LZ Granderson: The sin of pride has nothing to do with the season of Pride

I've been openly gay for nearly 30 years - legally married for more than 10 of them - and it has been my experience that few scriptures delight the far right more this time of year than Proverbs 16:18: Pride comes before a fall.

I mostly blame inertia.

Pride month started in 1970. The Old Testament is, well … older than Jesus.

Theological debates are fine any month. It's just that the "pride" being warned against had nothing to do with the protest in 1969 or the rainbow-glitter celebrations of love and civil rights that followed.

According to the Bible, God appeared in a dream early in King Solomon's reign and asked the young ruler what he wanted. The king did not ask for silver or gold. Instead, he asked the Lord for "lev shomea," a listening heart in Hebrew. Proverbs 16 is primarily a meditation on power and its use. However, because rainbows and scriptures are often pitted against one another in the public square - be it the pulpit, a podcast or a parade - the wisdom of Solomon's words tends to be overshadowed by the desire some have to weaponize them.

The LGBTQ+ community didn't start using the word "pride" broadly until the 1968 release of "Say It Loud - I'm Black and I'm Proud" by James Brown. The Godfather of Soul released the song four months after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. It became a Billboard Top 10 hit and a civil rights anthem. Rolling Stone recently named it the fifth greatest protest song of all time.

Of course, no one honestly believes the pride Brown sung about - or the pride mentioned in Lee Greenwood's "I'm proud to be an American where at least I know I'm free" - is the same as the form of pride Solomon warns against. We understand there is a difference between having self-esteem and having a big ego. The conflating of the two is an attempt to make stripping rights away from minority groups more palatable by giving the impression that God sanctions the cruelty. Meanwhile Solomon writes it is "better to be lowly in spirit along with the oppressed than to share plunder with the proud."

Proud, meaning having a haughty spirit (as quoted in the Bible) as opposed to being part of the queer community.

In fact, the word "king" is mentioned five times in Proverbs 16. The word "drag" is not - queen, king or otherwise.

It is also worth noting that Solomon - a man who took up many wives and ordered the construction of temples to false gods - did not fall because he married a man. He fell from ignoring the advice that bears his name. In Verse 11, Proverbs warns against being too harsh in his judgment of others. In Verse 12, the book doesn't call homosexuality an abomination; it condemns kings who commit wickedness. Proverbs says that a perverse person stirs up conflict and that a scoundrel uses his speech "like a scorching fire." The humbleness that came with a heart that listened was replaced by an arrogance fueled by the belief that he had all the answers.

I don't know about you, but to me that sounds an awful lot like Donald Trump.

In 2015, when asked if he had ever asked God for forgiveness, he initially responded with "that's a tough question." He then started talking about Protestant leader Norman Vincent Peale and the power of positive thinking. When asked again if he had ever asked for God's forgiveness, he landed on "I'm not sure that I have." This was the same year he claimed he knew more than our generals despite having never served in the military or in public office.

Early this year, the president told the New York Times, "I don't need international law" when it comes to guardrails on global power and that the only limit is: "My own morality. My own mind. It's the only thing that can stop me." Last month the president, whose family has made north of $4 billion since he returned to the White House, said, "I don't think about Americans' financial situation" in response to a question about the Iran war's impact on the middle class. An analysis found 1 in 6 sentences said during a Trump Cabinet meeting is a compliment to the president. Leader of the pack is Secretary of State Marco Rubio, whom Trump famously called "Little Marco" for years until his former rival kissed the ring. Though Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent pushing to place Trump's face on currency, just as jobless claims jump to a four-month high, can't be bad for the president's ego.

Which essentially is what the phrase "pride before a fall" was all about in the first place - the mindset of a ruler, not the love life of a people.

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This story was originally published June 5, 2026 at 1:20 PM.