Town wingnuts demand rainbow flag be taken down from private business

[kevinbgoode]

In the little town of Maude, Kansas, this family-owned bed and breakfast/restaurant looks like a popular operation - until the 12-year-old son of the owner went to the Wizard of Oz museum and purchased a rainbow flag for his father as a souvenier...dammit..I'm not spelling tonight...Anyway, the son told his dad it reminded him of the song in the movie "Over the rainbow" and like any proud father, he put the flag on the pole under the American flag. Well, all was good...until the town wiggiest wingnuts decided to start trashing it as a symbol of gay pride - demanding that it HAD TO GO. . .and from the little pseudo-christo-fascist radio station to the little wiggy newspaper to one of the local ministers calling to demand it be removed, the town is in an uproar trying to ruin the family's business over the flag.
One local told a television station that the rainbow flag was just like having the Nazis raise a flag in a Jewish community. . .an example of utter looniness if I've ever seen one. .. but further evidence of the grassroots fascist revolutionary propaganda issued by the American Right and Taliban.

See for yourself. . .there's a nice videoclip here at one of the local stations:

http://www.kwch.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=KWCH%2FMGArticle%2FWCH_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1149189283448&path=!news!local

Maybe some DU-ers might like to write a nice letter...or flood the wingnut local newspaper with letters asking if the town's water supply is filled with Jesus Juice Kool-Aid...

[DanCa]

1. But I thought that they

supported the right of private buisness owners? :Sarcasm:
I have absolutely had it with the wing nuts. The only thing that is consistent about them is thier hatred and insanity.

[Betsy Ross]

2. I don't think that's the "gay" flag.

The B&B is flying a flag with colors in rainbow order. The flag the wingnuts are thinking about does not have the colors in order.

[cboy4]

3. O.K.. Hold everything. How interesting is it that a person with the screen

name "Betsy Ross" is responding to a post involving a flag?!?!?!?!?!?!

TOO MUCH!!!!! :)

[Betsy Ross]

11. Seamstress to the Revolution. n/t

[kevinbgoode]

4. What a wonderful idea for a letter to their little newspaper

the name of it is the Meade County News. . .

[e-mail]

Let's make their bigot heads explode. . .

[mwb970]

17. Here's my little letter.

To: [e-mail]

Hello -

I'm sure you have received a lot of e-mail about the prejudice displayed by ignorant right-wingers in your tiny town, so I won't trouble you by denouncing the narrow-minded bigotry revealed by the "rainbow flag" situation. Just imagine, little Maude, Kansas, is now known around the world as a town whose citizens have very little to do with their time!

I am SO glad right now that I don't live in Maude, or even in Kansas. I would be ashamed.

[KT2000]

5. Can they sue?

It sure looks like there is an effort to put them out of business based on a lie.
Corporations have had to fight off such effortds - Proctor & gamle over the moon illustration.

[BlueIris]

6. Man. Homophobia really will warp the mind, won't it? Jesus.

[mtnester]

16. Jesus has NOTHING to do with this you understand

He would be as appalled at what people do in his name as the rest of us are.

:)

[Withywindle]

7. Now, I'm a fairly strict observer of Godwin's Law, but...

One local told a television station that the rainbow flag was just like having the Nazis raise a flag in a Jewish community. . .



Er, in terms of who is a persecuted minority under a hostile government and who isn't, wouldn't it be rather more the other way around? Just sayin'.

[rodeodance]

8. this comment is beyond the pale (too much of this last few years).

...

One local told a television station that the rainbow flag was just like having the Nazis raise a flag in a Jewish community. .

[Withywindle]

10. That's what I hate so much about the Talibangelicals

They're LOUSY WINNERS.


They have a level of power that's embarrassing and terrifying, they control EVERY branch of government directly or indirectly, and yet they still nurture this delusional persecution complex, where by painting themselves as "victims" they can rain down all sorts of vile invective on any group who isn't them and claim underdog status.

Fuck 'em all and the naked emperor they rode in on. Render under Caesar what is Caesar's--and in this case, "Caesar" is Caligula complete with delusions of divinity.

[enigmatic]

23. that quote

is of a person w/ an IQ of a canned ham. What an imbecile..

[Norrin Radd]

9. The B&B owners should fly this flag, as well:

http://www.gyldan.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=5&zenid=c24d526600ed450a5ebcf1281aab2a4e

or have a flag printed with an image of the First Amendment.


I wonder if those idiots will boycott all products associating Jesus with rainbows?

http://www.orientaltrading.com/application?namespace=browse&origin=searchMain.jsp&event=link.itemDetails&demandPrefix=12&sku=26/12900&mode=Searching&erec=11&D=religious&Ntt=religious&Ntk=all&Dx=mode%252bmatchallpartial&Ntx=mode%252bmatchallpartial&y=0&N=0&x=0&sd=RELIGIOUS+ARTIST+FLOWERPOTS


http://www.clearimpression.net/catalog4.0.html


http://christianjourney.com/christian/pins.html


http://www.saidwithcharm.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=647


Or Revelation 10:1

And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire

[BR_Parkway]

12. I run a B&B and have membership in a couple of B&B owner groups -

just posted something about this there. The groups are going to try to steer as much business that way as possible to support the owners.

Glad to see the Party that supposedly supports Small Business is up to their usual shit. Somebody cue the lions.

[dsc]

13. How unbelieveable

It sounds like the Newspaper had problems with them before from the video. If I ever go to Kansas I know where I will be spending the night.

