The March 3 edition of the Philadelphia Gay News had a story from the Washington Blade about the city council of Los Altos, California, passing a prohibition against proclamations honoring gay pride.
Well, screw you, Los Altos. In the story, they quote Los Altos mayor Ron Packard telling the San Jose Mercury-News that he thinks gay pride proclamations "divisive and [not] appropriate for our community."
You suppose they consider MLK Day or Rosh Hashanah not appropriate? The town is 78% WASP according to the last census. For anyone not familiar with California, Los Altos is a small bedroom community of 27,000 in an upscale suburban part of Santa Clara County, between San Jose and San Francisco.
Los Altos also happens to be about 25 miles north of the epicenter of the Loma Prieta earthquake of 1989, as well as lying just downhill a few miles east of the San Andreas Fault. Yeah, that San Andreas fault.
Oh yeah, and because of its proximity to Silicon Valley, Los Altos is in a high risk area for a terrorist attack.
I'm not saying anything is going to happen to Los Altos, or I want anything to happen to Los Altos, but karma is a muther... and I don't claim any special control over their karma. They'll have brought what ever befalls them on themselves. Including what they teach their kids.
Now, there's a lot of towns large and small around the San Francisco Bay urban area. They obviously aren't all as forward thinking as, say, Berkeley or San Francisco. There must be thousands of political bodies across the country that haven't recognized gay pride (and probably hope this issue never even comes up). There's no rule of thumb that requires Los Altos to celebrate gay pride. For that matter, nobody is looking over their shoulder to see if they recycle, either.
There are gay businesses in the surrounding communities of Palo Alto, Cupertino, and Mountain View. And who wants to go to Los Altos, anyway?
Since the Honorable Mayor Ron Packard doesn't appear to believe that there are any gays or lesbians living in Los Altos, it would behoove members of the GLBT community and their friends and families and non-gay identified men who have sex with men to take all their hard earned dollars to other communities ...and tell the chamber of commerce at 650/948-1455 that you're doing so and why. That's almost better than calling City Hall directly.
Can I be committed to the practice of non-violence and still ask people to take a page from the Mormons and just "shun" the whole town?
Now that might not be fair, since there were actual residents of Los Altos that had gone before the City Council to ask for the recognition of gay pride. The Los Altos High School Gay-Straight Alliance, who raised money for the victims of hurricane Katrina and other worthy causes deserve some measure of support, after all.
Like they say in Sin City, what happens in Los Altos should stay in Los Altos. Only instead, it made the national news wire. Now they run the risk of becoming a beacon of hope to hate-mongers everywhere. I can just hear Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson and Lou Sheldon all praising Los Altos for standing up to the evil homosexual agenda. Maybe even David Duke.
Heck, I'm too tired to make much of a fuss about it. Why even care about a little two-exit on the 280 freeway town like Los Altos, anyway?
I guess I'll just make a an extra conscious effort to spend my little rolls of pennies at places that I know appreciate and respect me. And as for Los Altos, I'll take a cue from Noel Alumit and try to practice lovingkindness. Maybe I'll even blow 'em a kiss from the 280 freeway the next time I'm heading that way up to San Francisco. I'll wish 'em well and put 'em in my prayers 'cuz it sure as heck seems like they're gonna need it.
Well, screw you, Los Altos. In the story, they quote Los Altos mayor Ron Packard telling the San Jose Mercury-News that he thinks gay pride proclamations "divisive and [not] appropriate for our community."
You suppose they consider MLK Day or Rosh Hashanah not appropriate? The town is 78% WASP according to the last census. For anyone not familiar with California, Los Altos is a small bedroom community of 27,000 in an upscale suburban part of Santa Clara County, between San Jose and San Francisco.
Los Altos also happens to be about 25 miles north of the epicenter of the Loma Prieta earthquake of 1989, as well as lying just downhill a few miles east of the San Andreas Fault. Yeah, that San Andreas fault.
Oh yeah, and because of its proximity to Silicon Valley, Los Altos is in a high risk area for a terrorist attack.
I'm not saying anything is going to happen to Los Altos, or I want anything to happen to Los Altos, but karma is a muther... and I don't claim any special control over their karma. They'll have brought what ever befalls them on themselves. Including what they teach their kids.
Now, there's a lot of towns large and small around the San Francisco Bay urban area. They obviously aren't all as forward thinking as, say, Berkeley or San Francisco. There must be thousands of political bodies across the country that haven't recognized gay pride (and probably hope this issue never even comes up). There's no rule of thumb that requires Los Altos to celebrate gay pride. For that matter, nobody is looking over their shoulder to see if they recycle, either.
There are gay businesses in the surrounding communities of Palo Alto, Cupertino, and Mountain View. And who wants to go to Los Altos, anyway?
Since the Honorable Mayor Ron Packard doesn't appear to believe that there are any gays or lesbians living in Los Altos, it would behoove members of the GLBT community and their friends and families and non-gay identified men who have sex with men to take all their hard earned dollars to other communities ...and tell the chamber of commerce at 650/948-1455 that you're doing so and why. That's almost better than calling City Hall directly.
Can I be committed to the practice of non-violence and still ask people to take a page from the Mormons and just "shun" the whole town?
Now that might not be fair, since there were actual residents of Los Altos that had gone before the City Council to ask for the recognition of gay pride. The Los Altos High School Gay-Straight Alliance, who raised money for the victims of hurricane Katrina and other worthy causes deserve some measure of support, after all.
Like they say in Sin City, what happens in Los Altos should stay in Los Altos. Only instead, it made the national news wire. Now they run the risk of becoming a beacon of hope to hate-mongers everywhere. I can just hear Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson and Lou Sheldon all praising Los Altos for standing up to the evil homosexual agenda. Maybe even David Duke.
Heck, I'm too tired to make much of a fuss about it. Why even care about a little two-exit on the 280 freeway town like Los Altos, anyway?
I guess I'll just make a an extra conscious effort to spend my little rolls of pennies at places that I know appreciate and respect me. And as for Los Altos, I'll take a cue from Noel Alumit and try to practice lovingkindness. Maybe I'll even blow 'em a kiss from the 280 freeway the next time I'm heading that way up to San Francisco. I'll wish 'em well and put 'em in my prayers 'cuz it sure as heck seems like they're gonna need it.
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