Controversy sparked in North Carolina this week as a photographer was made by government order to remove his innocuous photo of two men kissing at a Pride parade from a museum exhibit.
The picture from photojournalist Grant Baldwin features now-husbands Justin Colasacco and Bren Hipp sharing a kiss after Colasacco had proposed at Charlotte Pride in 2019.
Wholesome enough, right?
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Wrong!
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Baldwin was forced to take down his photograph by order of Gaston County Manager Kim Eagle, who cited “differing viewpoints in the community.”
Related: Psychotic school board official has homophobic meltdown while resisting arrest and OMG you guys
A further statement from a Gaston County spokesperson specified that “the museum is government-funded, and as such, it is important for the items it shares to be informational without championing political issues.”
You know, the political issue of gay people doing gay things in a gay space.
President of Charlotte Pride Clark Simon told local news, “It is a feeling of disappointment in the county in which I live to take a section of the population and deem them not appropriate to all of the people attending the museum.”
A twist of the knife to it all is that the exhibit has been open since May, but for some reason, Eagle waited until the very middle of Pride month to order the photo pulled.
Here are a few of the reactions online:
Queer people existing isn’t political. Someone cc Gaston County Manager Kim Eagle. https://t.co/CKSBMDMzfU
— Jeff Taylor (@jefftaylorhuman) June 16, 2022
Gaston County, Kim Eagle, said it “instructed museum staff to work with the photographer to find an alternative photograph to display that would be more considerate of differing viewpoints in the community.”
It’s #Pride Month, Kim, and you’re a judgemental #bigot .— Hopefawn Levenson (@tehmimzy) June 16, 2022
I messaged Kim Eagle on Facebook telling her how she is an embarrassment https://t.co/6QKm9c5nIk
— bait (@caitlinmcnulty) June 16, 2022
To not want to show political viewpoints, county manager Kim Eagle sure is showing her political and dare I say religious viewpoints.
— Logan (@lfsmith14) June 16, 2022
Gaston County Manager Kim Eagle asked the Gaston County Museum of Art to remove a pic of a same sex couple kissing. Eagle deemed the photo to be “not considerate of differing viewpoints in the community”. Homophobia running rampant in @GastonCounty
— Kristen Moyer (@kristally) June 17, 2022
Related: Councilwoman says she’s sorry for shouting homophobic slurs at gay mayor but she won’t resign
kish
“differing viewpoints in the community.”
Bigots are mad.
Brian
She’s not being neutral. She’s not respecting differing viewpoints. She’s choosing one viewpoint, and requiring that of other people. She’s a bigot.
GentlemanCaller
Who gave conservative christian yahoos the right not to be confronted with anything that runs against their narrow little hateful world view? I’m offended by churches: I demand they be covered with a big tarp.
johncp56
xoxo and a hard Ditto with your post, add Tax them hard if they want to spread hate
Jaquelope
So, if it was a picture of a man and a woman kissing, it would be “considerate of differing viewpoints in the community”?
OK, Karen.
johncp56
you are all being kind to this C!@#$%^&*(T!! Gaston County Manager Kim Eagle,
jt1990
If this woman kissed her husband, it would look like two guys kissing. Feel better?
Sqwoah
I’m kind of offended by this woman’s face. I think the fair thing to do would be to legally require her to wear a trash bag over her head…you know, to be fair to all the differing viewpoints in the in the community about her face.
whereshouldistart
It should also be legally required to have that bag zip-tied around it’s neck.
Tightly.
Just in case the ugliness tries to sneak out.
Kangol2
@Sqwoah, you attack her looks but make no comment about her hateful politics or the fact that she’s a right-wing RepubliQan. Is that because you regularly defend and support the GQP on here?
darfox2001
As a teacher and the mother of LBGQT+ twins, my heart breaks. I couldn’t imagine not supporting my children no matter what. I am so sorry that there are bigots like her in the world. Love to everyone, and I mean it.
Kangol2
Right-wingers are becoming more and more extreme and intolerant and doing the very things they love to claim “the Left” is doing–canceling everything, shutting down anything they don’t like, passing laws to ban non-existing things, fomenting hatred and violence, and on and on. They are the very snowflakes and social justice warriors they love to attack, except that their fragility comes at the expense of others’ humanity, and they practice social injustice, as this witch Kim Eagle is demonstrating. Starting calling them “woke” because their warped version is far worse than anything anyone calling for social and political accountability has proposed. And if you think being silent is an option, you’ll be fighting for your life by the time they’re done.
Josh in OR
I hope they also scoured the exhibit for any photos of people of color, loose women, unions, or anyone who doesn’t look the way they ‘should’ according to ‘Christian’ mores.
Otherwise, this was a blatantly homophobic act, and this dumb, bigoted crunt and everyone involved should be sued into the poorhouse for unlawful discrimination. No tolerance for bigotry. Stop letting these awful excuses for human beings control the narrative.