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Quietly, yesterday morning, this went up on City Hall’s reflective front wall:
And this placement of the flag, first suggested by Mark Daniels and Councilman Faessel, is what most of us thought was the best solution, the closest Council could come to keeping their promise of last year to the gay community without breaking the municipal code that forbids flying non-governmental flags on the three poles out front. A few activists complained that it just doesn’t have the gravitas it would have waving in the wind from a pole, but look how much more visible, and higher it is!
It was interesting to see how this issue splits the council in a completely different way from usual, with Kris Murray, José Moreno and Steve Faessel seeing the urgency of raising the flag high and not reneging on last year’s promise, but constantly shut down by Mayor Tait, Lucille Kring and Denise Barnes on 3-3 votes (Vanderbilt out being military.) Spoiler alert – an exasperated City Manager Paul Emery finally became the de facto tie-breaker, ending the hourlong stalemate with (I paraphrase) “Just vote to give me discretion and I’ll hang it from the damn building!” to which all six gave in.
Kris spoke eloquently of the problem of gay youth being bullied, to which José added the fact of 40% of homeless youth being LGBT and the epidemic of gay youth suicide. The mayor’s side didn’t seem to see the same urgency, content to keep the flag in its low-profile courtyard location, invisible from the street. Tom again fretted endlessly over all the many many groups who would now demand their flags be flown as well and how can the Council now say no? (Actually a good answer would have been why hasn’t that groundswell already happened, in the year since the flag was first raised?) Denise recited a strange prepared speech that seemed to counsel healthy self-reliance and called the flag “social engineering.”
But at least the rumor that defeated Councilman Jordan Brandman had been passing around wasn’t true, that Tom’s and Denise’s staffers were out riling up conservative “evangelical churches” to fight against the flag. Jeez, Jordan’s hatred of Tom and Mishal is deep and abiding, and his truthfulness still at Trump levels.
Lucille was worst of all, and how could we have expected otherwise? She at first seemed to try to vote against displaying the flag at all. As she always does, she claimed to have received countless e-mails in opposition to the dozens of public speakers there (all but a couple of whom supported the flag.) Again as she always does, she discounted all of us as one-issue “activists,” and pointed out that many of us were from out-of-town, and “Why don’t you go do this in your own towns?”
And she really chewed out Jeff LeTourneau for HIS chewing out of old anti-immigrant firebrand Anita Hynds (whom I hadn’t seen since a 2010 Westminster meeting where she’d shown up with Barbara Coe’s hate group to try to get that council to pass a resolution in support of Arizona’s papers-please laws.) “That lady made some very good points,” protested Lucille. Hmm, what were these “good points” Anita made that gave Jeff such a violent reaction? Let’s run the tape…
“Gays are dangerous to society, especially children. Most of them are child molestors… I fought for Proposition 8, which is the law. It is illegal for a man to be married to a man… Nobody was born gay. They disgrace their lives. They cause problems not just to themselves but everybody… Their corrupted behavior… They are evil.”
Nice, Anita. Nice, Lucille. Well at least we have our Flag up now, too bad it was like pulling teeth.
This is your late weekend open thread, go for it.
Wow
““Gays are dangerous to society, especially children. Most of them are child molestors… I fought for Proposition 8, which is the law. It is illegal for a man to be married to a man… Nobody was born gay. They disgrace their lives. They cause problems not just to themselves but everybody… Their corrupted behavior… They are evil.””
As a single mother of a gay young man, a lesbian daughter and a transgender MtoF daughter, as people who live in a city where Disney brings them bank and has Gay Pride Day even in their acclaimed playground with children all around… it’s kind of heart breaking to know people are espousing this antiquated hateful, fearful rhetoric while allegedly representing our youth and putting on an “xtian” face of “kindness”
The grossest part was Councilwoman Kring saying she “made a lot of good points.” Can someone ask Lucille what points were the good ones? i don’t think she takes my calls any more.
Hopefully!! we don’t have to go through this S***!! every year, just write an ordinance and each year just put the flag up,if Not WE/you & ME can go up on the roof and place the Pride Flag Ourselves…
Good Article Vern,and thank you for spelling my name right!
Can’t wait until Lucile’s parishioners at Saint Columbuns Catholic Church hear that she defended the hateful woman who claimed that all priests are child molesters!
Lushille’s antics notwithstanding, the main thing to bear in mind here is that City Staff dropped the ball on this last year, when Kris Murray had months remaining of control of the Coincil and the means to ensure follow-through.
Denise is correct that it is a sort of “social engineering.” So is the pledge of allegiance. And rhere are many other examples that she presumably supports. The term is neither good nor bad in and of itself.
Tom is probably right that *now* other groups will try to seek the same treatment. The difference between what’s likely to happen now and what didn’t happen last year is that NOW there is a big honking flag on the building screaming out to other groups “WE GOT TO DO THIS AND YOU DIDN’T!” Of COURSE it will invite others to do demand similar treatment; the question is whether this action is worth that price — and whether it’s worth it as marking the first anniversary of the tragedy of Orlando or as an annual event.
If Kris Murray is serious about this, she’ll submit a change in the irdinance that Staff said prevented it. And … I doubt that she will.
Thanks to Jordan for reminding us of what an insufferable dissembling opportunist he is.
