Tennessee County Reverses Ban on Gays

http://start.earthlink.net/newsarticle?cat=6&aid=D81DH3000_story

March 19, 2004 10:27 AM EST

DAYTON, Tenn. - Commissioners in rural, conservative Rhea County never intended to create the "wildfire" of reaction that resulted from banning gay people, the county attorney said after the board reversed its 2-day-old decision.

The original vote was meant to show support for the state's ban on same-sex marriages, county Attorney Gary Fritts said Thursday.

<snip>

The board voted 8-0 Thursday to rescind its Tuesday action. The commissioners declined to comment as deputies escorted them to and from the meeting, where they overturned the earlier vote and quickly adjourned.

Fritts said he advised the commissioners that they could not ban homosexuals or make them subject to criminal charges.
<snip>

Commissioner J.C. Fugate, whose initiated the Tuesday motion, also made the motion to rescind it Thursday. In a discussion about gays and same-sex marriage at the earlier meeting, Fugate had asked the county attorney to find a way to "keep them out of here."

Twelve-year-old Caitlin Kinney and others in a noisy crowd at the courthouse Thursday night were disappointed at the reversal.

The seventh-grader said she doesn't want homosexuals in the community. "It's not a Christian thing," said Kinney, identifying herself as a Baptist.

<snip>

During the Thursday meeting, social worker Esther Jackson, 24, held a sign saying, "Breed Love, Not Hate."

"I'm just making a statement that I don't think it's right," Jackson said of the Tuesday vote. "It's just ignorance, is all."

(Mods: Yes, I know it's more than four paragraphs. This is the very least I could post.)

She'd sure shit if I, an atheist, were to move in there.

That was me thirty years ago. It's so sad.

Jesus never hung out with the poor, diseased or disafected of society, and since he must be a repubbie then why would he hang out with a class of people...that incidentally god created?

I hope that little girl never has a relative, sibling or friend that is gay or lesbian. It just might shatter her psyche.

and look around before making some knee-jerk decision.

...Covington Tennessee to be precise. Tn. is a great place to be FROM.

Can you imagine if Bush tried to make an Amendment to the Constitution making it illegal to be who you are?
Wait...maybe he is...

Let's start a fund drive to send these people boxes of CLUES, since they're obviously too poor to BUY one.

I wonder if Caitlin has ever SEEN a Gay person, except in a Jack Chick Tract?

This ban on gay people that they tried to implement is one of the most ignorant things I've ever heard or read about.

Terry

There have been many outraged citizens of Rhea County calling in on talk radio, the local tv stations, etc. expressing their anger that this was started in the first place. The anger has seemed to increase after the very short commission meeting last night and the fact that none of the commissioners were available to either the citizens or the press. I'm sure these jerks have their supporters but their opposition has been very vocal and loud.

Thank God I don't remember anything about it. My dad was stationed at Sewart AFB, which is no longer there.

We left for Virginia, then Texas not long after.

Get this....my mom didn't want me to be born in Tennessee, so she was going to drive all the way back to Idaho, so I could be born there.

I don't know which is/would have been worse! Oi.

:hi:

:hi: back!

You're only the second person I've ever run across that was born there. Ya'll are kinda rare. :hi:

now, let me get this straight...

Because of your MORAL and CHRISTIAN convictions, you tried to find a way to use your ELECTED POSITIONS keep gays out of your county?

And now, because of a little thing called PUBLIC OPINION, you are willing to ditch your MORAL and CHRISTIAN convictions, throw them out the window, to keep your beloved county from being ridiculed?

You worthless pieces of dog-shit. Your morals aren't worth the non-existent soul they are etched on. Your convictions are shown for what they are: commodities to be bought and sold for the price of a vote and public opinion. You hide your heads in shame behind armed deputies because you can't face the scrutiny.

And that sad, twisted bigotry at such a young age, is exactly why the schools need "King and King" in the library.

to "no gays in the community", in the minds of certain people.

Just how were they planning on finding out who the gays are? By putting cameras in everyone's bedrooms? Idiots.

Turn In the Perverts

Wouldn't that be fun little scene?

Turn them into skate parks?

"Twelve-year-old Caitlin Kinney and others in a noisy crowd at the courthouse Thursday night were disappointed at the reversal.

The seventh-grader said she doesn't want homosexuals in the community. "It's not a Christian thing," said Kinney, identifying herself as a Baptist."

Ugh. I wonder if she was ever taught any REAL Christian values? such as:

Love thy Neighbor.
Judge not, lest ye be judged.
Be still, and know that *I* am the lord (not you, ya little ingrate).

Etc,
etc.

8-0 on Tuesday to pass the ban, then 8-0 on Thursday to reverse it.

Good thing it's a question of rock-solid faith, unshakable moral clarity and immovable conviction for the county commissioners, isn't it?

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