Tag Archives: bullying

Mayor starts walking back gay pride comments on WALB

Rainbow flagsValdosta Mayor John Gayle starts practicing the non-apology apology by saying he’s sorry people aren’t happy while complimenting the content of the anti-bullying proclamation he wouldn’t sign. He continues to provide earned media for the South Georgia Pride Festival.

Lydia Jennings reported for WALB yesterday, Valdosta Mayor denies Gay Pride event proclamation,

Raynae Williams Asst. Director South Georgia Pride “I’m not asking him to proclaim that he’s for gay marriage, I’m not asking any of that. It’s just simply stating that we’re here and we’re apart of the community,” said Williams.

Valdosta Mayor John Gayle “Too many times we give up our strong beliefs to make people happy, and I’m sorry that my decision didn’t make a lot of people happy,” said Gayle.

The Mayor says he compliments the organization for bringing awareness and education to bullying and hate crimes against the gay community. The event will be September 15 at the John W. Saunders Park in Valdosta.

Well, he looks apologetic, and he said he’s sorry, Valdosta banner but he for sure ain’t signin’ that proclamation, which was against bullying and hate crimes not just for the gay community, but “for all sexual orientations, races and religions.” Is he not against bullying other races and religions?

Those rainbow flags seem quite festive, as do those Valdosta banners.

-jsq

Valdosta Mayor provides more earned media for group he doesn’t like

Valdosta Mayor Gayle continues to provide earned media to a group he doesn’t agree with, South Georgia Pride. He says people support him ten to 1 in refusing to issue a proclamation against bullying. Yet a local TV online poll is running 2 to 1 against his position. In addition to the obvious cultural issues, there are also economic issues involved.

Dean Poling wrote for the VDT today, Pride denied: Valdosta mayor denies LGBT event proclamation,

Gayle said responses are running 10-1 in agreement with his decision.

WTXL.tv (ABC 27) asks in a poll attached to a story by Jade Bulecza yesterday, Mayor turns down proclamation request from gay community,

Do you agree with Mayor Gayle’s decision not to sign the P.R.I.D.E. Proclamation?
Yes (32.4%)
No (67.6%)

That looks to me like 2 to 1 against the mayor’s position. Bulecza’s story included:

“Most of them (proclamations) are for the cancer society, the heart fund, you know things like this or either a pastor at a church for so many years and everything and this is the first one I get like this where my beliefs interfere with it,” said Mayor Gayle.

The mayor says he recognizes all the group does for the community. He says he welcomes everyone to Valdosta.

Since Mayor Gayle took office in January this is the only proclamation he turned down. The south Georgia group says they had a proclamation signed last year.

In less than a year in office the mayor has already found difficulty separating his personal beliefs from his office as mayor.

What was he asked to sign, anyway? The VDT story has the details:

The requested proclamation does not include an endorsement of gay marriage nor does it officially endorse the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender lifestyle.

“The proclamation opposes bullying and hate crimes based on sexual orientation,” Williams said. “It says the city recognizes we’re here and we’re part of the community.”

In essence, the submitted proclamation would have noted that the South Georgia Pride Committee:

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People, citizens with the same rights as everyone else, being intimidated and bullied –Jeff

 

We have another response to Interesting voting at Lowndes County Republican Convention Delegate Meeting. Jeff blogged on WOW! Lowndes County Republican Delegate Meeting Video:

…What you will see in this short video is people, citizens with the same rights as everyone else, being intimidated and bullied at what is supposed to be a meeting that has rules and procedures in place to ensure fairness and due process. I will be the first one to admit, this video is a wake up call to me that I need to have a better understanding of these rules and procedures. One does not have to have a full working knowledge of the rules and procedures to see what is happening in this video. There are a few at this meeting (some are newbies to this process) that obviously disagree with the majority and the majority do not like it one bit! At this point I would like to point out that it would have been proper if those that were experienced would have been nicer and appreciate the fact that other people in the community are getting involved, as we all should, and taken the opportunity to help them understand procedures. Instead they do their best to ridicule and make them feel uncomfortable….

I don’t think the reaction of those that were guilty of using such tactics was because these people were Ron Paul supporters. I believe they would have responded exactly the same to anyone that had the audacity to question or challenge them, to not just sit there like good little zombies and go along with whatever they said. You see, that is where the real problem lies. Those with power or authority have either been corrupted by that power and authority or believe

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If the “establishment” had wished to…. –Barbara Stratton

Received yesterday on Interesting voting at Lowndes County Republican Convention Delegate Meeting. -jsq

What the video does not say is the Ron Paul people have been crashing all GOP conventions nationwide & they have been encouraged to create confusion & stalling in the hopes regular GOP delegates have to leave for other commitments & they can then vote themselves in as delegates. Ron Paul cannot win the GOP nomination so they are attempting to hijack the system to put their delegates in hoping to be able to vote for RP at the national convention. Whether or not one agrees with their methods the fact is at the Lowndes County GOP Convention the RP people were clearly outnumbered by what they call the establishment (those who pay dues & work all year for the party). If the “establishment” had wished to do so we could have out voted them on each and every individual delegate position so that they had zero delegates. Instead they were generously allowed a more than fair number of delegate slots in an effort to have a compromise. If there appears to be some impatience from those in charge it was because the RP participants were not cognitive of the fact they were arguing a moot point that could have gone against them if pursued. The video also does not tell you that some of the RP Libertarian values are so attractive to liberal Democrats that a large group of Democrats have joined the RP forces, calling themselves Blue Republicans, in an effort to aid the RP hijacking of the GOP conventions. The RP participants are aware of these Blue Republicans because they communicate with & encourage each other. I have spoken with RP delegates who participated in the county convention who agreed that they could have been totally shut out for delegate nominations per the number ratio. I’m confused about from who & why this video is surfacing now when the convention was back in March and at least some of the more intelligent RP participants acknowledged they were treated more fairly than could have been the outcome. In hind sight many wish they had encouraged individual voting to be pursued, thus eliminating all RP delegates, since the compromise was not appreciated.

-Barbara Stratton

I must have missed any answers to the questions raised in the video. As for when the video “surfaced”, YouTube says it was posted 11 March 2012. Apparently some “establishment” Republicans find certain RP positions, such as against NDAA, attractive. Or maybe there are issues that transcend party labels. That could be why “establishment” Republican Barbara and liberal Democrat jsq collaborate in LAKE.

-jsq