I wish I could take the high road more often. Thank you Jacob Wilson for showing me that it can be done, even against narrow minded county officials.
[The] Dent County Commission in Southeast Missouri voted to fly flags at its Courthouse and Judicial Building at “below half-staff” -– in “mourning” over last month’s U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide. – boom.lgbt
Monday's (July 13th) unanimous vote by county officials passed a resolution to fly flags at all county municipal buildings at "below half-staff" for one day each month for the next 12 months. How narrow minded can all of them be?
A social media explosion and backlash about the county's proposed actions has led them to schedule a meeting for Wednesday July 15th to rescind the vote. There are varied opinions on the SCOTUS ruling all over the nation. Some arguments are a little more intelligent than others. So why did the county officials change their minds? They will not move forward with lowering the flag as a representation of their ignorance and homophobia because apparently it is worse to piss off veterans groups than it was to show their true ignorant colors about their lack of support for LGBT rights and equality.
“They apologized for offending veterans but have offered no apologies for their act of discrimination,” Wilson continued. “Rather than sit back and be angry, I decided it was time to take action and help LGBT kids back home because I’ve been in their shoes. For me, it is important to increase visibility of LGBT issues in my hometown of Salem so that LGBT youth receive positive messages of acceptance and love and to know that there is a network in the community and across the country that has their backs, even if local leaders don’t. And the Courage Scholarship will do just that.” – boom.lgbt interview with Colin Murphy
On a crowdrise.com page created by Jacob Wilson, he stated:
This isn't just about the flag; it tells the community that LGBT people do not deserve equal rights and dignity. This discriminatory, hateful message is harmful and hurtful to LGBT people and our straight allies, but it especially has the potential to negatively impact LGBT youth in the community. And that's why need to show LGBT youth in Salem that we have their back, even if many back home do not. – crowdrise.com
Once again, I want to thank Jacob Wilson for taking the high road and jumping over the low blows the Dent County Commission threw our way.
If you want to support Jacob and LGBT youth at Salem High School in Salem, MO, head on over to his crowdrise page here. Go over there anyway and see what Jacob Wilson has to say about the whole ordeal and learn more about the new Courage Scholarship.
If you are so moved to take action, maybe you should contact your local high school or the one you graduated from and see how you can make a difference, a scholarship, or how to get involved with LGBT youth. We need to show our support. That "It Gets Better" campaign was great, but maybe we need to step it up a little more like Jacob did. Put our time and money where our … well you know the saying.
But I also do not think this should turn into a "let's see how much money we can raise … or … how big can this get" campaign. A six figure rally by support for Christian bakers, a six figure fine handed down to Christian bakers, etc, so on and so forth. I do not think we need to show we can pile our dollar bills higher than anyone else, but instead let's stretch those dollar bills all over the nation. So maybe we should throw some money onto Jacob Wilson's website because he gave us this great idea, but keep some for your local fight, to support your local kids. Contact local officials and educators first before starting to collect.
This reminded me of another old saying … when life gives you lemons, make lemonade. Well I heard a better one the other day that I think I will use from now on.
When life gives you lemons, I make chocolate cake and leave bitches wondering how I did it.
