Petrelis Files

In Solidarity With the Danes, Wear the Danish Flag

With Danish people and their democratic free speech principles under violent attack from fanatical Muslims around the world, I choose to stand with the Danes.

As a gay man in San Francisco, all this coming week, I will proudly display the Danish flag on my front door and on my jacket lapel to express symbolic solidarity with the Danes, who are not cowering in the face of death threats.

If you too feel the need to stand up to Muslim intolerance of a free press, then consider wearing a Danish flag button on your chest this week, hanging the flag in your window for your neighbors to see, putting a sticker of the flag on your bicycle or automobile, or placing the Danish flag on your blog or web site.

Even though it is a myth from World War II that King Christian X and the Danish population wore the Nazi's yellow star to protect their Jewish neighbors and resist Nazi policies, there is nevertheless an important lesson to be learned today from Denmark's behavior during the German occupation, and that is, standing up for freedom and minorities in the face of totalitarianism is the righteous thing to do.

From the King on down to average citizens, Danes actively opposed the Nazis and risked much to save Jews from the death camps. This is why an overwhelmingly number of Danish Jews escaped annihilation at the hands of barbaric Nazis.

While the Danes did not wear the yellow star in the 1940s, they still set a powerful example of how to resist intolerance and bigotry, and I intend to honor Danish resistance by proudly wearing and displaying that democratic country's flag.

[Greetings newcomers, coming here thanks to Glenn! If you're so inclined to support my efforts, give the PayPal kitty somethin' to nibble on. Thanks for stopping by, come back, and WEAR THE DANISH FLAG!]