Molly Ivins, the outspokenly opinionated Texas columnist, once said, "You pick up the paper in the morning and it's kind of like finding Fidel Castro in the refrigerator. Hard to know what to think."
Such was my reaction when Rhea County, Tennessee decided to accuse gays of "crimes against nature" and bar them from living in the county. It was in pursuit of this lofty goal that the county commissioners unanimously passed a motion asking the state legislature to amend Tennessee law as such.
"We need to keep them out of here," Commissioner J.C. Fugate is quoted as saying.
It is not terribly surprising that such a thing is coming out of Rhea County; after all, it was the location of the infamous Scopes "Monkey Trial" of 1925. In that memorable proceeding, John Scopes was accused and convicted of teaching Darwinian evolutionary theory to his high-school science class, violating a state law barring such teaching in favor of Biblical creationism. (The trial served as the inspiration for the stage show Inherit the Wind, which later became a classic film starring Spencer Tracy, Frederic March and Gene Kelly.)
On the one hand, it's events like these that make punditry so much easier, not to mention a lot more fun; it's a gold mine of material. On the other hand – well, what more is there to say? In one fell swoop, Fugate and his fellow commissioners have made Rhea County a national laughingstock, just as it was seventy-nine years ago. After the story hit the wires, the county commission hastily scheduled a vote to reconsider the motion.
I think it's a safe bet that this one will pass as well.
(Followup: It did. In fact, the motion passed unanimously after a full three minutes of debate.)
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