The village of Northport on Long Island, New York just committed the unforgivable sin of choosing veterans over rainbow flags in June, and the outrage industrial complex is running at full capacity. After the American Legion objected to Pride flags being displayed above "Hometown Heroes" banners honoring vets on lamp posts in Northport Village Park, Mayor Donna Koch had the Pride flags removed.
The horror. A town that honors the men and women who actually bled for your right to wave whatever flag you want instead of a person's sexual preferences. How dare they.
Here's the backstory. Pride flags have been flying in Northport Village Park during June for four consecutive years courtesy of the Northport Pridefest organization. No big deal — until this year, when somebody with functioning eyeballs noticed the Pride flags were being hung above the Hometown Heroes veterans' banners on the same lamp posts. American Legion Commander William McKenna wasn't having it.
"They were putting the pride banners above my veterans, and that does not work, sorry," McKenna told ABC7. He followed it up with a promise: "If you put a pride flag by one of my veterans, I'm taking every one of them down."
Mayor Koch stepped in and pulled the Pride flags, then tried to explain herself like someone who knows she did nothing wrong but lives in 2026 America. "I had the Pride flags removed," Koch said. "It had nothing to do with my feelings about the Pride community. I support them 100%. I also support our veterans." The mayor approved a compromise — Pride flags and Hometown Heroes banners would be displayed on separate lamp posts, with the village funding hardware for new flag installations.
Army veteran Bruce Adams summed up the feeling most of us share. "The American flag should be superior to all other items," Adams said. "I looked up and saw my lamp post bare." Resident Angel Deleva agreed: "Pride flags should not be above our veterans because they risked their lives for us."
Pretty straightforward stuff, right? Apparently not for everyone.
Northport Pridefest Treasurer Jeff Cusick was not satisfied with the compromise. "No one won in this compromise," Cusick said, before delivering a line that tells you everything about the entitlement mentality at work here: "It's very offensive. We love and support our vets, but the Hometown Heroes program was apparently given the rights to these lamp posts from May to November, which is the entire outdoor season, and that doesn't leave room for other community members. We believe it's a point to leverage patriotism for discrimination against us."
The Hometown Heroes program runs from May to November on village lamp posts, and the Pridefest crowd thinks that's discrimination. Veterans getting honored during the months that include Memorial Day, D-Day, Flag Day, Independence Day, and Veterans Day is apparently "leveraging patriotism" against the LGBTQ community.
Cusick also pointed out that "there are 27 other lamp posts available in the village, where we can all be represented." So there are 27 available lamp posts, a compromise is already in place, the village is paying for new hardware — and still "no one won." Got it.
The story has gone viral precisely because it captures something every normal American feels in their gut: June has been hijacked by corporations and activists into a month-long celebration that most people do not care about. A small village on Long Island dared to say "actually, we'd rather honor the people who sacrificed everything," and the reaction proves exactly why they needed to say it.
A Pridefest meeting was planned for Tuesday evening at Village Hall, presumably to discuss how being given their own separate lamp posts still constitutes oppression.
Here's the bottom line. Nobody told Northport they can't have Pride flags. They were told you can't hang them above veterans who fought and died so you could have a parade in the first place. The fact that this is even controversial tells you everything about where we are as a country.