Update: Late this evening, I received an email from Diane Bennett-Cook informing me that it was she who cast the dissenting vote.
I applaud her position.
Truro Town Council voted against the flying of the Gay Pride Flag at City Hall.
They have the right to refuse the request to do so, but coming to that decision after reasoned debate. It appears, instead, that bigotry and ignorance was the basis of their decision.
The Mayor made his statement to the media on this decision. Mayor Bill Mills is standing by the vote, saying, as a Christian, he simply could not support the request. He said, in part:
"God says I'm not in favour of that and I have to look at it and say, I guess I'm not either,"
Of course.... the old hide behind the Bible trick.... The fact that this old red herring isn't actually supported in the Bible doesn't stop so-called "Christians" like himself from using it to sanction their bigotry.
The very same part of the Bible which Christians fall back upon to claim "God hates Fags" essentially says it is okay for men to send their daughters out to be gang-raped so long as they aren't raped by men, themselves. That seems to be skirted around in the old "The Bible says so..." mantra of anti-homosexuals.
Apparently, Mayor Bill doesn't seem to realize that, as Mayor, he represents ALL constituents, not just the Christian ones.
Apparently, flying the flag "opens the door" to other groups wanting to show their pride....
"If I have a group of people that says pedophiles should have rights, do we raise their flag too? I don't want to lump them in with homosexuals, but that's the point, the issues, and that's my feeling."
For someone in his position to display such basic ignorance of the fact that studies have shown that pedophiles are, in the vast majority, heterosexual is astounding. For him to fall back on that age-old lie that homosexuals are pedophiles and to use that as part of his basis for refusing to vote in favour of flying the flag goes to show just how far Gays and Lesbians have to go in the fight for understanding and equality.
The right not to be lumped in with pedophiles by ignoramus mayors, for one....
"There doesn't seem to be standards anymore. Everything is OK, everything is a go."
Apparently, quite aside from very bad grammar, bigotry is a go in Truro....
What is particularly shameful about the 6-1 vote is that one woman and the one Councillor of colour voted with the herd. As I pointed out in my emails to these two people, if the request for a flag to be flown to show pride for what Blacks or women had achieved were to be turned down on the basis that they "have equal opportunities and work and pension benefits, so ..... what else they're fighting for?" would they have been so quick to vote it down?
Would they also have supported a negative vote backed by racist or woman-hating words such as were used by the mayor? I hardly think so. And THIS shows just how much Gays and Lesbians have yet to achieve in the struggle for equality.
Do you want to send your opinion to the Mayor and Council?
Here are the email addresses of the Mayor and 5 Councillors who voted against the request:
Mayor Bill Mills: bmills@truro.ca
Raymond Tynes: rtynes@truro.ca
Charles Cox, Deputy Mayor: ccox@truro.ca
Brian F. Kinsman: bkinsman@truro.ca
Sharron Byers: sbyers@truro.ca
Greg MacArthur: gmacarthur@truro.ca
To contact Diane Bennett-Cook, the sole dissenting voice on Council : dbennettcook@truro.ca
I applaud her position.
Truro Town Council voted against the flying of the Gay Pride Flag at City Hall.
They have the right to refuse the request to do so, but coming to that decision after reasoned debate. It appears, instead, that bigotry and ignorance was the basis of their decision.
The Mayor made his statement to the media on this decision. Mayor Bill Mills is standing by the vote, saying, as a Christian, he simply could not support the request. He said, in part:
"God says I'm not in favour of that and I have to look at it and say, I guess I'm not either,"
Of course.... the old hide behind the Bible trick.... The fact that this old red herring isn't actually supported in the Bible doesn't stop so-called "Christians" like himself from using it to sanction their bigotry.
The very same part of the Bible which Christians fall back upon to claim "God hates Fags" essentially says it is okay for men to send their daughters out to be gang-raped so long as they aren't raped by men, themselves. That seems to be skirted around in the old "The Bible says so..." mantra of anti-homosexuals.
Apparently, Mayor Bill doesn't seem to realize that, as Mayor, he represents ALL constituents, not just the Christian ones.
Apparently, flying the flag "opens the door" to other groups wanting to show their pride....
"If I have a group of people that says pedophiles should have rights, do we raise their flag too? I don't want to lump them in with homosexuals, but that's the point, the issues, and that's my feeling."
For someone in his position to display such basic ignorance of the fact that studies have shown that pedophiles are, in the vast majority, heterosexual is astounding. For him to fall back on that age-old lie that homosexuals are pedophiles and to use that as part of his basis for refusing to vote in favour of flying the flag goes to show just how far Gays and Lesbians have to go in the fight for understanding and equality.
"The mayor said gays and lesbians already have equal opportunities and work and pension benefits, so he wonders what else they're fighting for."
The right not to be lumped in with pedophiles by ignoramus mayors, for one....
"There doesn't seem to be standards anymore. Everything is OK, everything is a go."
Apparently, quite aside from very bad grammar, bigotry is a go in Truro....
What is particularly shameful about the 6-1 vote is that one woman and the one Councillor of colour voted with the herd. As I pointed out in my emails to these two people, if the request for a flag to be flown to show pride for what Blacks or women had achieved were to be turned down on the basis that they "have equal opportunities and work and pension benefits, so ..... what else they're fighting for?" would they have been so quick to vote it down?
Would they also have supported a negative vote backed by racist or woman-hating words such as were used by the mayor? I hardly think so. And THIS shows just how much Gays and Lesbians have yet to achieve in the struggle for equality.
Do you want to send your opinion to the Mayor and Council?
Here are the email addresses of the Mayor and 5 Councillors who voted against the request:
Mayor Bill Mills: bmills@truro.ca
Raymond Tynes: rtynes@truro.ca
Charles Cox, Deputy Mayor: ccox@truro.ca
Brian F. Kinsman: bkinsman@truro.ca
Sharron Byers: sbyers@truro.ca
Greg MacArthur: gmacarthur@truro.ca
To contact Diane Bennett-Cook, the sole dissenting voice on Council : dbennettcook@truro.ca
1 comment:
Good readinng
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