Our comeuppance on "gay rights"

The gay pride flag

Are we looking forward to winter? Are we dealing with climate change or what? I mean, the onslaught of rain and storms. More of that is expected on this Sunday.

We're in mid-August. And so thoughts turn to the school year getting closer. The "welcome UMM" picnic is Monday night at East Side Park. I wonder if the turnout will be commensurate with the past. We all seek a barometer somewhere on how UMM is doing. OK so it's "UMN-Morris" now. 

It is hard to trust any numbers that get put out on enrollment. Are these numbers "spin?" Are we talking true on-campus students? Some among us would just like to know. 

I was flummoxed last year by the death of "symphonic winds" in the music department. Would you expect me to be anything but downcast about this? I am not stupid. We have always taken for granted that UMM would have viable band and choir programs built around students. Now we have a blending of students and "community." 

The band's actual name is "COMMuniversity." I can't help but think "communist." 

 

Fallout 

UMM has suffered in the community's eyes from the time when gay rights became such a rallying cry. It bothered me and I'm a progressive-thinking person. 

A college ought to have a very good reputation in the community that surrounds it. "Gay rights" became unrelenting. Did the real gay rights cause even need UMM's help? At a certain point a really strong leader could have come forth and said "this institution does not exist to promote political causes." And, "we have serious studies here and we prepare our young people for life after college." 

Reasonable people do not want gays to be "in the closet." Certainly not in a way that tarnishes their lives. But a faction of the gay rights movement got carried away. Too much zeal. People felt like they were being force-fed gay rights. We got the gay rights "flag" and gay pride floats in high school homecoming parades. 

 

More fallout 

People who were irritated by this decided they had to be 100 percent Republican. The so-called "social issues" allowed Republicans to get far more power than was reasonable. People don't realize they are buying into the whole mix of what Republicans stand for. And so there are economic perils. Environmental perils. 

We have a congressperson now who is lock-step with Donald Trump. People out and about talk in the most insulting terms about Democrats. We voted out Collin Peterson even though he voted like a Republican. Are you prepared for the consequences of total Republican rule? Are you prepared for all the consequences outside of the "social issues?" 

 

Fallout for churches 

Gay rights has led to the serious adversity now faced by formerly mainstream church denominations. The fallout from all that is now being laid bare here in Morris. First Lutheran, once a bastion of propriety and exemplary leadership, appears now to have lost critical mass. Can you believe it? We're hearing of a "proposed plan to move forward with collaboration with Federated Church." There's already a trial balloon for this over our current summer. 

The ELCA began its slide downward when gay rights made its big inroads. We saw the decline of First Lutheran step-by-step. Was there nothing our local church leadership could have done? Are we really locked in with the ELCA? 

"Gay rights" is fine but it's the zealous in-your-face crusading aspect that gets to people. Good Shepherd may have been built on the foundation of anti-gay rights, but today you'll hear its people saying "gays are welcome to worship with us." Fine, come and help us celebrate the gospel. Church exists for a specific mission. Of course you are welcome to join us if your intent is to help us celebrate that mission. 

But it crosses a line. Couldn't we have all seen that a long time ago? When there was still time to maybe reverse course? 

I have said that I'd have no problem with a gay minister if that person could just do a good professional job. A person who I respect at Faith Lutheran responded to me - he said "they can't do that." He meant that a gay person as minister would have to trumpet gay rights. 

At the time that the ELCA was at its inflection point with progressive causes like gay rights, all of its ministers felt they had to give a sermon or two on gay rights. They sought to be generous. 

But I'm wondering if it was even wise to go that route. I mean, go ahead and approve of church policy that is accommodating toward gays. But then just quiet down about it. No flag-waving. No "in your face" advocacy with the suggestion that we had all been so ignorant up to now. Many people really resent that. 

Certain people just "flipped out" on gay rights and they disappeared from the ELCA churches, never again to say anything favorable about the church. I could name names. 

Our UMN-Morris

And our local UMM became holier-than-thou. When they pulled their "stunt" of having a biological male as Homecoming "queen," it should have been stopped. The students should have been required to proceed with Homecoming traditions with good faith. Instead they upset the apple cart. 

In the end, UMM canceled Homecoming royalty. Maybe the institution could have patched things up instead, just shown who was boss. Homecoming royalty is such an innocuous thing. It is done for the benefit of the alumni. Just do it right. Well they're not doing it at all now. 

UMM has allowed too much silliness through the years. There was the new student organization called "gay devil worshipers." The Twin Cities media would pick up on some of this. What would UMM's founders have thought and said? 

Not all the silliness has come from the political left. So I'm thinking of the "Northstar" publication that was a big turd on campus. "Libertarian" I guess, or so the kids would have professed. It was a turd. UMM should stand for setting high standards, proper decorum. And if it can't, why does it exist? 

First Lutheran Church has set a couple dates for discussions on moving forward on the combo with Federated. This will mean that FLC is essentially dead. I could see a while back it had lost critical mass. We'd have to assume that Federated is similarly stressed. Two church buildings right in the middle of town. 

People have instead drifted to the more hard-edged churches where you'd have to assume everyone votes straight Republican without exercising critical thinking. And now we're seeing accelerating price hikes for everything due to the tariffs, the deportation of cheap labor, and the pressure on the "Fed" to cut interest rates. 

Lower interest rates prop up the prevailing political party in the moment. 

But today's Christians don't want to think too hard.

 

Controversy here

Still dealing with library 

Such an uncomfortable state of affairs we have fallen into, with our Morris Public Library. The discomfort and distraction has gone on for months. Was this avoidable? Should top city leaders have been allowed to assess discipline? Instead we have this showdown of attorneys. "Count Floyd" of the old "SCTV" comedy show would say "brrrr, scary." 

The lawyers are jockeying to see who might come out of this the "winner." That's what it's all about in legal clashes. I share further on the library in an email I sent to a friend a couple days ago:

 

It is possible that my blog posts "prodded" the newspaper to finally deliver with coverage of the Morris Public Library situation. Don't you want to shake your head about this now? This has been a stain on the city's image no matter how it turns out. I have been wondering all along why the top people with the city can't just take charge and make decisions that need to be made. This whole story broke way back in March. The newspaper coverage at the start gave the suggestion that the poor library director was being persecuted by top city people. Right away I thought "I'll bet there's more to the story." I think this week's newspaper coverage really lays things out nice. But why can't we get this whole thing over with? If Anne survives she is going to look like the "winner." She and her attorney of course. Imagine hiring a high-powered lawyer to fight your own employer. Seems like "Alice Through the Looking Glass."

We have seen a trend lately: remember when the county commissioners "sold" the ambulance service? In other words, the service would be contracted out. And now the school has gone the same direction with contracting out for bus service. Maybe the city could do the same with the library. Have a private concern take it over and then pay an annual amount. Get rid of unionized employees? Anne isn't union but the others there are.

I think the library's service could be scaled back to the essentials more. Does it have to order so much new stuff all the time?

The city also has to wrestle with the old "senior citizens center." Seniors are gone with the wind there. It's a big building. Meals on Wheels is there but that is a small space in the overall building.

 

And there's a million stories in the naked city. 

 

- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com