Commissioners Portune, Pepper Proclaim Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Pride Day
Official proclamation kept secret
The majority of Hamilton County residents no doubt were not aware.
You couldn’t find the official proclamation on their Web site. No mention under “Minutes and Agendas.” But in their role as the elected representatives of Hamilton County residents, two out of three members of the Hamilton County Board of Commissioners (Todd Portune and David Pepper) recently proclaimed Saturday, June 14, 2008, as Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Day. The majority of Hamilton County residents undoubtedly do respect – as fellow citizens and as fellow human beings – those who experience same-sex attraction (“gay, lesbian, bisexual”). Many Hamilton County residents, however, recognize that same-sex behaviors can have serious physical, emotional and spiritual consequences. Thus, they do not take pride in or celebrate lifestyles characterized by those behaviors. The majority of Hamilton County residents also respect those who suffer from gender identity disorder, recognized by the American Psychiatric Association as a mental disorder. Among those who suffer from that disorder are those who identify themselves as “transgenders.”
 According to Webster’s Online Dictionary, “Transgender is generally used as a catch-all umbrella term for a variety of individuals, behaviors, and groups centered around the full or partial reversal of gender roles. More recently, the term transgender can also mean someone who considers that they fall 'between' genders, not identifying strictly to one gender or the other, identifying themselves as neither fully male, nor female… Transgender includes a number of sub-categories, which, among others, include transsexuals, cross-dressers, transvestites, consciously androgynous people, drag queens and drag kings.”
Again, the majority of Hamilton County residents respect those who suffer from such disorders. But they do not take pride in, or celebrate, the behaviors associated with such disorders.
Why, then, we must question, did Commissioners Todd Portune and David Pepper feel justified in issuing such a proclamation? Was it the politically correct response to a request from the organizers of Pride Alive, the two-day Gay-Lesbian-Bisexual-Transgendered celebration held in Cincinnati's Northside on June 13 and 14?
 Commissioner Pat DeWine did not give in to such pressure, and refused to sign the proclamation. We applaud that response. His was the genuinely compassionate response. A compassionate person does not celebrate the destructive or disordered behaviors of those for whom he cares.
To protect, respect and value the contribution of all citizens of our community is the responsibility of all of us. But when the majority of the citizens whom they represent believe that gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender behaviors are unhealthy and destructive, for Commissioners Portune and Pepper to proclaim a day of “Pride” in such behaviors seems inappropriate, at best. |