Subscribe to Breaking News
Loading ...Birmingham gays sue mayor
08.28.2008 3:31pm EDT
(Birmingham, Alabama) Gay pride organizers in Birmingham have filed a civil rights lawsuit against Mayor Larry Langford over his refusal to allow Pride Week banners to be hung in the city.
The lawsuit by Central Alabama Pride accuses the mayor of violating the organization’s constitutional rights when he barred city workers from hanging the banners on city property in June.Court papers filed by the group claim the mayor has not restricted banners from other organizations and there was no rational basis to refuse the gay pride banners. The suit also says there is no criteria for hanging banners.
The group says in the suit that Langford subjected the group to religious discrimination in violation of the First Amendment and freedom of speech in violation of the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause
Langford told the Birmingham News that he did not discriminate against anyone and that the city only hangs banners for groups sponsored by the city.
The mayor called the suit a frivolous publicity stunt.
But Langford refused to sign a gay pride proclamation that was passed by city council in May and said at the time he would deny the group a parade permit.
The permit was eventually granted by the Birmingham Police Department and Langford did not interfere.
He still says he opposes gay pride celebrations and signing gay pride proclamations.
“The bottom line is I don’t condone the lifestyle and what they were asking me to do in my official capacity as mayor was to issue a proclamation which in essence endorsed the gay lifestyle,” Langford told The News.
“If I had issued such a proclamation, I would in essence be saying that God’s position is wrong and I wouldn’t dare take a position against God. So as opposed to suing me, they need to be suing God, and the last time I checked, he can defend himself. End of story.”
And Langford issued a warning to the Pride group.
“They better win the lawsuit,” Langford told the paper. “If not, I am going to sue them for harassment.”
Oh, I didn’t know he was black. Amazing, isn’t it. Just shows how prejudice and hatred trump all, just as it did during wwII, e.g. the Holocaust of the Jews.
What the issue seems to be with the Blacks is that
1. Being (recently) poor, people like that look back, rather then look forward. So they are easily trapped by religion, which has almost zero capacity for change.
2. Some of them view their own civil rights struggle as incomplete – true to some extent. So they fear that being associated with another downtrodden group is a risk to their future. The power of hate, from the right wing Christian hypocrites, have found another way to continue their power.
The mayor is just like the people who gave us slavery and it took 600,000 deaths to break the back of the South during the civil war. He is just like the people who gave us 100 more years of segregation.
And he dares to talk about God?! I suspect that God is building a thermonuclear furnace in hell, to be reserrved specifically for these hypocrits. To super hell with them. Bush them. (’Bush should replace ‘fxxk’ in our profanities dictionary, btw.
Perhaps that is what Gordon intended to state, but it surely did not read that way. (There have been a lot of anti-gay posters popping up on this site lately – and if I sense that they are here, I usually will try to smoke them out!)
wow what shocked me was when he said if they loose he would sue them for harassment. that’s freaking crazy! what idiot! yes I also hate when people use Gods name for such reasons… i truely hope those of the gay community win this case!
Chris I am not going to speak for Gordon but I did not read his comment the same way you did. I read it as though Gordon lives in Birmingham and “us” being the people of Birmingham and “you ” being the mayor and “accomplishing” being the discrimination in which the mayor has engaged.
However I do admit that the pronouns do not have proper antecedents so they (the pronouns) are ambiguous and leave the post open to ones perspective interpretation…much like the bible
“Gordon” – YES, OBVIOUSLY wo DO think this accomplished something and the fact that you think it “further embarassed us in front on the entire state” is revealing – are you some sort of self-loathing homosexual or something? The mayor is a pompous, self-righteous, hypocritical ass and this lawsuit is PERFECTLY appropriate.
I am so so so delighted to see that the Pride group (even though I think Pride of any type is in and of its self evil; nor do I believe in being ashamed either for being gay) is suing saying they are the victims of religious persecution and their (Pride) religious freedom is being denied. This is something that needed to be done for such a long long time.
yes Larry, suing the mayor demonstrates that when injustice occurs, we will not sit idly by, but we will fight back and fight back, and never give up until justice is achieved. Flush your embasassment down the toilet Larry and start standing up for equality
It the group is harassing the mayor, why would he wait until they loose the lawsuit to file charges…could it be he has no ground and knows he is not quite in the right?
That is why we left the South! I cannot get over the fact that so many feel God really gives a rat’s ass what goes on in governmental affairs at the city, county, state and federal levels, not to mention football games and any other ridiculously simple event for which they seek God’s blessing or do for His glory or in His name. Learn from history, folks. The mentality that gives government over to religion was responsible for the Inquisition, along with many other horrors. I think that’s why the Constitution includes that politely worded section that dictates church and state shall be separate. It’s a two way street: Keep your religion out of our government and the government will stay out of your religion.
Do you really think this accomplished anything other than further embarrassing us in front of the entire state?
Another “It’s not what I want, it’s what GOD wants.” Idiot. I’m surprised he didn’t toss in “Love the sinner, hate the sin” as well. Love the christian, hate the christianity.
Would someone relatively local to Birmingham or into legal or news research quickly find an example of this mayor having city employees hanging banners for a group that the city didn’t sponsor? Or is sponsoring them as simple as signing the proclamation?
It amazes me how such incredibly ignorant people can achieve such levels of success if society. No Larry, God is not involved in this issue – no matter how much you’ve been (obviously) brainwashed into believing otherwise. I guess we will just have to wait until enough of the ignorant senior set die off until there is some real worthwhile change in this country. The fact that he is black and anti-gay used to surprise me, I always thought that people who’ve experienced discrimination would be more prone to not tolerate it in themselves. Unfortuantely, that isn’t the case. Fortunately, dinosaurs like Larry are dying out and I can only say “thank God”.
lol…what an idiot…these Church nuts are frightening. Oh, and please remind me to never return to the South.