LGBT Advocates Demand Resignation of Calif. Vice Mayor Who Declared July 'Straight Pride American Month'
Ted Hickman, the vice mayor of Dixon, California, is under fire from LGBT advocates who are calling for his resignation after he declared July "Straight Pride American Month" in an op-ed published two weeks ago in a local newspaper and on his personal website.
Hundreds of residents, some of whom waved rainbow flags, swarmed the City Council chambers in Dixon during a regular meeting on Tuesday to demand Hickman's resignation, according to the Los Angeles Times.
"Vice Mayor Hickman in his recent public comments about the LGBTQ community in the Independent Voice employed demeaning and denigrating language and rhetoric and did so in a way that was unbecoming of an elected official," said Catharine Morris, pastor of Dixon United Methodist Church, a 250-member congregation, during the public comments portion of the meeting.
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"Mr. Hickman demonstrated a lack of common sense in making inflammatory statements, which with the reality of social media can be shared around the world. How can the community entrust important matters to someone who lacks judgement and basic common sense?" she asserted.
In the op-ed, however, Hickman said that he isn't "anti anything."
"Now before anyone gets their pantyhose in a knot, this is not really legally anti anything; instead it's pro-family; and proud to be a straight American, and me expressing a private opinion. ... So there!" he began.
"If you remember last week I proclaimed the Month of July as SPAM ... (Straight Pride American Month)... (as Vice Mayor don't know if I can, but what the heck). Now hundreds of millions of the rest of us can celebrate our month, peaking on July 4th, as healthy, heterosexual, fairly monogamous, keep our kinky stuff to ourselves, Americans...," he continued.
"We do it with our parades in every state and county in this country with families celebrating together. We honor our country and our veterans who have made all of this possible (including for the tinker bells) and we can do it with actual real pride, not some put on show just to help our inferior complex 'show we are different' type of crap.
"We ARE different from them...We work, have families, (and babies we make) enjoy and love the company (and marriage) of the opposite sex and don't flaunt our differences dressing up like faries [sic] and prancing by the thousands in a parade in nearby San Francisco to be televised all over the world," he said.
On Tuesday, Hickman defended his comments, noting that he did not give up his First Amendment right when he was elected.
"I didn't give up my 1st Amendment right when I became an elected official," he said. "To the contrary, I swore like the rest of the council to uphold the Constitution, which includes the 1st Amendment."
Thom Bogue, the city's mayor, told the Los Angeles Times that the city council would be discussing "how we deal with this."
"And it is an issue that has to be dealt with, because every elected official — while they do have their freedom of speech — also has to understand there's consequences, or potential consequences, with what they say," Bogue said. "Even if they use their title or not, they are still representing a lot of folks and really need to learn to keep up with the times and the way our society is changing."
Hickman later noted that in hindsight he could have avoided referencing his government position.
"If I were to rewind time and were to write the column again, I would not use the words, sarcastically or not, of vice mayor because I see where that may be unacceptable to some," he said.
