Also a little ditbit from me being a Michigander. The whole bloody western side of the state (where Kalamazoo is located) is all traditionally very conservative. So it doesn’t surprise me that the commissioners were so apprehensive of allowing it to be put to a public vote.

However, I feel it’s going to likely be put to a public vote either now or in the future. So they might of well has stuck to it now, see if it got put on a ballot, then addressed the situation with whatever the outcome of the vote would have been. Obtaining a non-discrimination policy will all come down to a vote: either by the commissioners or by the citizens of Kalamazoo repealing the law if the public were to pass it on a ballot. So let’s see and have some educating and campaigning.

But above all, this is ridiculous that anyone would bloody oppose this! Come on. What’s their argument? That it’s a choice and doesn’t deserve “special treatment.” We’ve got some educating to do. But let’s hope that most people aren’t on their side in the first place. Good grief.

ARTIST: Rodgers and Hammerstein
TITLE: You’ve Got to Be Carefully Taught

[South Pacific]1949

You’ve got to be taught to hate and fear
You’ve got to be taught from year to year
It’s got to be drummed in your dear little ear
You’ve got to be carefully taught

You’ve got to be taught to be afraid
Of people whose eyes are oddly made
And people whose skin is a different shade
You’ve got to be carefully taught

You’ve got to be taught before it’s too late
Before you are six or seven or eight
To hate all the people your relatives hate
You’ve got to be carefully taught
You’ve got to be carefully taught

Both the unanimous passage and the reversal do not surprise me. The political leadership has always been generally progressive. However, there is a yahoo contingent in the area, and what the article does not share is that AFA of Michigan can draw from and organize a wide swath of highly religious/conservative people in the “Dutch triangle” of Kalamazoo, Grand Rapids, and Holland, Michigan.

These individuals are, in many cases, descendants of Dutch immigrants who fled the Netherlands in 19th century because they were part of a subculture that was disliked by the rest of the Netherlands for having extremely conservative-religious views (e.g., the immigrants thought dancing is a sin).

When they established the colony of Holland, Michigan in 1847, they decided it was godly to burn down the native American villages.

The conservative, mob-ready culture that remains in parts of western lower Michigan had a big part in the harassment of Gerry Crane, a music teacher in Byron Center, Michigan who was outed and ended up dying young of stress-related problems.

Finally: The name of the city of Kalamazoo was named after the Kalamazoo River, with “Kalamazoo” being a native American name.