Twisted Sister's Dee Snider Axed from San Francisco Pride Parade: 'We Are Still Your Allies'

Dee Snider received backlash and was axed from the performers' lineup at this year's San Fransico Pride Parade after sharing his controversial take on gender identity.

The Twisted Sister frontman has been an ally of the LGBTQIA+ community for many years now, and he has been invited time and time again to Pride parades.

"I have ALWAYS stood with the community and its important causes. I was honored to accept the San Francisco Gay Pride Parade's invitation and I even gave my blessing for 'We're Not Gonna Take It' to be used as this year's battle cry ['Queer Not Gonna Take It!']," he wrote in a lengthy social media post.

Apparently, the singer was dropped because he echoed the sentiments shared by KISS' frontman Paul Stanley about the gender identity of children.

"I was not aware the Transgender community expects fealty and total agreement with all their beliefs and any variation or deviation is considered 'transphobic.'"

Gender Identity

According to reports, Stanley called parents out for not "teaching acceptance and normalizing and even encouraging young children into questioning their sexual identification."

He also claims that this has led to a "sad and dangerous fad" going strong among today's generation of parents.

Snider quoted Stanley's tweet and wrote: "You know what? There was a time where I 'felt pretty' too. Glad my parents didn't jump to any rash conclusions!"

This did not sit well with the community who claimed that the singer is "transphobic" which led to him getting taken out of the parade altogether.

Snider's Defense

Snider's lengthy Facebook post, defending himself, also noted that children, although they might know what they want at a young age, are not "mentally developed enough" to make life-altering decisions such as gender reassignment.

"Don't reject people who are willing to march, sing and stand with you just because we don't perfectly see eye-to-eye. We are still your allies."

Snider also ended his note by pledging that he will always be an ally, whether the trans community rejects him, and that he is "open to educating [himself] so that [he] can be a better ally."

The singer signed his note by referring to himself as a cisgender crossdressing ally.

Tags

Twisted Sister, Dee Snider