Christians Discriminated on Cape Cod: Local Media Silent

The Trustees held their regular meeting on February 28th at the Community Building, this time to consider the LGBTQ+ Pride decals and the request by the Concerned Christians of Bourne for them to also include a Christian Flag decal there. The Town Counsel, Bryard Bertram, began his presentation with, “In my opinion”, rather than with what the Constitution says. Our group did not ask that the LGBTQ+ decal be removed; however, the LGBTQ representative criticized our group for “having a prejudice against us”. The Bourne Executive Administrator testified that she had told the Council on Aging to place the new “Progressive” LGBTQ+ decals on their windows, in accordance with a state law and the Fenway Institute LGBTQ+ policy (included in the law). The “+” in the Progressive LGBTQ+ designation “is inclusive of contemporary sexual behaviors”, and the Fenway Institute is the largest LGBTQ+ organization in the country. The Fenway Institute for Research, Training, Education and Policy Development for LGBTQIA communities was founded in 1971, has 700 employees, an annual budget of $131,000,000 and in choosing them the state and Bourne have chosen their “viewpoint” and must now allow the Christian Decal viewpoint as well, as cited in the Supreme Court May 5th decision.

The one speaker for the LGBTQ+ decal (in addition to some Trustees) was Pam Washburn. She gave out her “business” card as “the She/Her” President of Cape Cod Pride in Mashpee”. She thanked the Trustees for their adopting the LGBTQ+ decal and described for the Trustees the meaning of the colors in the Progressive Pride decal in the COA windows. The flag contains the red, orange, yellow, green, indigo and purple of the old Pride flag but in the “Progressive” version, as the speaker explained, it also contains black, brown, pink, baby blue and white which represent:

                                       Black      represents   black people

                                       Brown            ”           brown skinned people

                                       Pink              ”            transgendered

                                       Baby blue     ”            pan sexual

                                       White            ”            other sexual behaviors

Trustee William Doherty strongly criticized a speaker who felt this discriminated against Christians and then said that many members of St. Margarets and St. Johns Parishes in Pocasset accept the LGBTQ+ positions. The Trustees then, with no discussion, voted 5 to 0 to retain the LGBTQ Progressive Pride decals and to deny the request of the CCC of Bourne to include their Christian decal. They stated that it did not come under the referenced Supreme Court decision and that it was solely their choice to make. The real problem for Bourne that we see is that this is only the beginning. We see the LGBTQ+ agenda appearing in the schools (which has already begun), the library, treatment of town employee and in many other Town facilities.

The Trustee meeting was recorded, the subject was highly controversial and there was a large audience, almost all of which supported including the Christian decals. Because of this we felt a letter-to-the-Editor was necessary, as nothing has been said about this Trustees meeting or the controversial new Town policy for several weeks, and the video of the meeting had been held up for 2 weeks. If you would like to see this video, go to <02.28.23 Community Center Trustees Meeting Recording (2).mp4>. If you disagree with the Trustees on their decision, let them know now and in the next election.