County Rescinds Vote To Lower Flag In ‘Mourning’ Of Marriage – Out Of Respect For Vets, Not Gays

A small Missouri County has quickly reversed course and will not lower its flag in mourning of marriage equality, but not for all the right reasons.

The three Republican County Commissioners in Dent County, Missouri have decided to rescind a vote taken just yesterday, but only out of respect for veterans, not for LGBT people. Yesterday, they voted to fly the flag at the county courthouse and county judicial buildings at below half-staff on the 26th of every month for a year to “mourn” the Supreme Court’s decision supporting marriage for same-sex couples – which they labeled an “abomination.”

Speaking against marriage equality, County Commissioner Gary Larson told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that it “ain’t what our Bible tells us. It’s against God’s plan.” He also called the Supreme Court decision on marriage, “just one step backward.”

Presiding Commissioner Darrell Skiles told the Salem News the commission will meet Tuesday or Wednesday and vote to rescind Monday’s order “out of respect for veterans and those currently serving in the military.”

No word of the emotional impact Monday’s vote had on same-sex couples, LGBT people, and their allies was mentioned.

Skiles had filed an official letter into the public record protesting “the U.S. high court’s stamp of approval of what God speaks of as an abomination.”

The decision to lower the flags monthly was made to remind Dent County citizens “of this despicable Supreme Court travesty,” the commissioners said.

A group calling itself the Organization of Reasonableness of Dent County created a Change.org petition, Stop Act of ‘Mourning Gay Marriage’ By Lowering Flags Below Half Mast. It quickly garnered over 1100 signatures before declaring “Victory.”

 

Image by Timo Kohlenberg via Flickr and a CC license
Hat tip: Talking Points Memo