Going backwards

Last week the Hillsborough County Florida commission took a huge step backwards in the human rights department. The commissioners voted 5-1 for a policy that "bans county government from acknowledging, promoting or participating in gay pride recognition and events." (One commissioner voted no and one was out of the room.) When I read the original article in the St. Petersburg Times I couldn't believe my eyes. It is 2005, right? What are they smoking at those meetings anyway? If the policy were to ban the county from acknowledging say Black History Month or the city's beloved Gasparilla festivities the citizens would be in a total uproar!

I am not the only one who's shocked. "Tampa is a city that embraces diversity, including people who are gay," Mayor Pam Iorio said Thursday. "Gays and lesbians are part of our diversity and deserve our respect. That is a value that I hold dear," Iorio said at a breakfast organized to promote public art in Tampa. "We should build on tolerance, not intolerance". This all started because one commissioner promised to seek a county policy banning public library displays that promote Gay Pride and Lesbian Pride Month. What on earth are they afraid of? The fact that one person felt it necessary to bring it up in the first place then to have four others go along with it just amazes me. The "church" of Scientology is infiltrating right under their noses (as they did years ago in Clearwater) and they're worried about a Gay Pride display at the library? Give me a break.