Had to go to the airport to pick up a friend, and listened to a little of the Pittsburgh am talk, and this is apparently the issue driving local wingnuts insane:
A rainbow flag flying outside the City-County Building, Downtown, led Mary Ann Burkhart to take a stand.
Burkhart of Bethel Park took issue with a decision by Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl’s administration to hoist the flag representing the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community on Wednesday, when the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments for a second day on gay marriage.
“This is outrageous,” Burkhart said on Thursday. “What’s the message here? You can’t not speak up.”
Ravenstahl’s office received a few calls about the flag, a symbol of gay pride, that it said flew “in recognition” of the high court’s consideration of the federal law defining marriage as between one man and one woman.
Marissa Doyle, a Ravenstahl spokeswoman, said she was not sure if all the callers complained. She said workers took down the flag, which flew below the American flag and the city flag, after rallies on Wednesday in support of gay marriage.
Still, it left Burkhart seeing red.
“Lesbians, gays and transsexuals are honored … under a flag that many people have died for?” she said. “I’m crying for my country.”
Who will think of the fee-fees of our bigots? And the best part is she is not even from Pittsburgh, but Bethel Park.
Rathskeller
This makes me wonder if people under the age of 30 or even 40 are listening to the right-wing radio stations.
Maude
How many gay etc. people died for this country? Obviously Burkhart hasn’t.
burnspbesq
Those Neanderthals’ fee-fees are their problem. I have a slightly different concern.
What the majority opinion in Windsor looks like is as important as how the case comes out (yes, I am assuming that there are five or more votes to strike down Section 3 of DOMA).
In my nightmare, the vote to overturn Section 3 is unanimous, and the majority opinion is written by Scalia based on the libertarian law profs’ amicus brief. That would fundamentally change the understanding of how our Federal system works. The four liberal Justices’ opinion saying that there’s no rational basis for discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation becomes a meaningless concurrence.
I really, really don’t want to live in Randy Barnett’s America.
I wonder if the wing nut Justices are smart enough to realize that if they can overcome their visceral disgust at gheysecksytime, they can hit a six-run home run for their perverse view of what our social compact means.
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
Well, at least this flag doesn’t represent a group of people that committed treason.
@Rathskeller: Don’t worry, some are. Especially the closer you get to 40. The listeners won’t completely go away until the radio stations do.
gbear
Irony. She is blind to it.
That is the kindest response I can give to her comment…
Mnemosyne
@Belafon (formerly anonevent):
That was my first thought, too.
raven
@Maude: I had gay comrade’s in arms in every duty station I was in during my three year tour.
Ben Franklin
Imagine if a rebel flag flew over some southern capital.
ranchandsyrup
I loved this quote from TNC that I wrote a post about it:
http://ranchandsyrup.com/2013/03/27/first-to-fall-over-when-the-atmosphere-is-less-than-perfect-your-sensibilities-are-shaken-by-the-slightest-defect/
These stains upon humanity can’t stand it if their beliefs aren’t reflected by everyone and everything 100% of the time.
ETA: sorry for blawgwhoring
Ben Franklin
@burnspbesq:
I’ve heard Thomas just might separate himself from his fraternal twin.
scav
@Belafon (formerly anonevent):
That’s certainly the heritage usually honored that snapped to my mind.
SatanicPanic
Maybe not enough people have died for that flag. Maybe it needs one more person to do it. In a fire.
NorthLeft12
Perhaps the Mayor should have asked if the bigots have a flag that they rally under that he could put on the flag pole?
johnny aquitard
That flag works like the Batsignal on bigots.
No matter what sewer they’re lurking in or damp rock they’re hiding under, they’ll respond.
Maude
@raven:
Thank you.
gbear
Actually, my first response to that picture was ‘What is that ugly flag in the middle?’ Not a good looking flag.
raven
@Maude: Just da facts mam.
Mustang Bobby
This is me not not speaking up: Yes, madam, you certainly are outrageous, and the message here is that you need to find a garden rake and use it for your next colonoscopy.
burnspbesq
@Ben Franklin:
I’ll believe it when I see it.
Just Some Fuckhead
After we turn Mary Ann Burkhart gay, we’ll prolly all chuckle over this.
