Dr. Jordan Peterson airs Pride Month grievances
Famed psychologist detailed his problems with annual ‘celebration of sexuality.’
This story is the first part in a series from a candid conversation Dr. Jordan Peterson had with Fox News Digital.
Author and psychologist Dr. Jordan Peterson is already "done with" Pride Month.
Pride Month, which occurs each June, honors lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people, along with anyone else who falls under the LGBTQ umbrella. Peterson, an outspoken critic of gender-affirming surgery, is sick of the annual "celebration of sexuality" he feels is foisted on people across the globe.
"You should be very careful what you name things, and ‘pride’ is not a virtue," Peterson told Fox News Digital. "Pretty much all of it's a lie, and it's a dangerous lie, and it's a lie with real monsters hovering on the edges."
"Pride is a cardinal sin, and there's a reason for that," he continued. "Pride means something like stubborn refusal to change when evidence of error is accruing, and it's not a good thing."
Dr. Jordan Peterson is an outspoken critic of gender-affirming surgery. (Chris Williamson/Getty Images)
Peterson said people object to his point by noting that LGBTQ people simply want to affirm their own identity, and they don’t mean "pride" the way it’s used when mentioned as a sin.
"Fair enough, I suppose, to some degree, but that was the name that was chosen, and that's the name that stuck," Peterson said.
"There's a real tinge of narcissism, sexual narcissism, about the whole pride spectacle," he continued. "Do people have the right to express their sexuality the way they see fit? To some degree, if it's consensual and among adults, but generally among human beings with any degree of civilized comportment whatsoever, it's a pretty damn private affair."
Peterson feels that people tend to be private about sexual conduct "as a species," so the idea of celebrating sexual preferences with everything from parades to decorative rainbow flags is backwards to him.
"It's also the case that identity based on something as narrow as sexual desire, let's say, aren't identities at all. They're pronouncements of subjection to instinctual whim," Peterson said.
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US President Joe Biden speaks during a Pride celebration on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, DC, on June 10, 2023. (BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)
Pride has been around for decades, dating back to the 1969 Stonewall riots. GLAAD, a non-profit organization focused on LGBTQ advocacy, said Monday that Pride 2024 kicked off "with spectacular turnout and undeniable support" across America.
The celebration, which has landed firmly in the American zeitgeist after recent controversies surrounding companies like Target and Bud Light, has support from many LGBTQ allies.
"Americans are nearly twice as likely to say they would want to back companies facing criticism for supporting people in the LGBTQ community, rather than their critics," GLAAD touted as June kicked off.
But Peterson has "a real problem" with the idea of the "LGBTQ+, etcetera, community" because he believes that some members are out to destroy others.
"It's not a community, and it's especially not a community right now, because the trans-pushing, gender-affirming butchers and liars primarily target young people whose most likely outcome on the sexual front is homosexuality," he said.
"So the transgender affirming butchers and liars are differentially destroying the youthful gay community," Peterson continued. "And that's not a community by any stretch of the imagination."
Peterson then evoked conservative philosopher G. K. Chesterton, who is known for the "fence" theory, based on the observation that if you're walking somewhere you don't understand, and you come across a fence, you probably shouldn’t tear it down because you don't know what it keeps in or out.
"The pride movement has torn down a lot of fences, and maybe some of those fences needed to go. But all of them didn't need to go, and there's plenty of monsters coming out to play now," Peterson said.
He said the point is especially true on the transgender affirming side of the issue.
"That's why we're seeing this butchery in the medical community, abetted by idiot allies and driven by greed. And those aren't the worst monsters that exist. And so, if you tear down enough fences, you're going to find out what they're for," Peterson said.
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Author and psychologist Dr. Jordan called the Pride flag a "piece of idiocy." (ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images)
It was recently reported that Americans who support same-sex marriage dipped in the past year, according to a survey conducted by the nonpartisan Public Religion Research Institute. Peterson feels this will continue, and that extreme members of the LGBTQ community are going to ruin it for everybody else if they don’t tone it down.
"Keep pushing. Keep pushing. You're going to lose everything you've gained. And I'm not celebrating that at all," Peterson said as he began to grow frustrated talking about the topic.
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The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has expressed support of gender-affirming care, stating on its website that it recommends "providing youth with access to comprehensive gender-affirming and developmentally appropriate health care."
Fox News Digital’s Ramiro Vargas and Melissa Rudy contributed to this report.
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