County Commission Adopts Policy of Neutrality Toward Gay Pride Events
20 Jul 2005
In a recent five to one decision, with one abstention, the Hillsborough County Commission adopted a policy of neutrality toward “gay pride” events, such as: “Gay Pride Month” and gay pride parades. In response, Tampa’s gay community and its supporters ferociously attacked the County Commission as homophobic and discriminatory.
The Commission’s decision to adopt a policy of neutrality toward homosexuality was prompted by complaints from concerned parents over “Gay and Lesbian Pride Month” displays in two of Hillsborough County’s public libraries. One of the displays was created by Meagan Albright, a graduate student at the University of South Florida. Meagan setup her exhibit on gay authors and literature to fulfill a requirement for a diversity class taught by USF’s Linda Alexander. I suppose Professor Alexander’s course on diversity is a requirement for a degree in political correctness, which may be USF’s most popular degree program now that Sami Al-Arian is on trial for terrorism and no longer available to lead the university’s Jihadist diploma plan.
Ms. Albright’s exhibit included pamphlets that contained the “Okay to be Gay” logo, phone numbers of lesbian and gay support groups, and Web addresses for Web sites like “The Other Queer Page.” Objecting to county libraries exposing Hillsborough’s children to such material without the consent or knowledge of the children’s parents, County Commissioner Ronda Storms, a member of First Baptist Church of Brandon, successfully led the Commission to nix the exhibits and adopt a policy of neutrality toward gay pride events. In reaction, Brain Winfield of Equality Florida—a lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender human rights group—said the Commission’s actions were like “a story from fifty years ago.” What? Fifty years ago gays were still in the closet not parading their sexual perversion down Main Street and children went to the public library to check-out Curious George not Heather Has Two Mommies.
Like most Floridians, Commissioner Ronda Storms believes parents, not county government, should teach children about the rights and wrongs of human sexuality. Furthermore, each county resident should judge for his or herself the morality or immorality of the homosexual lifestyle. Such an approach, however, is totally unacceptable to the gay community.
Gays and lesbians demand that local, state, and federal government sanction their sexual perversion. Once armed with governmental endorsement, they proceed to parlay it into legitimization of their licentiousness. If government refuses to rubber stamp their sexual immorality, gays venomously assault government as discriminatory and homophobic. They also ruthlessly attack elected officials, like Ronda Storms, as gay-bashers and hatemongers.
Isn’t it interesting that the one thing intolerable to gays and lesbians is for them to be treated by the government the same way they demand that the government treat the church? If the Hillsborough County Commission endorsed a parade for Jesus in downtown Tampa or “Christian Pride Month” exhibits in public libraries, gays and lesbians would be the first in line to condemn the Commission for “violating the Constitution” and breaching the imaginary wall of separation between church and state. Yet, gays and lesbians do not see themselves as discriminatory or “Christianphobic,” nor do they consider their insistence upon a policy of government neutrality toward Christianity Christian-bashing or hatemongering. Why then should gays and lesbians condemn those who favor the same policy of government neutrality toward them that they wholeheartedly favor toward Christians? After all, what’s good for the goose is good for the gander, or perhaps in this case, for the transgendered.
Don Walton
|
