Memorial Day is meant to unite Americans. Whether gathering for cookouts, parades, or wreath laying, the theme is sober remembrance of our nation’s fallen service members, the reason we enjoy the freedom to express ourselves.
Many Wisconsinites flock to Door County over the holiday weekend to open cabins and launch boats. American flags line waterside towns. County highways close for Jacksonport’s Memorial Day parade. Veterans lay wreaths at cemeteries. Boats fly Old Glory. American Legion and VFW posts held ceremonies with rifle salutes, Taps, and readings honoring Door County veterans from the Civil War onward. Neighbors gathered under one flag to honor shared sacrifice.
Yet all three of Door County’s prominent LGBTQ+ organizations, Open Door Pride, PFLAG, and Northern Door Pride, offered no support or mention of Memorial Day or America’s veterans. Instead, Open Door Pride posted about celebrating Pansexual and Panromantic Awareness Day. (Pansexual and panromantic, according to their own graphic, means love and attraction beyond gender and age). PFLAG handed out miniature transgender progress flags and decorated Sturgeon Bay public gardens and parks with them. Northern Door Pride promoted its all-ages “Somewhere Over The Rainbow” event and DEI scholarship.
Shameful Selfishness These groups have no hesitation using taxpayer-supported public spaces to push sexuality and gender identity. Northern Door Pride taped an LGBTQ flyer directly on the entrance of Sister Bay Village Hall. In the “Land of Limousine Liberals,” the Sister Bay Village Board recently passed a proclamation declaring June 2026 as Open Door Pride Month. Only one board member voted no.
To refresh one’s memory on how far lefty-loosie the Sister Bay governance has been pulled, the village caused an uproar in 2023 when it decided to hang a transgender pride flag on village property on Memorial Day instead of waiting until June 1st. A conservative lesbian and veteran penned a public letter condemning the disgraceful act. A former board member even made news burning a bartender’s Charlie Kirk sweatshirt.
Ironically, these same activists couldn’t spare a single word of respect for the deceased veterans who made their freedom possible. This was no oversight. With Open Door Pride’s 10th Annual Festival set for June 27 in Sturgeon Bay and Northern Door Pride’s event at Sister Bay Village Hall, their focus remained squarely on LGBT+ social justice. Pride groups claim to celebrate “Diversity in Door County with Inclusion For ALL.”
Their actions on Memorial Day prove otherwise: sexuality and gender identity first, identity politics second, America last. The men and women buried in Door County cemeteries did not die so a National Day of Remembrance could become platforms for division. Door County residents, visitors, families, farmers, tourism workers, and retirees deserve better. They value patriotism, shared traditions, and basic decency.
