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<\/p>\nThat\u2019s what his tee-shirt proclaimed as he led the Calgary gay pride parade.<\/p>\n
Language is often an indicator of a cultural climate. In this case \u201cstraight, not narrow\u201d<\/em>, a play on \u201cstraight and narrow\u201d,<\/em> has been blazoned across the mayor\u2019s chest as a very public declaration of virtue: he may not be a homosexual (to be so and advertise it would be an even greater declaration of virtue), but he is not so narrow as to be intolerant \u2013 unlike Toronto\u2019s mayor – of those who are; and he is proud of it.<\/p>\n The original phrase \u201cstraight and narrow\u201d<\/em> means \u201cthe way of proper conduct and moral integrity\u201d and is itself a variation of “Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life” (Matthew 7:14). <\/em>No mayor is likely to win approval by advocating \u00a0\u201cproper conduct and moral integrity\u201d at a gay pride parade, so Mayor Nenshi did the next best thing: he used a phrase which has accumulated centuries of cultural resonance and turned it into the opposite of its intended meaning.<\/p>\n A fitting tribute to a parade bearing a rubric whose meaning has suffered a similar inversion: pride.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" That\u2019s what his tee-shirt proclaimed as he led the Calgary gay pride parade. Language is often an indicator of a cultural climate. In this case \u201cstraight, not narrow\u201d, a play on \u201cstraight and narrow\u201d, has been blazoned across the mayor\u2019s … Continue reading