23 replies to this topic

[woob]

Leonard23, on Jun 14 2008, 11:00 AM, said:

Yeah, but you can't say whatever you want to say in this particular forum topic on this forum, and it is clearly delineated in the first post.  As rtkenmore mentioned, you better realize you are teetering on the line of disagreeing with others and being disrespectful of others.

One thing many fail to see is in a large city like Birmingham most people come from numerous walks of life, do you have to agree with no but you do have to respect them since all those participating are law-abiding citizens.  There are no laws on the books in this state forbidding the celebrating in a pride parade anymore than it is from a group of people holding a prayer rally at Boutwell Auditorium with the proper permits.  Arguably, both of them can be considered the imposition of a set of morals upon people, but you don't see people complaining about the latter as vocally as some do the former.  Apparently that is the root of this whole issue, respect.

I never said they couldn't hold a gay pride parade.. I'm not teetering either.. I am disagreeing... I can have an opinion..

[VistaLakes01]

I would think the general population of Birmingham is college educated due to the high median income in that area.  More educated people seem to be more accepting of the GLBT community.  It's your government there that seems to be the problem and the main one keeping Birmingham from attracting new more progressive companies is the lack of anti-discrimination laws.  GLBT persons have been known to turn whole neighborhoods and cities around.  An excellent example is St. Petersburg, Florida.  Just a few years ago the city was nearly abandoned and boarded up.  The GLBT community and progressive open minded people totally renovated the abandoned historic neighborhoods and Central Avenue has opened lots of cool stores and nightclubs,  a lot of health food and organic stores and they have a huge weekend farmers market.  Now only in its 6th year, St. Pete Pride is the largest in the state with over 80,000 people expecting to attend this year.  In Orlando, the mayor attends the opening party of Gay Days and the whole city and county roll out the red carpet for that week, it is the largest event in the Orlando area, larger than any of the huge conventions we have here, with around 150,000 attending.  And in just a few short years Orlando Pride in October has grown dramatically, with 25,000 turning out for the parade and after party, with the mayor leading the parade.  The parade goes through the downtown neighborhood of Thornton Park around the city's center piece park, Lake Eola.  The residents in the neighborhood seem to love the parade and it's colorful floats and the yuppies couples bring their kids down to watch the parade.  All this has occured in just a 5-6 year time period.  It seems the same thing can happen in Birmingham.  Doesn't the city government know who has the most disposable income and if made to feel welcome can do a major part in turning the city around? Also Tampa has a very progressive mayor and when a lot of business from Ybor City moved to Channelside, she has helped develop and market the Gaybor District that has over 70 gay friendly businesses and clubs.  All the high rise downtown condo developments in all 3 cities have market heavily to the gay community, even in the Orlando Sentinel.  The reason for my concern is I really love Birmingham and think it's a beautiful city.  It's hard to understand why it's not getting a lot of overflow companies from Atlanta moving in to that area since it is so close.  We have the I-4 corridor here that's marketed to include Tampa/St. Pete, Orlando/Daytona which is about a 100 miles accross the middle of the state and is turning in to a huge megopolis, soon approaching 7,000,000 people.  I suppose since Atlanta and Birmingham are in two different states probably makes a difference.  How can they be so close and so culturally different?  Get out and vote for more progressive leadership!! I'd love to visit or even move to a more liberal/progressive Birmingham!!

[kayman]

Yeah, as the demographics within Birmingham begins to shift further to the more affluent and educated end of the spectrum, we will see more progressive measures take place.  Unfortunately, I don't think the current mayoral administration is going to help that because most people have either a love-it or hate-it ideology now.  The conservatism and the civic apathy has been entrenched in this region so long that it will take at least a decade of aggressive push by the small groups and individuals (likely non-native to the region) to get the wheels turning here where you will see massive policy changes like Orlando.  The continued growth and develop spun off by UAB like the Innovation Depot will likely help Birmingham bring in better educated, open-minded individuals to help Birmingham get there.

[kayman]

Now it word came out today that Central Alabama Pride has filed a lawsuit in the federal court here in Birmingham against the City and Mayor Langford for the violation of First Amendment rights.  This stems from the Mayor's refusal of signing off allowing city workers to hang rainbow banners along lightposts on the Southside and Five Points South in preparation of Central Alabama Gay Pride Week in June 1-7.  The Mayor's said,

Quote

"The bottom line is I don't condone the lifestyle and what they were asking me to do. ... Proclamations are under my purview as mayor, so they're asking me for a personal endorsement."

  

This is although he also just 2 months previous the Mayor has said during a prayer rally held at the Boutwell Auditorium,

Quote

"In a city proclamation, that "like the king of Ninevah," he declared a "day of prayer in sackcloth and ashes." "

It is quite hypocritical to promote and praise one group yet criticize another.