County Votes To Lower Courthouse Flag For A Year To Mourn ‘Despicable’ Same-Sex ‘Abomination’ Ruling
Republican commissioners in a Missouri county have found a unique way to remind citizens they are mourning the Supreme Court’s marriage ruling.
Dent County, Missouri. Population 15,657. The all-Republican county commissioners met on Monday and voted to lower the flags at the county courthouse and judicial buildings to observe a year of “mourning” over the Supreme Court’s June 26 ruling on same-sex marriage.
“It ain’t what our Bible tells us. It’s against God’s plan,†County Commissioner Gary Larson told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The Supreme Court decision on marriage is “just one step backward.â€
Presiding Commissioner Darrell Skiles filed an official letter into the public record to protest “the U.S. high court’s stamp of approval of what God speaks of as an abomination.â€
The county on the 26th of each month will now lower the flags to below half-staff to remind its citizens “of this despicable Supreme Court travesty.â€
Not all of Dent County supports this dramatic action, however. A group calling itself the Organization of Reasonableness of Dent County has created a Change.org petition, Stop Act of ‘Mourning Gay Marriage’ By Lowering Flags Below Half Mast. As of this writing it has 985 signatories.
Here’s what the Dent County Courthouse looks like, with the flag flying high:
Some responses via Twitter:
The message being sent to every young gay person in MO is: The happiest day of your life will be cause for mourning. http://t.co/hUWn2CD44t
— Steve Silberman (@stevesilberman) July 14, 2015
Best of all, @dominicholden got the actual Dent County, MO measure in full. It’s hand-written. http://t.co/WbhLHXQSTj pic.twitter.com/u3KftmkYF2
— Chris Geidner (@chrisgeidner) July 14, 2015
Curious how long flags flew at half-staff in Dent County after 9/11, two Space Shuttle disasters, #Benghazi… #TCOT #idiots #buttsore
— Dan Savage (@fakedansavage) July 14, 2015
Hateful. Embarrassing. Comically petty. Dent Co., MO will fly flags @ below half-mast to “mourn” #MarriageEquality http://t.co/IwkjDRP3KY
— Sarah Felts (@sarahfelts) July 13, 2015
There are American soldiers who serve at Fort Leonard Wood and live in Dent County. The commissioners there just flipped them the bird.
— Tony Messenger (@tonymess) July 13, 2015
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Image, top, by Nico Gilbert-Igelsrud via Flickr and a CC license
Courthouse image by J. Stephen Conn via Flickr and a CC license
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