A Californian official has come under fire after he called for July to be made a "straight pride" month.
Ted Hickman, vice mayor of Dixon, has written weekly columns for a series called "That's Life" since the 1960s. But his most recent work, published in the city's local newspaper, has caused anger across the world.
In the column published on June 29, Mr Hickman mocked the idea of Pride Month, which is celebrated in June by American members of the LGBT community.
He referred to the celebration as "LGBTQF-QTF month", and characterised it as "thousands of folks dancing and prancing all over American [sic] celebrating the fact they are different than most of the rest of us".
He proposed the idea of a "Straight Pride American Month", or SPAM, in which US residents who are "healthy, heterosexual, fairly monogamous, keep our kinky stuff to ourselves Americans" can celebrate their sexual orientation.
He also asserted that straight people are simply different from gay people.
"We work, have families (and babies we make), enjoy and love the company (and marriage) of the opposite sex and don't flaunt our differences dressing up like fairies and prancing by the thousands in a parade."
In the column Mr Hickman denied he is homophobic, claiming to simply be expressing a private "pro-family" opinion.
"I support the rights of grown men to wear skin-tight short shorts and go-go boots and don tinker bell wings with wand [sic] and prance down the streets of San Francisco."
He said that SPAM celebrations would involve families and veterans, even "the tinker bells" - presumably a reference to gay members of the military.
The column has been met with anger from fellow Californian officials. One of Mr Hickman's fellow city councillors called his writing "deeply disturbing" in an official statement, and implied that he hoped the vice mayor would be fired.
"I hope that the other councilmen will see through the ideology of hate that they share with him, and do the right thing in coming weeks," Deven Minnema said.
"There is no part of the community that is untouched by the venom that Councilman Hickman has spewed over the years."
Social media users reacted to the idea of a designated "straight pride" month with frustration and ridicule, with many pointing out that no one has ever been institutionally discriminated against for their heterosexuality.
Mr Hickman defended himself in an interview with Californian newspaper The Sacramento Bee, saying his comments were "tongue-in-cheek" and that "only thin-skinned people" would be offended by the column.
In the US, Pride Month is celebrated in June to mark the Stonewall riots of 1969, generally thought of as the beginning of the modern gay rights movement.
New Zealand celebrates Pride in February.
Newshub.
