Posted on 06/23/2011 1:41:32 PM PDT by darrellmaurina
HOLLAND, Mich. It seems like just yesterday Holland was basking in the glow of being named one of the happiest places in the nation. But those smiles may be a bit strained. Some people are painting Holland as unwelcoming after its City Council recently voted against adding sexual orientation and gender identity to its anti-discrimination policies. The fallout is drawing criticism far beyond the waterfront communitys borders. A Facebook page calling for a boycott of the city has more than 1,000 members. But it also could have ramifications for Holland-area businesses. Being perceived as intolerant could hurt local companies efforts to recruit workers, especially among the coveted creative class and those in their 20s.
(Excerpt) Read more at mlive.com ...
Honestly, how many Fashion designers, Hair Dressers, and Interior Decorators does a small town (pop 263K) like Holland need?
the MSM starts all stories from the “born that way” myth and moves into “homosexuals are the only ones with tallent” meme.
Dutch Reform are known for their "Libertine" life styles!/sarc
I had a friend who went to Hope College, which was a long way from East-side Detroit.
I visited him and his fraternity required a coat and tie to enter!
I felt like I was back in Catholic school! LOL
I would bet that you’re spot on. There will be ZERO repercussions because of this. For every pud puffer who is offended by Holland’s stance, there are a dozen who will wholeheartedly support it ... with their dollars, if need be.
On the plus side, they acquitted Geert Wilders.
/I kid, though he was acquitted today.
Where did you come up with 263k for the population? Hollands population in July 2009 was 34,053. It truly is a small town
I guess Bawney Fwank won’t be retiring in Holland, MI.
You got that right about Dutch Reformed **NOT** being identified with being libertines!
For whatever it's worth, Hope College is the most “liberal” of the numerous Christian colleges in West Michigan, and it's affiliated with the same denomination as Robert Schuller and Norman Vincent Peale. If that was your experience at Hope College I think you can imagine what things would be like at someplace like Cornerstone College (General Association of Regular Baptists) or Kuyper College (formerly known as Reformed Bible Institute).
I'm a Calvin College graduate from many years ago, by the way, and I'm well aware of the problems of theological liberalism in both the RCA and CRC. However, it takes time for theological liberalism to manifest itself in openly immoral lifestyles, and the Dutch Reformed community of West Michigan is still very socially conservative even if it's taking a jackhammer to the foundations of the faith that built the community.
Any vital talents that only gays could bring are probably talents this city doesn’t want.
Holland is about 20 miles southeast of Grand Rapids, Michigan. Grand Rapids hosts the largest office unit of the fairly Conservative Reformed Church in America (RCA). They have a college, Hope College, in Holland as well. They have other U.S. offices, including a HQ in New York, but the Michigan office is their largest.
Only cetain types of "talent".
Even though homosexuals are only a small percentage of the population, many are in positions where they can, and do, use their power or influence to promote the homosexual agenda.
Such as government and education.
And of course, the media.
City Council recently voted against adding sexual orientation and gender identity to its anti-discrimination policies.
>>> Honestly, how many Fashion designers, Hair Dressers, and Interior Decorators does a small town (pop 263K) like Holland need?
Probably not many Fashion designers, Hair Dressers, and Interior Decorators are needed. But certainly home caregivers, geriatric nurses, walker mechanics, etc are.
Holland, MI
Population: 36,582
Population, age 50+: 9,331
Population growth, age 50+: 15.48%
You are entirely correct.
That's something we conservatives need to consider as well. The liberals fight their wars to redefine our culture through control of culture-defining entities such as entertainment, education, and the media. Ronald Reagan saw much of this coming and that's why he became president of the Screen Actors Guild in an ultimately unsuccessful effort to keep communist influences out of the movies.
These wars began long, long ago — at least the 1920s and arguably even earlier dating back to the late 1800s — and by the late 1970s, the liberals had taken control of virtually all the major entities of our culture and intimidated most conservatives into silence, forced them into fighting fruitless rear-guard battles, or marginalized them into irrelevance. Pretty much the only thing that stopped them was that socialist economic policies never have worked, and major economic downturns caused what was left of our basically conservative middle class to reject liberalism as a demonstrated financial failure.
Those of us who are conservatives need to think very hard about how liberals, despite being a small minority, managed to win so many battles. Much of it has to do with training people to be in professions which exercise great influence on our culture. Not everybody is qualified or even interested in being in those fields, but just about the worst thing we can do to a young conservative man or woman is to deter them from trying to enter those professions. It's a very difficult fight, but some people are really good at fighting it and need to be encouraged to do so.
You are right about that part, most of the attempts at arguing who was gay in the past make no sense.
It was like a blog I read years ago that tried to argue that gays should all be for gun control - by trying to compare a legitimate act of self-defense by two gay men in Texas to a recent shooting, when there was no legit comparison whatsoever. If anything, I would hope even a homosexual would be for owning guns and concealed carry. After all, we know how great big brother governmentis at stopping whatever crimes might happen bt itself.
You want proof Michelangelo was gay? Look at his famous sculpture “David”. A magnificent tribute to the beauty of the male form if ever there was one. Personally, I don’t care what sexual orientation an artist is; I just care if they can produce truly beautiful art or if they’re going to throw a few dabs of paint on a canvas and call it “modern art”.
I haven't been there in a long time, but I see its appeal, and I'm not even Dutch. The part I was in was main street, a time warp. Car cruises, the lake, and a safe area. It's the type of place I'd raise my kids. It's not Ferndale. That's a good thing.
Fully agreed, Darren... West Michigan is doing tremendously better economically than most of the state. Maybe it has something to do with family values that the authors of this pro-homosexual ordinance don’t seem to appreciate?
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