Homophobia and Bigotry Are Alive and Well in Elkton, Virginia

If you've ever been to Elkton, Virginia, it's not difficult to figure out that the place is a social and economic backwater. Other than the Massautten Mountain resort some miles away in the direction of Harrisonburg and an entrance to the Sky Line Drive National Park, there's not much reason to ever visit the place. And apparently a number of residents are just fine with keeping the place a bigoted backwater. It seems that health care giant Merck is sponsoring a gay pride event on October 9, 2011, and the local yahoos have their panties in a wad about the use of the town's name in the event. Of course, they claim that they're not bigots. Sorry, but if it sounds and looks like bigotry, it's bigotry. Here are some highlights from WHSV-TV: ,

Several people in Elkton are trying to change a gay pride event by taking their concerns to the Town Council. However Council Members say they is very little they can do. Dozens of concerned Elkton residents gathered at the community center Monday night. Their concern is not the matter of the gay pride rally itself, the issue is the name "Elkton" being associated with the rally.

Beverly Knight is an Elkton resident who stood up and spoke to Council. Knight says, "I'm not racist, I'm not biased, this is a free country, but we have to be careful as to what we are going to allow attached to our names."

Mayor Roy Davis spoke and said that the town has no patent on the name Elkton and the town council has no control over dictating the name of the rally. Jay Dean is a member of the Town council and says, "This is really not in our hands, we didn't sponsor it. We put up no money for it, we weren't even contacted" Dean says, "They have constitutional rights, we as a governing body cannot interfere with those constitutional rights."

The gay pride event is October 9th and it will be held on Merck property. The company says they are honored to be the organizers of the event.

I hope that those traveling to Harrisonburg or Massanutten will make a point of NOT stopping and spending a dime in Elkton. If the residents want to bigots, that's there right. But it's also the right of travelers to not lend their financial support to the town and its nasty residents.