SCHENECTADY Chapter supports controversial ads NAACP backs ‘I am gay’ efforts BY KATHLEEN MOORE Gazette Reporter
The local NAACP chapter threw its support behind the controversial “I am gay” billboards Thursday, saying blacks will help fight the next civil rights battle. “Someone’s orientation shouldn’t have anything to do with the content of their character,” NAACP chapter President Paul Webster said, evoking the words of Martin Luther King Jr. during his speech for racial equality. Webster spoke up three days after City Councilman Joseph Allen, the only black member of the council, said the “I am gay” signs should be removed. “Sorry, Councilman Allen,” Webster said. “The NAACP feels strongly about protecting the rights of all.” In 2009, at the National NAACP Convention, leaders asked every chapter to create a committee for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered blacks. In Schenectady, the chapter went further. Members are lobbying for same-sex marriage rights, Webster said, and stand in support of gay students’ rights. They also support the “I am gay” campaign, Webster said. It is intended to fight the stigma of being gay and thus encourage men to make healthier choices and avoid HIV infection. The advertising campaign was funded by the state Department of Health, which also issued a statement strongly supporting the signs after Monday’s criticism. Allen, who was the only member of the council to object to the signs, said Monday that the signs should come down because they might encourage children to become gay. Webster offered a sarcastic response. “Then maybe we should have a campaign saying, ‘I am a successful college graduate,’ ” he said. “Look, the councilman should be more concerned with the dangerous individuals who each day are recruiting black children, and other children, into the gangs and drug dealing that is so prevalent in our society.” But Allen wasn’t alone in saying the signs could spread homosexuality. ..................>>>>..................>>>>.......................http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r00903&AppName=1
Great, now the AP has a Schenectady Councilmember stating that a poster is responsible for putting a "stamp of approval on a gay lifestyle". What, did he ask Sue Savage for help with this??
I didn't like the fact that money was spent on billboards rather than on research or community programs for AIDS awareness, but Allen has totally taken this issue to a new low. Approval of a gay lifestyle comes from ones own beliefs, not from a billboard.
Great, now the AP has a Schenectady Councilmember stating that a poster is responsible for putting a "stamp of approval on a gay lifestyle". What, did he ask Sue Savage for help with this??
I didn't like the fact that money was spent on billboards rather than on research or community programs for AIDS awareness, but Allen has totally taken this issue to a new low. Approval of a gay lifestyle comes from ones own beliefs, not from a billboard.
I disagree,
Joe Allen is right. The fact that this billboard for one doesn't reference AIDS/HIV on the billboard, but secondly, it attempts to project an image that the homosexual lifestyle is not just tolerated in our society but should be embraced as "normal". This should at the least be open to question.
The equivalent example I would give is if the government after determining smoking tobacco products was harmful to your health, addictive, cancer causing and deadly, and then plastered billboards around the capital district, depicting people smoking, laughing and having a good time - in essence glorifying smoking - the very behavior they deemed unhealthy. That would be ridiculous. The government actually passed laws banning tobacco companies from using images like the Marlboro Man, or Joe Camel in their advertisement because they didn’t want to attract children to this deadly behavior.
I just find it a bit odd that government has determined that AIDS/HIV to be a problem, especially in the gay black community, yet they fund billboards promoting tolerance toward that very behavior.
I’m certainly not saying they should put up billboards vilifying gay behavior, but using government money to bring acceptance to the behavior seems like a waste and counter productive. IMO
HATE SPEECH FROM JOE ALLEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!! BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
"While Foreign Terrorists were plotting to murder and maim using homemade bombs in Boston, Democrap officials in Washington DC, Albany and here were busy watching ME and other law abiding American Citizens who are gun owners and taxpayers, in an effort to blame the nation's lack of security on US so that they could have a political scapegoat."
Again the government is paying for 'segregation'. HIV is and can effect everyone and anyone. If it were mostly male white gay men, would the government have paid for all of these bill boards?
