In a move which should surprise no one, the Palmetto Family Council released a press release criticizing the city of Columbia about the rainbow flags hanging on downtown lamp posts.
The banners
are to commemorate the SC Pride festival happening Saturday as well as to bring visibility to SC's lgbt community.
The Palmetto Family Council released a press release
saying the following:
“This is about much more than a piece of cloth on a lamp pole.
The flag raised today is symbolic of the city’s ongoing and aggressive financial and institutional support of militant homosexual advocacy.
Taxpayers need look no farther than this year’s headliner, Pandora Boxx (or last year’s RuPaul) to see how their tax dollars and the city’s good name are being invested.
The City of Columbia is not neutral in this matter. It continues to take a side in the culture wars, which we believe is not appropriate for any government.”
With this press release, the Palmetto Family Council seems to be sidestepping any confrontation with SC Pride and instead going the "the city council is wasting our tax dollars" route.
That also seems to be the route taken by SC blogging site
FitsNews.com:
As much as we hate to agree with the Bible thumpers, they’ve got a point here. As we’ve said on numerous occasions, we have no problem with homosexuals and we support their right to publicly display their lifestyle choices. We’re also supporters of civil unions and oppose efforts to discriminate against gays – whether that means denying benefits in the workplace or denying permits for a parade.
However, using tax dollars to support such events – or public facilities to promote one particular sexual orientation over another – is clearly wrong, which we would encourage the Palmetto Family Council to keep in mind the next time it organizes protests over municipalities doing away with Jesus-themed prayers.
But it would seem that both FitsNews.com and the Palmetto Family Council have gotten the story wrong.
According to an
article in South Carolina's
Free Times, the city of Columbia did not pay for the banners nor did it put them up:
In fact, the City of Columbia did not pay for or put up the banners: The organization SC Pride paid for the banners itself, and the City Center Partnership, Main Street’s business coalition, put them up.
The article goes on to state that the City of Columbia did contribute monetarily to SC Pride, but it does the same for other organizations and the SC Pride festival brings money to the city:
The City of Columbia does fund SC Pride, though: Last year, the group received $7,500 in city hospitality tax funding, and this year it will receive $10,000 — the same amount as groups like Veterans of the Battle of the Bulge and Congaree Riverkeeper.
The pride parade and related events are good for downtown business, according to both Deirdre Mardon, executive director of the Vista Guild, and Matt Kennell, president and CEO of City Center Partnership.
Furthermore, SC Pride is not the only organization putting up banners. After the pride festival, banners for the Italian Festival are being put up.
I might add that the FitsNews.com's implication that any support of SC Pride "promotes one sexual orientation over another" is
extremely shortsighted. The festival, and the other events, are for everyone to come out and enjoy whether they be lgbt or heterosexual. The only thing that's being promoted here is unity.
Author's note - for the sake of full discloure, I should reveal that I am on the advisory board of SC Pride.
