Don't know if ya'll have heard about this or not...

[SuperDot69]

This is here in TN-- Personally, I think it sucks and is looking like someone's not thinking about the possiblities of a discrimination suit.

~SD~
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http://www.wdef.com/servlet/Satelli...icArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1031774364004&path=!home
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Rhea County Ban On Gays
By Carrie Davis
WDEF NEWS 12
Mar 17, 2004 10:19 PM EST





Rhea County residents pack into this popular restaurant buzzing with the latest news.

County Commissioners want to make being gay a crime.

They voted unanimously to ask lawmakers to amend Tennessee's criminal code so the county can charge homosexuals with crimes against nature.

Waitress Crystal Floyd is outraged by the idea.

Crystal Floyd, Dayton: "I don't see how its constitutionally right to completely discriminate against anyone. Race, sexual preference, look. If I have red hair or dyed hair I don't think anyone has the right to discriminate against me."

Some customers agree.

Sonya Fisher, Dayton: "I think it is ridiculous and they pay their taxes just like we do."

Bill Conley, Dayton: "I don't believe gays and lesbians as being the right and proper lifestyle but really I don't think it is for me to say. Its for everybody to make their own choice I guess."

Commissioners voted eight to nothing to pass the motion. Other customers here at Cheezee's say they are proud of their elected officials.

Charles Houston, Dayton: "I know them all. they done a good job."

Jennifer Brown, Dayton: "I think it is a good idea because I think being gay is against god and I think it is wrong and I think getting them out and away from us is even better."

But residents won't have to talk about the gay ban over dinner much longer. County Commissioners plan to raise the issue again at a meeting Thursday night.

Late Wednesday the Anti-Defamation League expressed their outrage over Rhea County's motion.

They issued a statement saying...

"There is no palce for this kind of bigotry and prejudice in this country. All Americans are entitled to respect for their private lives."

 

[SuperDot69]

update...

http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/South/03/18/county.gays.ap/index.html

DAYTON, Tennessee (AP) -- The county that was the site of the Scopes "Monkey Trial" over the teaching of evolution Thursday reversed its call to ban homosexuals.

Rhea County commissioners took about three minutes to retreat from a request to amend state law so the county can charge homosexuals with crimes against nature. The Tuesday measure passed 8-0.

County attorney Gary Fritts said the initial vote triggered a "wildfire" of reaction. "I've never seen nothing like this," he said Thursday.

But Fritts said it was all a misunderstanding.

"They wanted to send a message to our (state) representative and senator that Rhea County supports the ban on same-sex marriage," he said. "Same-sex marriage is what it was all about. It was to stop people from coming here and getting married and living in Rhea County."

Not that the issue of banning homosexuals didn't arise.

"I'm not saying it wasn't discussed," Fritts said. "Sometimes you had five or six people talking."

Fritts said he advised the commissioners they cannot ban homosexuals or make them subject to criminal charges. The U.S. Supreme Court in 2003 struck down Texas' sodomy laws as a violation of adults' privacy.

Fritts said he doesn't believe the issue will come up again.

"I think they got all the publicity they need about it," he said.

Social worker Esther Jackson, 24 -- one of 300 people who attended Thursday's meeting -- held a sign reading: "Breed Love, Not Hate."

"It's just ignorance is all," she said of Tuesday's vote.

But 12-year-old Caitlin Kinney, attending the meeting with her mother, said she supported the commissioners' initial vote.

"I think they should go further, try to see if they can ban them," she said. "It's not a Christian thing."

The politically conservative county holds an annual festival commemorating the 1925 trial at which high school teacher John T. Scopes was convicted of teaching evolution. The verdict was reversed on a technicality, and the trial became the subject of the play and movie "Inherit the Wind."

 

[oo0_boo_0oo]

"It's not a Christian thing."

but persecuting someone because of their sexuality is????

what a pile of crap!!

 

[Netzach]

Re: update...

. But Fritts said it was all a mis...ts, I hear the school district is GRRRRREAT!"

 

[SuperDot69]

but persecuting someone because of their sexuality is????

what a pile of crap!!

major pile of crap. now, however, they are back pedaling so fast their tripping over their feet and are for the moment running with their tails tucked. but, i do foresee them trying to push the motion again to ban gays from Rhea Co.

Sometimes, I REALLY HATE living on the buckle of the bible belt.