Or is the bill board insinuating that white gay men are smarter and more well educated and use condoms and black men are stupid and uneducated?
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
Attitudes about gay billboards show why they are needed
Re Jan. 11 article, “Critics urge removal of gay signs”: In Our Own Voices, the Capital Region’s only organization explicitly serving the needs of LGBT [lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender] people of color, has been receiving negative media attention for an ad campaign focusing on increasing the visibility of gay men of color. The reaction of some members of the Schenectady community only reinforces the needs for such a campaign. Apparently, showing gay men with their families, in church and on a basketball court, is still considered “inappropriate” and somehow morally suspect. Day-care provider Pamela Spicer is concerned that the billboards might raise questions for preschoolers on their way to the public library about “what gay means;” questions she doesn’t know how to answer. Here is the answer, Pamela. First of all, if your preschoolers are able to read the words “I am gay,” the first thing to say is “great job reading.” Then you can simply explain that gay is when two people love each, like two women or two men. If these images evoke community hostility and confusion, it only points to a greater need for increased state Department of Health funding, or else how will Pamela Spicer work with LGBT colleagues, or provide services to samesex parents whose children attend the preschool. I am concerned about what she will say when the child says, “My two moms love each other.” I suggest that the In Our Own Voices ad campaign has proven our need for an expanded educational program so our Tri-City area becomes increasingly accepting of its diverse citizenry.
‘I am gay’ billboard designed to help youth clarify sexuality
Re Jan. 11 article, “Critics urge removal of gay signs”: It seems to us that the objections raised at the Jan. 10 City Council meeting regarding the “I am gay” billboard represent an attitude toward our gay and lesbian neighbors that is unfaithful to our faith traditions. The idea that the “I am gay” billboard message only encourages troubled youth to embrace homosexuality is unfounded. A person’s sexuality is determined by a number of biological factors, including genetics, and therefore is not a matter of choice. Such billboards will not change the sexuality of a straight youngster, but it may help a gay one realize that there’s nothing wrong with the way he/she feels about others. For a teen having diffi culty determining a self-identity, an honest recognition that no one orientation is better than others may relieve concerns about being different. We need to recognize the unique qualities of each individual by allowing the divine image to form of its own accord. Suppressing the reality that alternate sexualities may be as healthy as straight relationships is counterproductive to both well-balanced individuals and an open society. While as religious leaders, we recognize hurtful elements in our traditions, we also know that there’s a more powerful element in our faiths. That element calls us to be accepting of all persons and open to the wide variety of our human family. The overpowering love of God flows more freely than narrow-minded bigotry based on the selective use of tradition to prop up ancient prejudice. We perceive God as doing “a new thing” (Isaiah 43:29). God is still creating the image of our humanity by allowing us to incorporate into our faith the wisdom of medical and psychological research. This vision of the divine calls us to reject a view that questions the beauty of God’s creativity in human diversity.
REV. LARRY PHILLIPS REV. STEVEN M. SMITH Schenectady The writers are, respectively, pastors for Emmanuel Baptist/Friedens United Church of Christ and Eastern Parkway United Methodist Church. The letter was signed by the Schenectady Congregations for Sexual Inclusiveness.
Re Jan. 11 article, “Critics urge removal of gay signs”: I am very disturbed by the negative reactions to the billboards in Schenectady that inform the public of what they should already know — that gay people are an integral and contributing part of the community. Those who view members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community as sinners and criminals — as opposed to business owners, churchgoers, doctors, volunteers, members of the military, parents, teachers and taxpayers — are very much in denial about the diversity of the world they inhabit. Those who invoke religion to justify homophobia might consider that slavery was likewise defended upon religious grounds. It is doubtful that anyone ever made a snap decision about their sexual orientation because they saw a billboard. Countless individuals, including teenagers, however, have committed suicide, been viciously attacked and murdered because of societal bigotry toward their identity.
BARBARA SMITH Albany The writer is a member of the Albany Common Council.
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