The fight over Pride events being “family-friendly” is not really about whether adults in a free country can gather, celebrate, dress strangely, carry signs, and make choices other people would not make. They can. In America, people have wide freedom to speak, assemble, protest, celebrate, and be wrong in public. That freedom is part of the deal.
The real question is simpler and more uncomfortable: if an event is held in public parks and streets and marketed to families, what exactly are parents being invited to bring their children into?
According to The Gazette, Pride festivals around Colorado include things clearly aimed at kids, such as face painting, bubbles, puppet shows, sidewalk chalk, youth programming, karaoke, silent disco, art contests, and other activities. But the same article also reports that adults and children may encounter drag shows, scant clothing, fetish-related references, public spanking, sexualized merchandise, and past stage performances involving a stripper pole and a sex toy. Organizers say some risqué material is pushed later into the evening, but also insist the events are “100% family-friendly.”
That is where most parents start blinking.
“Family-friendly” should mean you do not have to explain adult themes to a second-grader before lunch. It does not mean “mostly fine if you keep walking fast and hope grandma is blocking the view.” It does not mean “PG, depending on which booth you accidentally pass.” It does not mean “bring the kids, but don’t ask too many questions, because asking questions is bigotry now.”
Words matter. “Inclusive” is not a magic fog machine that makes adult content appropriate for children. “Celebration” does not erase boundaries. “Public” does not mean “no standards.” And “family-friendly” should not be used as soft marketing language for events where the actual content may require a parental advisory label written by a very nervous lawyer.
Christians should care about this because children belong to God before they belong to any movement, government, party, brand, or cultural moment. Genesis teaches that God created humanity male and female in His image. Jesus welcomed children and warned adults not to lead them into sin. “But if you cause one of these little ones who trusts in me to fall into sin,” Jesus said, “it would be better for you to have a large millstone tied around your neck and be drowned in the depths of the sea” (Matthew 18:6, NLT).
That is not a small warning. Children are not political props. They are not blank screens for adult self-expression. They are not accessories for activism. They are souls entrusted to parents, families, churches, and communities for protection, formation, truth, and love.
Now, Christians also need to be careful. We should not treat people as enemies because they are confused, hurting, rebellious, lonely, or caught in lies our culture applauds. Every person at these events is made in the image of God. That includes people living in ways Scripture does not affirm. Biblical conviction never gives us permission to be cruel.
But compassion is not the same thing as surrendering common sense.
Scripture’s teaching on sex, male and female, marriage, and the body is not vague. God created order. Sin distorts it. Our culture increasingly calls that distortion identity, courage, and liberation. Christians cannot affirm what God does not affirm. We also cannot pretend that children are helped by being invited into adult sexual confusion under a rainbow-colored “family-friendly” banner.
There is room in a free society for adults to hold events other citizens would not attend. There is also room for parents, pastors, public officials, and ordinary taxpayers to ask for honesty and boundaries. If an event is for adults, say so. If it includes adult themes, say so. If organizers want city permits, public parks, street closures, proclamations, banners, and public credibility, then the public gets to ask public questions.
That is not hate. That is citizenship.
And it is especially fair when public officials lend recognition or when tax-linked funds are involved. The Gazette reports Pikes Peak Pride received $15,000 from Colorado Springs’ Lodgers and Automobile Rental Tax fund this year, even though organizers say the event does not use ordinary city tax money from residents. That distinction matters, but it does not make public accountability disappear.
The hopeful path is not complicated. Treat people with dignity. Protect children with common sense. Tell the truth about what an event is. Stop shaming parents for noticing the obvious. Stop pretending every boundary is oppression. Stop pretending every criticism is hatred.
Colorado can still be a place where people are free and children are protected. Those two ideas are not enemies unless the professional weirdos insist on making them fight.
My bottom line is this: parents are not crazy for asking what “family-friendly” actually means. They are doing their job. Christians should do ours too. Love our neighbors. Tell the truth. Protect children. Refuse cruelty. Refuse cowardice. And do not let soft language smuggle adult confusion into childhood while everyone claps for being inclusive.
Christ is Lord over public parks too.
Source: The Denver Gazette
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