Claim nothing is happening and paint those who notice as conspiracy theorists.
• Step two: Acknowledge that some isolated incidents may be happening, but assert that those who notice are motivated by bigotry.
• Step three: Admit that yes it might be happening, but claim that most people do not really oppose it and that focusing on it is the real problem.
• Step four: Openly force celebration of the fact that it was always happening by threatening the livelihood of anyone who opposes you.

We are firmly in the “Okay maybe gay men are regularly exposing themselves to children in public, but it’s fine actually” phase of the normalization discourse, and things will only accelerate from here.

Honestly, it is somewhat tiring to continually hear those who ask how we could have gotten this far. We know exactly how we got this far. America was warned repeatedly by the religious right what this path would look like, what would happen when the critical foundations of morality and tradition were demolished. But the prophecies came from those who had been coded as old, low-class, and desperately uncool, so they were discarded and mocked.

These predictions were characterized as ridiculous hyperbolic fantasies, illogical slippery-slope arguments made by ignorant and backward people. The slippery slope has remained undefeated, however, as prediction after prediction has come to pass. It should surprise absolutely no one that removing every traditional barrier around sexuality would eventually lead to a culture in which adults expose themselves to children with reckless abandon.

In 2021 the Washington Post ran an article by Lauren Rowello titled, “Yes, kink belongs at Pride. And I want my kids to see it.” The article was met with outrage, but two years later the position has become thoroughly mainstreamed. LGTBQ identities are sexual by their very nature. When those like Takei or Rowello characterize obscene public sexual displays as self-expression integral to those identities, perhaps it is time for conservatives to stop arguing with the activists and listen to what is being said. The truth might be uncomfortable, but if progressives are willing to loudly declare it and conservatives refuse to face it, then who is at fault? Fox News might be selling "Caitlyn Jenner conservatism," but this strategy is just as doomed to fail as the weak and cowardly half-measures that came before.

So I come to you with what has, in the year of our Lord 2023, become a radical proposal: Adults exposing themselves to children in public should be a serious crime, one that lands them in jail and makes them unable to interact with children for the rest of their lives. This should be the case even if it happens during the state-sanctioned holy month of Pride. Sheriffs or police chiefs who do not stop this behavior should be removed and prosecuted for child endangerment. People should fear the legal and social consequences of exposing themselves to kids. There should be no discourse around the issue. Progressives will probably declare this position bigoted and intolerant, but I really could not care less. If those who oppose wokeness think things are bad now, they have no idea what is coming. As shocking as it may seem that parents are celebrating as grown men publicly expose themselves to their children, it is important to understand that we are nowhere near the bottom of the slippery slope. But on our current trajectory, we will inevitably arrive at that incredibly dark and dangerous destination.