For a full year now, the Starkville Board of Aldermen have been going back and forth on policies which affect the city’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community.
On Tuesday, the board voted to rescind its landmark anti-discrimination policy adopted last January and its Plus-One Insurance plan — adopted in September — which would have allowed same-sex partners of city employees to be included on the employee’s health plan at no cost to the city.
Mayor Parker Wiseman has vowed to veto the board’s decision, which means these matters will face two more actions – the veto and an expected override effort.
Quite frankly, the way the aldermen have handled this whole business has become an embarrassment. It’s like playing fetch with a bloodhound: Every time the ball comes back, it is coated with a new disgusting layer of drool.
By rescinding its anti-discrimination policy that said the city opposed discrimination based on sexual orientation or sexual identification, the city of Starkville is essentially saying that it is perfectly acceptable to discriminate against LGBT persons. And since city policy is generally accepted as community policy, the stigma associated with this move goes beyond city hall.
Likewise, the decision to rescind the Plus-One insurance policy serves no tangible purpose, since its adoption likely represents no direct cost to the city.
No reasonable grounds for rescinding these polices have been stated by the board. At the very least, the public has a right to know why the board acted as it did Tuesday.
This has become a shameful chapter in the city’s history, and with each new turn of the screw, the community’s reputation suffers.
The five board members who voted to rescind the policies Tuesday – Roy A. Perkins, Henry Vaughn, Lisa Wynn, Ben Carver and David Little – should be ashamed of themselves.
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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