Ronda Storms’ Hillsborough Homophobia goes national
One of the problems with living in a region with so many elected Ronda Storms types who feel they must legislate their version of morality whenever some innocuous element of modern life intrudes upon their consciousness is that their preposterous proposals inevitably attract the curiosity of people from more enlightened places and those people naturally assume that we're all a bunch of fucking hicks.
Lynn Waddell does a good job summarizing the Hillsborough Homophobia story for the NY Times. The rest of the national media will be right behind them.
Meagan Albright, a graduate student at the University of South Florida, created the exhibit on gay authors and literature to fulfill a requirement for a course on diversity. As part of the exhibit, Ms. Albright made available pamphlets that listed counseling resources for teenagers who have questions about their sexuality.
Commissioner Ronda Storms, who introduced the measure and has received the brunt of local criticism about it, said the pamphlet troubled her the most.
"One of the things that occurred was that pamphlets were being distributed to children by librarians who are county employees," Ms. Storms said, "and they referred children to youth groups outside Hillsborough County to explore their sexuality."
Doing so, she said, could lead the children to engage in "high-risk behavior."
Hector Vargas, southern regional director of Lambda Legal, a gay civil rights group, said it was not the first time that a local government had sought to adopt an anti-gay policy. But he said it might be the first time in recent years that one so broad had succeeded.
"Many have tried and failed," Mr. Vargas said. "Typically we've seen these types of policies in the private sector."
The county's policy has angered gay rights advocates across the country.
"From a national perspective we haven't seen anything like this," said Paul Cates, the American Civil Liberties Union's director of public education for lesbian and gay rights.
Community leaders here said the policy damaged recent efforts to promote the Tampa region as being multicultural and diverse.
Pride Is Back Rally Sunday at 3:00 PM at the downtown Tampa library.
All BlogWood Hillsborough Homophobia coverage.
June 30th, 2005 - 02:51
Ronda Storms is in dire need of medicine. Umfortunately for her, one of her radical religious friends, Tom Cruise, would personally turn Mr. Hubbard over in his grave (personally) if he knew that good ole girl Ronda required meds for Bi/Polar issues. Or would ole Tom be pissed to learned that it was Passive/Aggressive disorder. It may take ole MR. Ronda Storms a few years to catch on to the fact that he is married and has actually sired “little Ronda Storms”, and all that that means but I surmise that they will be in divorce court at some point. I mean come on? No guy could be married to this sorry excuse for a suedo goober “Christian” public figure who embodies a passive/aggressive persona and still sells a bill of goods of manic/depressive Right Wing qualities to the Brandon, FL Community a few years later? She succeeded in screwing us queers in 1995 as a “at least I’m not like them” activist,and unfortunately succeeded. What really gets my curiosity is just what IS the appeal of this ignorant, “I know what you feel, cause I was smut like you before I became suburban and got Right Winged and YADA YADA.
I don’t really care whether it’s true that RS stated that her ass walked on glass or nails or water for that matter. I also don’t care if her priveleged ass lived in her car or had to eat beanie weanies or whatever supposeded hardhips her quaint personal life would like to twist into a “Walton’s mountain moment” Ms. County Comm. is simply an anomoly. She will be viewed in historical HC terms as a footnote and it won’t be a good footnote. She never progressed the culture and hence our lives. She will be looked back on as a typical govt. official who took the expedient route, played to the masses and therefore was a burr in the ass of the common citizen. She is neglible because she did NOTHING to further the cause of Human Rights. Damn, I’m so glad I’m unknown even in my activitism then to be compared to her!!!! To think she could have been a Pat Frank, Linda Sal Sena, a Pam Irio, a Castor? No. She would rather align herself with the David Caton’s (“I got caught with my pants around my ankles with porn, many moons ago and wish to punish the entire community so I can go on living with my self”) types. Or the JW’s or the Morman’s or The Catholic Church, ALL OF WHICH PROMOTE AND CONDONE CHILD MOLESTATION!
We ARE the LAST and EASIEST TARGET FOR THESE losers as Ronda Storms and her ilk have absolutely no mental or intellectual capacity to differantiate between convenient Queer stereotypes and the REAL THREATS TO THEIR CHILDREN IN THEIR OWN BACK YARDS,(being their “trusted places of worship” How fu#$ed up is this to you???????????????????? I can’t be trusted to adopt a child?
Word up. The reason that we have this Fu25ed up reasoning is only because we continue to allow the fu76ed up religious minority to continue to rationalize their version of “normal” on the rest of the US Population. The Catholic Church and their secret society(cult, for thousand’s of years!!!!!!) Jehohwa(sp Witness’s)and their cult like organizations, Scientology (cult) Mormans (cult) Fundamentalist Baptist Church(cult) Methodists, and on and on…..ALL of these religions mentioned have murdered, seduced, coerced, brainwashed, violated, etc. So why does the like of a Ronda Storms, A Right Wing U.S. Senate, a Right Wing Republican Bushie Jr Presidency, a David (hypocritical) American Family Association’s David Caton, deserve anything BUT our disdain, anger, and now, unfortunately, activitism?????I have my answers but I’ll wait for all of you’re responses.
Stonewall62