[chat_noir]

14. Fox Kansas: "He's not gay but his flag is"

For J.R. and Robin knight, owning a bed and breakfast is everything they've always wanted. "We came here in search of our dreams, my wife always wanted a bed and breakfast and I always wanted a restaurant," says California native J.R. Knight.

But recently their dream has turned into a nightmare, all because of a flag they're flying outside. It's a rainbow flag - to some people it means friendship to some people it means gay pride," says Knight. But for knight, it was just a souvenir from his 12-year-old son.

Knight says the local Meade newspaper is trying to put him out of business and was frustrated when it ran an article about the flag and did not even bother to contact him regarding why he put it up. In fact, most people we spoke to in Meade said they didn't even know what the flag meant until the article ran. But once word got around, the reaction was harsh.

Knight says the radio station has called him threatening to remove the restaurants commercials if he does not remove the flag. A local pastor stopped by said it was equivalent to hanging womens panties on a flag pole. When Knight jokingly said he might consider that the preacher said he would have him arrested.


snip

Local resident, Keith Klassen, says the flag is a slap in the face to the conservative community of Meade. To me it's just like running up a Nazi flag in a Jewish neighborhood. I can't walk into that establishment with that flag flying because to me that's saying that I support what the flag stands for and I don't," says Klassen.


http://www.foxkansas.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=080DBD4D-9D07-4F9C-8402-E8D7910BF223

[rucky]

15. They should definately go fuck themselves. n/t

[kevinbgoode]

18. omg...I got the name of the town wrong - it's Meade

Well now...that's what I get for posting late at night...

[Duncan Grant]

19. Please K&R for a great guy in Kansas!

This is an inspiring video-clip. Please recommend.

The best part of the story is to watch this business owner take a stand against ignorance and bigotry. He defiantly states that gay and lesbian people are welcome at his B&B and that they can expect good customer service. Furthermore, he says he will continue to fly the rainbow flag indefinitely.

You want to see the face of a man you'd love to have as a neighbor? Watch this clip.

[Duncan Grant]

20. Kicking for a good man and a revealing story. (nt)

:kick:

[Taxloss]

21. Compare and contrast with their attitude to crosses on state property.

Because there's more than a little hypocrisy at play here.

Ugh. Bigots.

[karlrschneider]

22. Keith Kenneth Klassen, perhaps?

:eyes:

[WestSeattle2]

24. Good Lord.....

and this lunacy is in America 2006. What an embarrassment. Well, Preacher Phelps, Jerry Falwell, and Pat Robertson are surely proud of the brain trust they've cultivated in Maude, Kansas.

[FredStembottom]

25. Woo-hoo! Road trip to Meade, Kansas, anyone?

My family comes from another small Kansas town near there - and I have been wanting to go down and have a look - but it's such a long way from Minnesota!

But maybe a visit to Meade's famous bed and breakfast would spur me to finally make the trip!

:think:

[NoSheep]

27. Hey! I like it! Oh I'd just be a natural for that trip!

[NoSheep]

26. This just makes me feel so tired. Just wears me the fuck out.

[mnhtnbb]

28. Yeah, Unity on Earth. What a horrible idea.

Does anyone else see the irony of the guy in the video who thinks it's like flying a Nazi flag in a Jewish community? Maybe the community is acting like a bunch of Nazis.

[kestrel91316]

29. Here's my letter to the nutballs at the paper:

Dear MCNEWS and citizens of Meade:
What in God's name is WRONG with you people?
Your persecution of the Knights and attack on their business because you mistakenly believe that their rainbow flag indicates support for gays is completely loony. It's unchristian. And it makes you look incredibly stupid and bigoted to the rest of the world. This story has now made your small-minded little town a complete laughingstock around the world because of the internet.
A young boy goes somewhere and gets a Wizard of Oz (remember that? Dorothy, Toto, Glenda, and Kansas?) souvenir flag with a rainbow on it and his dad proudly flies it at his B & B and you all got on the attack like a bunch of crazed sharks. Are you all certifiably insane????
Furthermore, so what if he does support gays? Last I heard, we had this weird thing called a Constitution with an even weirder thing called a First Amendment. Free speech reigns in the US, but then again maybe only if you're a Republican. The Democrats and liberals are just LITTLE PEOPLE to be put in our place and told to shut up.
Get over that hatred of gays while you are at it. They don't choose to be gay. Sexual preference is not a choice - if it were you would be able to tell me at what point in your life YOU chose to be heterosexual. And you can't. So quit persecuting people for the way they were born.
Don't you have better things to do with your time than harrass good businesspeople? Can your pitiful little hamlet AFFORD to drive a taxpaying business away? Would that make you PROUD??????

Sincerely,

[Bosso 63]

30. Why stop at the rainbow flag?

The good people of Maude should ban real rainbows as well, maybe even all secondary colors while their at it. Take orange for example, it's not red and it's not yellow, it's something in between. How can you trust that? The same could be said for green and certainly purple. Hell, let's just reduce the color spectrum to black and white just to be safe. Think of the children.

[kestrel91316]

31. I got a brief response from the newspaper linked to in this thread. They

seem to smell a story about how the story has spread far and wide.

Kick

[TrueStory]

32. Why are they selling "gay flag" in the Wizard of Oz museum?

...and what is God's message when the rainbow appears on the sky?

[depakid]

33. I feel sorry for reasonable people from Kansas

With such a large and vocal population of totally off the deep end types, it must be embarrassing to travel- or especially to go to professional conferences and such.