*Dr. D., what do they call “Settled Law”? If the Supreme Court makes the call….doesn’t that mean that LGBQT Community…..has established its rights? If so, it seems that Anaheim is still far ahead of Fullerton…at this point?
It’s a lot more complicated than that. It would really take me pages and pages to explain.
The City of Anaheim has now provided a “public forum” for the purpose of displaying non-government banners, and thus ALL requests consistent with the City’s recognition of issues, causes, and groups by the process of Proclamations and Resolutions should be given similar access to this public forum. The Ducks/Angels banners could be considered “gov sponsored activity” since they play in the heavily subsidized taxpayer-owned venues. I have no reference for the annual Christmas wreath and am honestly shocked some joy-kill has not challenged it yet.
I tried to share this info Tuesday night, along with a solution which got cut short for time, by proposing a line of flag poles that could be used for the purpose of identifying those week/month recognitions without the implied statement that one cause, issue, or organization is more important than others. I believe ALL lives matter, and when a parent has lost a child to leukemia, their grief is as real as that of the parents mourning their lost children slaughtered in an Orlando night club. To elevate the lives, or the importance of the deaths, of SOME over others is not Kindness, and indeed is the opposite of the equality that is being sought in the message of the rainbow flag (equality which I support, and my GOP secret decoder ring be damned, I won’t support discrimination against my neighbor.)
As I committed the unpardonable sin of asking my government to be as sensitive to the grief of those who lost loved ones from the numerous other threats to the well-being of constituents ALSO recognized by the City, I got my head taken off by Kris Murray. Murray was “appalled” at my comparison of other non-violent deaths to those depicted in posters lining the walls of Council Chambers on Tuesday, despite Murray’s own comparison of the death of a 5-year-old last year as she approved her buddy Jordan’s ILLEGAL agenda item. OK for thee but not for me.
And Lucille Kring snarled that we are not the United Nations and would not be installing flags all over City Hall property. Nice of her to make that determination all by herself for something NOT on the Agenda. Funny that Kring approved display of the rainbow flag for the second year in a row, despite telling the GOP Central Committee during last year’s farcical endorsement debates that she does NOT support “gays”. Pick a side Lucille.
Oh, and then we got a lecture from MURRAY on bullying. Well, they DO say when you want solid information, rely on an expert…and nobody bullies better than Murray, except when she is partnered with Brandman, when bullying is elevated to a sick art form.
So now I am pretty sure someone WILL challenge the special attention granted to ONE (very deserving, but only ONE) group over all others, and while I do understand that the LGBTQ community is one of the most persecuted populations on earth, I might remind us all that the City of Anaheim also recognizes Holocaust Remembrance, and by my count that still outranks any current population for the most bullied and abused population in the history of the world. If we are to keep the promise made to the LGBTQ constituents last year, then we need to find a way to make all recognitions equal, or face yet another expenditure of scarce public funds to defend yet another legal challenge based on the ill-considered plans of those who use otherwise GOOD things like the symbolic banner representing unity, peace, love, acceptance, and inclusion, and instead twisting it into a political bludgeon to be used to beat their opponents over the head. Go team Anaheim.
I think that by and large you are correct about what will happen.
That is why West Hollywood removed their rainbow flag. Other cities have done the same and ALL cite the “public forum” reason. For nobody to address that during the meeting was irresponsible. The Mayor tried in his own way, by saying other groups would ask, but what needed discussion was that other groups appear to now have the LEGAL STANDING TO DEMAND which is a very, very different deal.
For the Weekend Open Thread – from former Mexican President Vicente Fox a few days ago, and also too great. I especially like it because I could be related to this guy – my Mexican grandma had an ancestor a few generations back called Fox.
I’ve been tensely waiting for the moment when (some) Republicans begin politicizing today’s tragedy in Virginia – the shooting of GOP Congressman Scalise by a Bernie supporter gone mad.
Pero no. It happened first on the Liberal OC – the disgusting and illiterate “OC DEM” is using it to say the DPOC needs to watch out for Greg Diamond. That blog is All Gratuitous Diamond Attacks All The Time.
Wow. I’ve really been missing out by not reading it lately.
Anytime I doubt that I’m having some positive effect on the political world, LibOC is there to reassure me that whatever I’m doing is driving some of the biggest assholes in the county to acts of online depravity so extreme that they can’t even let their friends know that they’re doing it. I don’t think that it’s ^entirely* out of sadism, so that leaves fear — that nothing they can do will make me back down, rather than of my shooting anyone.
Cynthia, you seen Dan’s non-resppnse response to you about Jordan being his source for the misinformation he typed about last year’s rainbow flag meeting? It is a nice workshop in deception:
“Cynthia. Mr Brandman is not in my office. I get my information on Anaheim from various sources…”
So you were right – his source was Jordan! And why would you think Jordan was in Dan’s “office” at that moment? Oh yeah you didn’t say that.
The same Jordan whose first reaction to the flag debacle was “Welcome to the City of Kindness!” The same lying Jordan who passed around the rumor that Tom’s and Denise’s staff people were “organizing evangelical churches” to fight the flag, when nothing like that ever happened. This guy’s spots do not change
I didn’t see that.
I did see Sharon Quirk Silva getting the job done for the Irvine Cemetery. Wonder what Dan has to say about that.
What he says about it doesn’t really translate well into the roman alphabet.