Folks are hyperventilating over on X because cities are removing Pride colors from crosswalks.
This isn’t about being anti-Pride—it’s about the First Amendment.
The First Amendment forbids the government from endorsing any particular ideology or social movement. That’s what the clauses on conscience, speech, and the press are all about.
Public spaces are neutral spaces, where no one should be compelled to participate in speech or expression they disagree with.
You can’t have freedom of belief or expression unless you also have freedom from government-endorsed belief or expression.
I thought that was obvious. Apparently not.
Someone told me I hadn’t read the First Amendment. Not only have I read it—I understand it.
So I asked a few rhetorical questions:
“Would you want to see the Confederate flag painted on the sidewalks you walk every day?”
“How about the Ten Commandments plastered on public school buildings?”
“Or anti-LGBTQ slogans bolted to the courthouse door in your city?”
The point of protecting free conscience, speech, and writing isn’t whether you agree with the symbols displayed on public property. It’s about recognizing the principle of personal liberty.
The government shouldn’t paint the Confederate flag on crosswalks—not because it’s offensive, but because it amounts to government endorsement of a particular ideology. The First Amendment forbids that.
If a citizen wants to walk across the street wearing a T-shirt with a Confederate flag, that’s his right. Have at it, Hoss.
If he paints that flag on a public building, it’s vandalism. Arrest him, fine him, make him clean up the mess.
If the government paints the flag, that’s a violation of the First Amendment.
This isn’t difficult to understand if you start from the principle of liberty.
So why do some people want Pride colors painted on crosswalks? Because they’re not liberty-minded—they’re authoritarian-minded. They want the government to impose a particular ideology.
In doing so, as Christopher Hitchens warned years ago, they’re making a rod for their own backs.
freedom and reason 