BlogWood: MT Archives

Homophobic Jeb! appointee is queerly mistaken

This is the problem with pandering to wing nuts: they reach positions of importance and use their whacked out mores and beliefs to justify fucking with people.

A member of the Pinellas County Juvenile Welfare Board has provoked the anger of national gay and lesbian advocacy groups for saying the groups endorse sex between youths and adults.

Cecilia Burke, who was appointed to the children's advocacy board of directors by Gov. Jeb Bush, made her statements in a memo Feb. 7 asking the board to sever ties with the support groups Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, and the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network.

In a letter Friday, PFLAG stated that Burke wrote ''false'' and ''defamatory'' comments about its organization and wants a public apology, said Ron Schlittler, the group's interim executive director. GLSEN and the National Center of Lesbian Rights co-signed the letter.
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Burke's memo also said the groups support ''unhealthy sexual practices among youth.'' She cited maintaining relationships with these groups as a reason to deny the juvenile welfare board's director, Jim Mills, a raise. That move failed.

Burke said contention within the board over how the taxpayer-funded agency should deal with sexual orientation issues started two years ago, when one of its committees mailed bookmarks to principals that listed PFLAG and GLSEN as resources for gay students.

NEIGHBOR SPEAKS OUT

A neighbor complained to Burke that she didn't want her tax money spent on groups that didn't believe homosexuals could change their lifestyles, Burke said.

The Juvenile Welfare Board, which funds programs to help children, will receive about $42 million in property taxes this year.

PFLAG and GLSEN say they provide support and counseling for those needing assistance to come to terms with sexual orientation issues. For them, a relationship with the Juvenile Welfare Board -- a youth referral service -- seems natural.

Mills said he plans to continue JWB's relationship with the groups.

''I've worked with these organizations for years,'' Mills said. ``I've never had any reason to believe they endorse pedophilia. I'm not sure where that came from.''

Troxler very gently sets Cecilia straight. (Personally, I think she deserves something a little more invasive and unlubricated, but that’s just me.)

Well, this goes without saying. But a lot of things that go without saying need to keep getting said over and over anyway.

Being gay is not the same thing as being a pedophile.

Frankly, it feels kind of silly to have to say it.

It's like having to say: "People from Poland are not any dumber than anybody else."

Or: "Jewish people are not greedy money-lovers who control the media."

Or: "Plenty of white people can jump as high as black people."

This is 2005, and we ought to be past this. And yet, some people go out of their way to keep the confusion going.

I am sure that my clumsy definitions will offend somebody, but ...

Being gay is remarkably like being straight, except you pursue your life's interests with consenting partners of the same gender. And there's more prejudice.

Being gay is fairly common and therefore in my book normal. Whether people are born that way, formed by their surroundings, or even (although I do not believe this happens much) gay by choice, they are entitled to the same rights as I am.
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Astute readers already know the most recent example, from this Monday's newspaper. Cecilia Burke, appointed by Gov. Jeb Bush to the Pinellas Juvenile Welfare Board, objects to the board's association with two gay-support groups, on the grounds that they encourage "unhealthy sexual practices" and sexual relations between adult and underage youths.

One of the groups is Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, better known as PFLAG. The idea of PFLAG being a deviant group is laughable - it is closer to being the PTA. It is made up of loving, supportive, everyday folks who found out that someone close to them was gay. The other group is the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network.

I suppose our society's debate over same-sex marriage, human rights laws and homosexuality will continue for some time. Plenty of people who consider themselves open-minded and reasonable still believe homosexuality to be an immoral choice. My hope is that they will change their view in time, just as we white folks - many of whom clung with equal fervor to the Bible to justify segregation - changed our views in time on civil rights.

But as for this constant attempt to equate all gay people with child molesters: At the very best, it is based in lack of knowledge; at the worst, something much darker. Decent people, even those who believe homosexuality is a sin , ought to speak out against it.