Or maybe it’s not so unbelievable.
The Kentucky Equality Federation reports that a gay male couple was ejected from The Pavilion, a public, city-owned, taxpayer-funded swimming pool in Hazard, Kentucky. Both of the men also have developmental and intellectual disabilities. Discrimination doesn’t get a whole lot more blatant and disgusting than this.
Apparently, a staff member at The Pavilion approached the couple and asked them to leave. The men were there with staff from Mending Hearts, Inc., a facility that cares for the developmentally disabled. According to the support staff accompanying the men, they were not engaging in any inappropriate behavior – certainly nothing to warrant forcible ejection from a public pool. Mending Hearts staff asked The Pavilion staff why the men were being forced to leave, and they were told that “gay people” were not allowed to swim at The Pavilion.
According to Shirlyn Perkins, Executive Director at Mending Hearts:
My staff told this man that what he was trying to do was discrimination. The man stated that what he was doing was in the Bible and he could do it. My staff continued to argue with this man, but was ultimately forced to leave. My clients, whom already feel ridiculed and different, left the city owned facility crying and embarrassed for trying to participate in "normal" activities that everyday "normal" people do.
That’s right – the Bible commands good Christians to eject developmentally and intellectually disabled gay people from public swimming pools. If this doesn’t outrage you, nothing will.
The Kentucky Equality Federation’s Julia Oiler Spiegel has issued the following statement on the incident:
The two gay males with developmental and intellectual disabilities were discriminated against by the staff of The Pavilion based on their sexual orientation...As a gay parent of a child with a developmental challenge, I am outraged by this complete act of ignorance directed at these young men and their staff. As a public community service, the The Pavilion has a responsibility to provide equal treatment to all members of their facility and to properly educate their staff accordingly. A Biblical comment is totally inappropriate. All citizens of the Commonwealth of Kentucky should be treated with equality and respect, based not only on their intellectual abilities but their sexual orientation as well. This was a humiliating experience for both of these young men and will not be tolerated. I demand a public apology, not only these young men, but to the clients and staff of Mending Hearts, Inc. as well as the LGBTI community of Perry County.
So far, as far as I can see (even though the story is about a day old), no apology has been issued. Two disabled gay men left a swimming pool in tears through no fault of their own, and no real action has been taken by The Pavilion or the government of Hazard. The closest the couple has received was a generic statement from the mayor’s office claiming that all people are welcome at The Pavilion. Well…apparently not.
A peaceful protest is being planned by the Kentucky Equality Federation at Hazard City Hall and The Pavilion. All that is being requested in return for calling off the protests is an apology. Obviously, though, this should merit more than an apology. Serious corrective action needs to be taken. This isn’t just a matter of making some stupid remarks to gay people – The Pavilion staff kicked out disabled gay people because “the Bible said so.”
I would include an e-mail address for The Pavilion, but according to some commenters on Joe My God, the e-mail address is no longer accepting e-mails. If you feel especially inclined to contact the pool, though, the phone number is (606) 436-4200. City Hall can be reached at (606) 436-3171. You can also sign a petition demanding an apology here.
Oh, and it's been brought to my attention that this was previously diaried by ekyprogressive. Check out this diary for more info.
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UPDATE via ekyprogressive: Nan Gorman, the mayor of Hazard, now says that the city is sorry for the incident. No decisions, however, have been made about the pool staff that ejected the couple. Gorman adds:
I've had people call from everywhere. You'd think we've had a murder scene up here, a massacre.
Yeah, that's kinda what happens when a disabled gay couple gets ejected from a public swimming pool based on "the Bible."
Now hopefully some serious action will be taken against the staff responsible for this incident.
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The Pavilion, it should be noted, has not apologized. The protest is still planned at The Pavilion for Saturday at 2:00 PM. According to this blogger, Charlotte Sizemore, the director of record for The Pavilion, had a rather interesting response. From a blogger at the New Progressive Muckraker:
I cried. First and foremost, who in the world did this maintenance technician (Mr. Haines) (sic) think he was that he could say such things to ANYONE, much less two developmentally challenged men? I wanted to know, so I Googled The Pavilion, Hazard, Kentucky, and got a name: Charlotte Sizemore. Ms. Sizemore is, as of this afternoon, the director of record for The Pavilion. I called her office, and spoke to her. I identified myself as a writer and blogger, and I had a few questions regarding an article I had seen on The Advocate's website. I had the article up in front of me, and began asking her specific questions about the incident. Ms Sizemore informed me that, even though she had "been off" that day, and had not spoken with the maintenance technician, the entire story was "a lie". That peaked my interest, as I never believe anyone who tells me something is false when they have no proof, so I began digging. I asked Ms. Sizemore why the men were ejected from the pool, and she said "they were doin' stuff", and said that if "straight people were doin' that stuff, we'd make them leave, too". I had heard whispers at this point that all one man did was sit on the other's knee and put his arm around him, but I didn't want to go there yet, so I said that I had read somewhere they were just swimming. She laughed and said no, they weren't just swimming. I pushed, and it was at this point that the conversation took a surreal turn. Charlotte Sizemore said to me "You don't fucking know, fuck you" and hung up on me.
So yeah, the protest is still on.