Columbia shows how it should be done

South Carolina, being a Southern state, gets a bad reputation for ignorance.

But it is places like my home city of Columbia that shows this reputation to be partly undeserved:

People are having consensual sex in Columbia’s parks — but primarily in Granby Park along the river — and a loophole in the city’s ordinance has kept the city from prosecuting them.

But City Council members approved an ordinance Wednesday that is expected to clear up any misunderstandings about what conduct is not allowed in city parks — spelling out in explicit language what is unlawful.

It is now unlawful for anyone to “knowingly or intentionally” have sex on any “streets, sidewalks, bridges, alleys, plazas, parks, driveways, parking lots, automobiles (whether moving or not), and those portions of buildings open to the general public.”

People are having consensual sex in Columbia’s parks — but primarily in Granby Park along the river — and a loophole in the city’s ordinance has kept the city from prosecuting them.

“We are not going to tolerate criminal behavior in our public places and parks,” Columbia Mayor Bob Coble said. “This gives law enforcement and the parks the tools to enforce it.”

Please that Mayor Bob Coble did not denigrate the entire gay community. The article does mention cases of men having sex in parks, but neither Coble nor anyone else cited in it takes the opportunity to grandstand or play up stereotypes.

I am reminded of the situation in Florida with Mayor Jim Naugle. He used the problem with public sex to denigrate the entire lgbt community as a whole and then had the temerity to act as if he wanted to reach across the aisle to them to combat the problem.

Then he feigned shock when he received negative comments.

Mayor Bob and the Columbia City Council shows how one takes care of a problem like this. Naugle should pay attention.