Straight White Guy Festival: Bigoted Or Not?

Straight White Guy Festival flyers have started making the rounds on Twitter and in Columbus, Ohio, with the promise of being held on September 20, 2014.

However, people in the Columbus area aren’t sure what to make of them as the flyers have not been traced to an organization that is for sure taking credit.

That’s posed the obvious question: is it real or not? However, it’s also brought up another: is a Straight White Guy Festival a bigoted move or something worth celebrating in 21st Century America?

Ohio’s 10TV.com has more on the story:

Goodale Park is the home to an ever growing number of festivals, including the Gay Pride Parade and ComFest.

But a flyer that’s gone up around Clintonville is sending a less inclusive message.

It’s promoting the Straight White Guy Festival. It claims the festival will be held in Goodale Park in September.

Several pictures of the flyers tacked on telephone poles were posted on Twitter.

In a community where the push for equality is on full display, not everyone appreciates the message.

In comments to the website, Michael Premo took objection. “This kind of thing implies there’s some kind of struggle going on for being a straight white person in Ohio. Straight white people are doing just fine.”

Premo’s organization is currently pushing for same-sex marriage rights, and finds that the Straight White Guy Festival flyer is “not productive.”

“I think it detracts from the real problems of Ohio that need to be solved… being denied… constitutional rights because of who they are, or who they love. And that’s what we really need to work on and this is just kind of a distraction.”

Two others that 10TV.com interviewed, however, had no problem with it. First, Cheralyn Elkins, an African-American: “I think it’s funny. If they want to do this, great, freedom of expression.”

Next, Collin Brubaker, a self-professed “straight white guy”: “It doesn’t offend me personally…. But I can think of people that it would offend.”

10TV.com said they checked with the city to see if anyone had taken credit for the festival, but no one had.

Do you think the Straight White Guy Festival is actually going to happen, and if it did, would you see anything particularly wrong with it?

Is it, as Premo indicates, “not productive” and bigoted, or does it send a message worth stating?

Share your thoughts with us in the comments section below.

[Image via 10TV.com, linked above]