Gay? Disabled too? Then TWO ABOMINATIONs!

 

Oh, the random Right Wingnuts are at it again, this time in Hazard, Kentucky. Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the water… (that will make sense in a couple of minutes, I swear!)

The drama unfolded in the city of Hazard when two developmentally challenged young men began larking about at the side of the pool. Apparently, they did something so disgusting! Yes, one sat on the others knee! Oh the abhorrence, Gods eyes must have bled!

They attended the pool with a group called Mending Hearts Inc, a charitable organization connecting individuals and providing services to the Intellectually and developmentally challenged. Organizations like Mending Hearts Inc provide invaluable services, offering respite and support to parents, carers and families, and disabled individuals with a vitally important path into the community.

So what happened when this apparent abhorrent behavior was spotted? In rushed a gaggle of staff who seemingly happen to be religious (these people must be trained by Ninjas, always creeping about just waiting for their homophobic moment, and then, Shark Attack! – UK readers might understand that joke more than others).

These staff obviously had nothing better to do than to upset a group of people already struggling with equality and life in general, telling them all that they had to leave. Apparently, God doesn’t like gay people swimming in his pool in Hazard Kentucky.

I kid you not, the staff member quoted the Bible and suggested that he had the right to remove them based on that. Forget law, forget the inalienable rights to Freedom and Liberty, the Bible apparently ignores all of that (as is too often the case in the translation of some) and advises that the local pool in Hazard Kentucky is not to be used by disabled gay people. I must have missed that section because I don’t recall any mention of swimming pools and recreation centers the last time I read through it.

And this is the part that really upsets me; the two young men left in tears, humiliated and simply not understanding what they had done wrong. As if the world doesn’t already seem like a baffling and unfriendly place to them, they’re humiliated and embarrassed by complete strangers and made to feel even more like outcasts on a day when fun and inclusion should have been key.

Mending Hearts Inc did what any sensible person or group facing disgusting homophobia and discrimination should, they filed a formal complaint with their local gay rights group, in this case the Kentucky Equality Federation, and in partnership they requested an apology and that the employee who removed them be transferred to another department of the STATE RUNrecreation center. They also planned a protest outside of the facility to highlight the issue.

As you’d expect, this minor skirmish has brought the truly religiously insane out of the woodwork, with Jordan Palmer (President of the Kentucky Equality Federation) receiving death threats if their planned protest outside of the facility were to go ahead.

In steps the Mayor of Hazard, Kentucky, Nan Gorman, 83. And how does she pour oil on turbulent water? By being the equivalent of that racist guy who says “some of my friends are black”, stating that the Pool once hired a gay lifeguard.

Insert.Face.Palm.Here

Oh they did? Well that’s fine then, all is forgiven. There cannot possibly be anything wrong if the Center was once so open and equal as to hire one gay Lifeguard! Move along, nothing to see here after all.

When asked, Charlotte Sizemore, executive director of the recreation center, declined to comment on the incident directly because she hadn’t witnessed it. But forgive my naiveté, as head of the facility you don’t need to witness every footfall and intolerant uttering to have an opinion and issue a sensible statement. But it appears that she let slip that although she holds such a position, others have authority, stating “They don’t want us to talk about it”. Hmm, intriguing. Gagged huh? By whom?

Charlotte Sizemore added:

“We are getting all kinds of phone calls,” she said. “We’re sorry it happened. We’re just fair to everybody. … We never have any trouble here, period.”

One of those phone calls was allegedly from a blogger (NewProgressiveMuckraker) who had the balls to call Ms. Sizemore for a direct comment. Nice to offer a chance for both sides of the story, far more professional than me. But it seems the executive director had been having a very tough day, and with the words “You don’t fucking know, Fuck you!” she hung up.

Yep, them Hazard Pavilion folks are real professionals, such a classy way to hold such a coveted position in the community.

Well, clearly her more sensible statements are not correct. I may be being unfair, but saying you’re sorry it happened is not the same as saying sorry to the two guys who were humiliated and left feeling less Human than when they arrived. Stating “we’re just fair to everybody” is clearly not true, otherwise the employee would have been moved already and a public statement would have been issued clarifying the cock-up. And finally, they obviously do have“trouble” there, this story is testament to that.

I don’t know if the protest went ahead, unfortunately. I can’t find mention of it since the initial incident. I sincerely hope they get the apology they so desperately deserve, and the fact that it has been so long in coming is evidence of the lunacy and true opinions of all involved. Forget the initial incident for just a moment, because the silence since then is deafening.

Moral of the story is, reconsider who are the ones truly “developmentally challenged”.

Second moral of the story is, don’t go to Hazard Pavilion if you’re gay, disabled, or moral, nice, decent… just don’t go. http://www.dailydoseofqueer.com/