Joel
Ravenstahl? Sounds a lot like Riefenstahl, which makes sense when you think about it. Who else but the Nazis would force God-fearing Americans to not discriminate against gay people.
Also, is that a variant of the pride flag? I thought it only had six stripes. Maybe they’re flying the Cuzco flag by accident?
Higgs Boson's Mate
Lesbians, gays and transsexuals are among those who have died for that flag. Anyone who says different doesn’t even know anyone who has been in combat.
raven
@Joel: Raven who?
Chris
My Confederate/fundiegelical cousin’s Facebook wall has been alive with complaints ever since this case happened – and at least 50% of it has been dedicated to whining about the terrible unfairness that people like him are becoming as marginalized as white supremacists (man, I wish they were as marginalized as he’s claiming).
No matter how much I know it, it always impresses me to see just how much of their ideology can be distilled down to “I am not getting the proper respect, admiration and positive reinforcement that is my due as a straight white Christian man.”
And I swear to God, their skin gets thinner every year.
Studly Pantload, the emotionally unavailable unicorn
This POS is a glaring reminder of why it was so important for us to reduce the levels of lead in our environment. I like to think that as her kind die off (in her case, propably by forgetting to breath at some public event she’s at where she finds herself trapped sitting next to an actual gay person), rational thought and critical thinking will no longer be held up as treaaonous activities.
MattF
The problem is not just her wounded feelings, it’s her living in a world that doesn’t actually exist. And if there’s enough people living in a fantasy world, it’s a problem for all of us. The answer is that we have to work at it. And objections from the inhabitants of the fantasy world demonstrate that we’re doing the right thing.
LanceThruster
As I learned in the book “I’m OK, You’re an A-hole,” when the state doesn’t sanction my bigotry it makes me feel sad because it’s as if it’s not a good thing for me to be a bigot.
Boo-effin-hoo!
JPL
You know who else would have flown the flag….
scav
“Her” country is a small and twisted one, not worth crying over. Their flags are run up tall flat-head screws as embematic of how they treat anyone other than their clones. How dare those she chooses to ignore the existence of pipe up.
Mustang Bobby
To quote my friend Melissa McEwan, “Losing the capacity to oppress is not oppression.”
Higgs Boson's Mate
@Chris:
Onward Christian whiners,
Whining off to war,
With their sodden hankies,
Going on before…
geg6
Well, there are many would-be MOUs in Bethel Park, along with their bitter sexless harpy stay-at-home wives who think they are the people we all aspire to be. A very white WASPy upper middle class suburb who shouldn’t have to be subjected to the Other on her way from Macy’s to meet her husband at the Pens game. Those people are icky, you see. I hate Bethel Park. It’s where you are most likely to feel that you’re in Stepford.
MikeJ
@gbear:
I don’t really understand why cities need flags to begin with. I can’t imagine that anybody would ever march into battle under the flag of Seattle.
Mnemosyne
@MikeJ:
That’s because you have a lame flag. You need a cool city flag, like Chicago’s.
The Other Chuck
@Joel: It sure is close, but that pink stripe on the top isn’t on the Cuzco flag. Wrong shade of blue below the green stripe too.
Linnaeus
@MikeJ:
Teal is our city color.
Studly Pantload, the emotionally unavailable unicorn
@Mustang Bobby: That’s golden. I will be sharing that quote with great frequency and extreme prejudice (just not *that* kind of prejudice).
Chris
@Mnemosyne:
That IS a cool flag. (Never been to Chicago).
Baud
America is more tolerant that it used to be. Love it or leave it.
Baud
@Mnemosyne:
Cool. I think it’s great that they have one star for each quarter-century the Cubs haven’t won the series.
Studly Pantload, the emotionally unavailable unicorn
@MikeJ: Holy crap, I didn’t know we had a flag. That’s actually kinda cool.
And I’m sorry, but I don’t see what about Chicago’s stars and bars make it cooler than any other city flag.
cmorenc
A more “fair and balanced” way for Pittsburgh’s mayor to have done the flag thing would have been to add a Confederate flag underneath the Rainbow flag. Then, both sides to the controversy would have been both fairly represented and equally offended.
kwAwk
So…
…exactly how many people have died for the city flag of Pittsburgh?
Just Some Fuckhead
@cmorenc: Or..
