Post by Site Admin on Mar 5, 2006 9:56:46 GMT -5
Rowing event not about sex
Publication Northwest Herald
Date March 05, 2006
Section(s) Columnists
Page
Lock your doors and windows.
Close your blinds.
Don't let your kids out of the house.
Apparently, there are going to be gay men having sex on the front lawns of homes in Crystal Lake come July.
Well, that's only if the Crystal Lake Park District Board does an about-face and overturns last week's 2-2 vote that denied the Gay Games Chicago from holding a rowing competition on the lake. Three yes votes were needed to approve the measure.
The public sex concern is among the arguments made by some community members opposed to the Gay Games rowing event taking place July 16 on Crystal Lake.
The rowing competition is one of 30 events to be held July 15 through 22 in the Chicago area as part of Gay Games VII.
While public fornication is not one of the events, that concern was raised at last week's meeting, and I took a phone call Saturday from a local resident concerned about her children seeing public sex acts if the Gay Games were to come to Crystal Lake.
I, unfortunately, have not been able to have a phone conversation with park board member Dave Phelps, who along with Commissioner Scott Breeden, voted Thursday against allowing the rowing competition on Crystal Lake.
Phelps has not returned numerous phone calls since he said he was voting against the proposal because the park district "should not be a vehicle for a person's agenda or sexual preference."
The problem with that reasoning is that it smacks of discrimination, which is against the law.
"I guess that's up to the courts," Phelps, an attorney, said Thursday in defending his vote.
So Crystal Lake taxpayers should foot the bill to defend a lawsuit if Gay Games organizers were to decide to sue?
Breeden, who lives just south of the lake, said he voted against not because it was the Gay Games but because the lake and surrounding roads already were tied up with too many weekend events during the summer.
"We have the Gala," he told me Friday. "We have the Fourth of July. We have all kinds of local events that occur at Main Beach or around the lake.
"I don't mind having to drive around for those local events that have been here for years. But I see no benefit to the people of the area" with the Gay Games.
If the lake can hold the Cardboard Cup Regatta, there's no good reason not to hold the Gay Games rowing event. But at least Breeden's stated reasoning is not discriminatory.
Thankfully, it seems likely the parks board actually might reverse its decision.
Board President Jerry Sullivan was out of town last week and missed the vote. A special meeting has been called for Tuesday night, and a new vote is expected. Sullivan says he'll join board members Candy Reedy and Michael Zellman to vote to allow the rowing event.
That should go a long way toward mending Crystal Lake's tarnished image.
Source
tinyurl.com/eh593
My Response:
Why are there so many people that are bigots! What's the big deal! What, do these people think that gay's do not already live in their own neighborhood?
Publication Northwest Herald
Date March 05, 2006
Section(s) Columnists
Page
Lock your doors and windows.
Close your blinds.
Don't let your kids out of the house.
Apparently, there are going to be gay men having sex on the front lawns of homes in Crystal Lake come July.
Well, that's only if the Crystal Lake Park District Board does an about-face and overturns last week's 2-2 vote that denied the Gay Games Chicago from holding a rowing competition on the lake. Three yes votes were needed to approve the measure.
The public sex concern is among the arguments made by some community members opposed to the Gay Games rowing event taking place July 16 on Crystal Lake.
The rowing competition is one of 30 events to be held July 15 through 22 in the Chicago area as part of Gay Games VII.
While public fornication is not one of the events, that concern was raised at last week's meeting, and I took a phone call Saturday from a local resident concerned about her children seeing public sex acts if the Gay Games were to come to Crystal Lake.
I, unfortunately, have not been able to have a phone conversation with park board member Dave Phelps, who along with Commissioner Scott Breeden, voted Thursday against allowing the rowing competition on Crystal Lake.
Phelps has not returned numerous phone calls since he said he was voting against the proposal because the park district "should not be a vehicle for a person's agenda or sexual preference."
The problem with that reasoning is that it smacks of discrimination, which is against the law.
"I guess that's up to the courts," Phelps, an attorney, said Thursday in defending his vote.
So Crystal Lake taxpayers should foot the bill to defend a lawsuit if Gay Games organizers were to decide to sue?
Breeden, who lives just south of the lake, said he voted against not because it was the Gay Games but because the lake and surrounding roads already were tied up with too many weekend events during the summer.
"We have the Gala," he told me Friday. "We have the Fourth of July. We have all kinds of local events that occur at Main Beach or around the lake.
"I don't mind having to drive around for those local events that have been here for years. But I see no benefit to the people of the area" with the Gay Games.
If the lake can hold the Cardboard Cup Regatta, there's no good reason not to hold the Gay Games rowing event. But at least Breeden's stated reasoning is not discriminatory.
Thankfully, it seems likely the parks board actually might reverse its decision.
Board President Jerry Sullivan was out of town last week and missed the vote. A special meeting has been called for Tuesday night, and a new vote is expected. Sullivan says he'll join board members Candy Reedy and Michael Zellman to vote to allow the rowing event.
That should go a long way toward mending Crystal Lake's tarnished image.
Source
tinyurl.com/eh593
My Response:
Why are there so many people that are bigots! What's the big deal! What, do these people think that gay's do not already live in their own neighborhood?