Taking coffee intravenuously, soaking my aching feet and leafing through the morning Courier-Journal, I was delighted to see a photo of realtor Curt Morrison on the front page of the business section.
Gays find real estate assistance; homosexual agents help same-sex couples, others, by Bill Wolfe (short shelf life for Courier-Journal links).
Here's an excerpt from the article, which begins by spotlighting the first-time home buying experience (in suburban Louisville) of a gay couple, whose purchase came with a hidden price:
When J. Pat Riley and David Vogel bought a house in a suburban community near Louisville 18 years ago, they never thought to ask their real estate agent how their new neighbors would receive a gay couple.
The agent, who was straight, never suggested there might be a problem.
It soon became clear, though, that "we weren't welcome there," Riley said. "We had problems with neighbors and people trying to vandalize and destroy things and make fun of us."
Hmm. Readers will recall that earlier in the week, NA Confidential offered a consideration of anti-intellectualism in New Albany.
Overt anti-intellectualism? Well, that would explain CM Price's votes against the interests of his own district.
Seeing as doltish anti-intellectualism and a virulent intolerance of diversity go together like beer and peanuts, like fundamentalism and hypocrisy (or like the Siamese councilmen, for that matter), are we correct in detecting a latent strain of homophobia in the foam-flecked utterances of the neolithic "no progress at any price" faction in New Albany?
It seems to us that New Albany's longtime sewage problem is not restricted to the effluent flowing beneath the streets. Rather, much of the difficulty lies with the type of sewage that stagnates between the ears of some, who apparently are "playing" their reactionary games by a discredited set of "rules."
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8 comments:
You've Got to be kidding.
Talk about making a stretch...
You have really hit bottom with this one.
East Ender, happy to see you reading.
Didn't I hear that you'd started a blog?
Glad you caught that, Brandon.
I should have italicized.
Homophobia, as well as many other varieties of prejudice and intolerance, is alive and well in New Albany.
Anyone who thinks otherwise must have his or her head buried deep in the sand to have missed it.
I agree with na girl, one of the biggest and most damaging is, hate. The thing that strikes me of this community over others that I have lived in is the desire to be miserable and breed hateful ideas, rather than join together and make life better. It almost is reminiscent of an old episode of the TV show The Twilight Zone and see just how backwards a city can be. My opinion only.
Shirley, please don't blame the messenger for bad news. That's East Ender's job, anyway, and she has it down to as close a science as she's likely to embrace.
Although we sometimes disagree on the specifics of Making New Albany “a better place to live,” I have no doubt whatsoever that you are foursquare behind the sentiments stated in your second paragraph, as you’ve always been forthright, and have posted under your own name when stating your opinions.
At the same time, I’d suggest that you open your eyes to certain aspects of reality. Among the people in this town who laud and share your advocacy of diversity and tolerance, there are gay, Hispanic and African-American residents – some prominent, other not -- who’d be glad to explain the nature of the harassment they endure on a daily basis.
You frequent a blog where open contempt toward human reason—the anti-intellectualism I referred to earlier -- is expressed on an almost hourly basis, and where instances of race-baiting have occurred in the past (remember the "Tony Toran is not a Christian" thread?) -– occasionally edited by the perpetually inconsistent moderator, and sometimes not.
There is not doubt in my mind that some of these people are bashing gays, as well – just now through the same Internet anonymisty that manifests itself in “mad as hell” cowardice, and later in violence, which is the only extralegal place being "mad as hell" can be expected to lead.
Where are the opposing voices on the formerly pink blog?
Unfortunately, from the start, East Ender’s “commitment” to free speech runs down a one-way street; the speech is free if you’re in agreement with her, and not otherwise, and so the spite and hatefulness that appears in her spitwad blogyard every day is not countered by a voice of reason– and there is no debate, and from this the impressionable among us forget what civilized discussion entails.
Inevitably, this will lead to the open incitement of violence – CT’s almost there, and more will follow -- and when it does, those who have done the inciting are as responsible for the ensuing damage as those wielding the baseball bats and chains.
You’ve consistently shown yourself to be the most reasonable person in that particular venue. I recommend a close examination of your intellectual surroundings. You may find them to be far less pastoral than the favored mythology suggests.
I've had the same experience as Brandon. Ceece makes a valid point but, unfortunately, that Southern Indiana stereotype is often hard to argue against with a mountain of evidence to the contrary presenting itself publicly on a regular basis.
I heard the words "fag" and "nigger" at the Harvest Homecoming this weekend just walking through the crowd and a guy working at the Depauw donut booth explained to me, a stranger and a customer, that the new fire regulations, the expense of which would take them years to recover, was the fault of "some college guy" as if university attendance was somehow equitable to violent crime.
It's one thing when the term redneck, as Jeff Foxworthy has described it, means an utter lack of pretense. It's quite another when it refers to a culture that celebrates ignorance, racism and homophobia and wears them like a badge of honor.
...citizens, you wish to "Clean Up New Albany" then the ugliest part of the city is the filth of hate.
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