Walker
@Rathskeller:
People under 30 do not listen to radio stations, period.
Citizen_X
Boy, you anti-city-flag people will change your tune when all the nation-states dissolve (‘cuz they’re lame, I guess) and we are all living in independent city-states a la ancient Greece or Renaissance Italy.
(Wasn’t that supposed to happen by now? Isn’t that what all the “futurists” were telling us in the ’90s?)
James E. Powell
@Baud:
America is more tolerant that it used to be.
That’s exactly what frightens and angers people like Mary Ann Burkhart. And there are quite a few of them. Can we do anything to reduce her fears?
Darkrose
@burnspbesq: I don’t think that’s likely. I honestly don’t think Scalia can get past his “EW BUTTSEX!!!” and general dickwaddery to do anything that might in some universe benefit a gay person.
Studly Pantload, the emotionally unavailable unicorn
@Walker: Hell, I’m almost fifty and I never listen to the radio. Haven’t listened to the radio since the ’90s, with the exception of the lib shows on KTLK before the damn owneres switched it to sports talk. (And this was after several years of the owners refusing to upgrade their signal, as listening to KTLK in the car meant getting your ears filled with static and buzz if you drove near a hill or a large object like, say, a crow.)
scav
You better look out for Chicago then, we’ve got that municipal Y in a circle (circle being interpreted very loosely, all over any number of things. Lightposts, buildings, cars . . . They might have pushed that mutant star, but with the previously built environment still hanging about . . . Not a clue if anyone actually wonders what’s up with it though, let alone feel the sudden urge to salute the 3
River branches or anything drastic.
Roger Moore
@Chris:
Fixt.
Elizabelle
How perfect that Burkhart is so close to Butthurt.
Waaaaah.
I have no doubt the woman is seeing red either.
JoyfulA
@gbear: City flag? Steelers’ flag? It isn’t the Pennsylvania state flag, which is blue and gold with horses.
Yutsano
@Mnemosyne: Does YOUR flag have a comet on it? I don’t think so!
(Hell I never knew we had one. I don’t think I’ve ever seen it flying anywhere.
Ted & Hellen
I’d be willing to bet that dear little Mary’s husband is fucking around on her.
Onihanzo
I CANNOT stop fucking laughing at this crisis in action.
http://www.redstate.com/2013/03/29/you-will-be-made-to-care/
“That is why so many Christians are fighting. Because we see in Europe and Canada what will happen here. Christianity is a religion of the city square. Christ compels us to ‘go forth and teach.’ It is the Great Commission. We cannot go forth and teach when the left bars us from the town square.”
Religious hypochondriacs, the whole stupid lot of them.
BerkeleyMom
We had the rainbow flag proudly flying at City Hall in Berkeley too. Nobody’s outraged as they know we are radical Muslim Socialists out here.
gbear
@James E. Powell: How about we just point and laugh until she gets the message?
It doesn’t look like St. Paul has a flag, but I do like our city logo. The dome is for either the state capitol or the cathedral, both major landmarks from downtown St. Paul.
Villago Delenda Est
@James E. Powell:
One tumbrel ride will eliminate her fears. Problem solved!
Yutsano
@gbear: Do you have a flag?
Roger Moore
@James E. Powell:
No. SATSQ.
Villago Delenda Est
@JoyfulA:
I think it’s the PA state flag, which is every bit as boring as Oregon’s.
There are a handful of good state flags, most are just pathetic. Texas, Ohio, and Maryland have the best ones, IMHO.
Yutsano
@Villago Delenda Est: Maryland’s flag is just cool.
jefft452
@Higgs Boson’s Mate: “Onward Christian whiners,
Whining off to war,
With their sodden hankies,
Going on before… ”
oooooo, I am so going to steal that
Baud
@James E. Powell:
@Roger Moore:
People like that draw strength from their fears. They don’t give that up unless there is something else in their life to replace it.
agorabum
Christ, what an asshole.
ranchandsyrup
San Diaaaago City Flag http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Flag_of_San_Diego,_California.svg
Roger Moore
@Villago Delenda Est:
New Mexico, hands down.
gbear
@Yutsano: I hope Minneapolis doesn’t see that. They have a flag.
MikeBoyScout
I’ve only two things to say.
1) I know Amy. Grew up with her.
2) I’ll go to the wall for Amy.
Baud
Balloon Juice needs its own flag.
Roger Moore
@Baud:
We can define it in the friendship agreement.
ranchandsyrup
@Roger Moore: Second this. Best motto as well.
Ohio is interesting due to the shape.
I liked this piece on the state flags: http://thehairpin.com/2011/07/sometimes-state-flags
Yutsano
@Roger Moore: Does this mean we have to pay our resident legal staff?
Baud
@Yutsano:
We can pay them in Balloon Bucks.
Sad_Dem
@Ted & Hellen: I’d be willing to bet that dear little Mary’s husband is fucking around on her.
With guys he finds on Craigslist? Who are into some kinky things? She wouldn’t be the only one.
Studly Pantload, the emotionally unavailable unicorn
I’m not religious, so I don’t believe it’ll happen, but I’d so love to actually see Jesus come back and get all Joe Pesci on these cretins’ asses (because as the episode with the money changers tells us, JC didn’t suffer assholes gladly).
“Mother fucker, when did I say to hate on your fellow because he’s darker than you, or dates boys, or votes for the political party that has the better record of providing for the poor, sick, and elderly? Where did you fucking see that, you fucking prick? Open your goddamn motherfucking red letter New Testament and show me just where the fuck I said that, fucking chapter and fucking verse! Do it now, you miserable fuck! Show me where the fuck I said that, or me and my gun here are gonna make you fucking dance!”
handsmile
All this talk, prideful and scornful, of city and state flags prompted me to consult Wikipedia Commons on the subject. When you have a minute or two or three, do check out this gallery for its astonishing variety of graphic creativity:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/City_flags
Each time I thought I had a favorite, I would scroll down to find another. But these would certainly be among them:
Cape Town, South Africa
Amman, Jordan
Jihlava, Czech Republic (includes a hedgehog!)
Chelyabinsk, Russia
Siauliai, Lithuania
Podgorica, Montenegro
Mulhouse, France
Cocoeicao do Castelo, Brazil
Quissama, Brazil
Among US cities, Des Moines wins the prize, with Ocean City, MD, Tampa, FL and Roswell, NM very honorable mentions.
shortstop
@Yutsano: Oh, dear dog, no. That would just encourage the more incompetent among them, and their free advice is worth just what we pay for it now.
Chris
@Onihanzo:
I’d like to say that this is silly because no one’s talking about banning them from the town square; fuck, the Westboro Baptist Church, the only homophobic group out there that’s equally loathed by both sides of the spectrum, still exercises its constitutional rights on a regular basis and is in no danger of seeing it removed.
But… that’s what really terrifies them. Not the idea that they’ll be banned from the town square – if they were, they could become martyrs, have their own civil rights movement, etc. No, what really terrifies them is that the town square will remain open to them but that they’ll simply become crazy people shouting into the wind as the rest of society ignores them and goes about its business.
That’s what all their persecution fantasies (about this and every other issues) stem from; the fictional world in which they’re being oppressed and targeted by a massive liberal conspiracy is just so much more interesting and ego-soothing than the dreary reality in which they’re being ignored and forgotten.
Yutsano
@shortstop: We could just pay them in Ameros.
Roger Moore
@Chris:
There’s more to it than that. They’re thinking of the Sermon on the Mount, e.g. Matthew 5:10-12 (KJV):
They desperately want to be persecuted because it makes them feel holy, so they play up the tiniest dissent from their religious beliefs as persecution. I think that actually drives them to take crazier and crazier positions just so they can guarantee that somebody will disagree and they can feel properly persecuted.
FlipYrWhig
@Roger Moore:
There are a surprisingly large number of people who get off on that. And it’s not just religious belief. Some people just feel more alive when they’re feeling persecuted.
Ruckus
@FlipYrWhig:
It’s attention. They don’t care why they get it, they just need it because their ideals are to all be the same bland oneness, no deviation from the norm, whatever the fuck that is. Any one who doesn’t fit into their little box proves to them not that not everyone fits into their little box, but that anyone who doesn’t is wrong and has to be stopped. They have no imagination, no empathy, no understanding that there are people who not only aren’t like them but actually like not being like them.