# Guilty of living while gay **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 17, 2004, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guilty-of-living-while-gay/234935 "2004-03-17T23:18:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![cheddarsnax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@cheddarsnax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cheddarsnax)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2004, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guilty-of-living-while-gay/234935/1 "2004-03-17T23:18:29Z")
[Tenn. County Wants to Charge Homosexuals](http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/world/8209278.htm): > [@](#): > > The county that was the site of the Scopes “Monkey Trial” over the teaching of evolution is asking lawmakers to amend state law so the county can charge homosexuals with crimes against nature. > > The Rhea County commissioners approved the request 8-0 Tuesday. > > Commissioner J.C. Fugate, who introduced the measure, also asked the county attorney to find a way to enact an ordinance banning homosexuals from living in the county. > > “We need to keep them out of here,” Fugate said. :eek: ☹ :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2004, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guilty-of-living-while-gay/234935/2 "2004-03-17T23:25:03Z")
That’ll learn them ho…hom…homosecksu…gay people to follow the Lord’s laws, by god! :rolleyes: Marc ---
**Author:** ![Metacom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecae2f/32.png) [@Metacom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Metacom)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2004, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guilty-of-living-while-gay/234935/3 "2004-03-17T23:26:18Z")
I’m shocked. This is completely contrary to the trend-setting socially progressive policies we’ve come to expect from small counties in the deepest part of the deep south. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2004, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guilty-of-living-while-gay/234935/4 "2004-03-17T23:31:54Z")
I have the perfect solution: Rhea County can secede from the Union, thereby making a country unto itself and able to do whatever the fuck it wants. No need to worry about what is or isn’t constitutional because they’d have their own constitution! ---
**Author:** ![Ilsa\_Lund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a6a055/32.png) [@Ilsa\_Lund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ilsa_Lund)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2004, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guilty-of-living-while-gay/234935/5 "2004-03-17T23:34:10Z")
That is so fucked it doesn’t even bother me. They will get their asses _kicked_ by the ACLU. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2004, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guilty-of-living-while-gay/234935/6 "2004-03-17T23:39:56Z")
These are the same people who hold a festival every year to celebrate that Scopes lost. It’s just a request to the state government. It has no legal force. It’s still incredibly fucked up. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2004, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guilty-of-living-while-gay/234935/7 "2004-03-17T23:40:03Z")
Apparently, they’re still trying to prove they were right about evolution, using themselves as their prime example. ---
**Author:** ![FabioClone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5f8ce5/32.png) [@FabioClone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FabioClone)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2004, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guilty-of-living-while-gay/234935/8 "2004-03-17T23:43:23Z")
> [@](#): > > Rhea County is one of the most conservative counties in Tennessee. It holds an annual festival commemorating the 1925 trial at which John T. Scopes was convicted of teaching evolution. I admit it, I’m curious. I would like to see what exactly goes on at such a festival. Do they have reenactments? Creationist Cotton Candy? Guess your denomination or win a prize? ---
**Author:** ![Random](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/57b2e6/32.png) [@Random](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Random)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2004, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guilty-of-living-while-gay/234935/9 "2004-03-17T23:48:50Z")
> [@Otto](#): > > It’s just a request to the state government. It has no legal force. It’s still incredibly fucked up. Agree with you about the fucked up part, but not the rest. County boards have the ability to enact ordinances in every state that I’m aware of. The request was to the **county** attorney. Essentially, the board is directing its employee (the attorney) to draft an ordinance (banning homosexuals) to be enacted by the board. Such an ordinance would have the force of law. (For the 8.3 seconds it would take for a court to strike it down as unconstitutional, anyway.) ---
**Author:** ![Random](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/57b2e6/32.png) [@Random](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Random)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2004, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guilty-of-living-while-gay/234935/10 "2004-03-17T23:52:18Z")
I should have been clearer. Yes, there was a request to the state legislature as well, and that has no force of law. The second action of the board (the drafting and enactment of the ordinance) would. ---
**Author:** ![Ilsa\_Lund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a6a055/32.png) [@Ilsa\_Lund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ilsa_Lund)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2004, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guilty-of-living-while-gay/234935/11 "2004-03-17T23:53:12Z")
> [@Random](#): > > Agree with you about the fucked up part, but not the rest. County boards have the ability to enact ordinances in every state that I’m aware of. The request was to the **county** attorney. Essentially, the board is directing its employee (the attorney) to draft an ordinance (banning homosexuals) to be enacted by the board. > > Such an ordinance would have the force of law. (For the 8.3 seconds it would take for a court to strike it down as unconstitutional, anyway.) On a good day it would be 0.0034 seconds. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2004, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guilty-of-living-while-gay/234935/12 "2004-03-18T00:21:48Z")
> [@Jeff Olsen](#): > > I have the perfect solution: Rhea County can secede from the Union _Can_ secede? Why give them the option? Let’s build a wall around 'em and put a sign on the outside: “Quarantined for Rampant Stupidity. Enter at risk of your IQ.” ---
**Author:** ![Ilsa\_Lund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a6a055/32.png) [@Ilsa\_Lund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ilsa_Lund)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2004, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guilty-of-living-while-gay/234935/13 "2004-03-18T00:23:50Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > _Can_ secede? Why give them the option? Let’s build a wall around 'em and put a sign on the outside: “Quarantined for Rampant Stupidity. Enter at risk of your IQ.” Can we chuck rocks at them? ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2004, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guilty-of-living-while-gay/234935/14 "2004-03-18T00:32:26Z")
I think that this is a wonderful idea, and not at all unconstitutional. Then again, I’m a total fucking idiot. ---
**Author:** ![Vlad\_Igor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/7feea3/32.png) [@Vlad\_Igor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vlad_Igor)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2004, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guilty-of-living-while-gay/234935/15 "2004-03-18T00:40:02Z")
I could see a whole passel of gay men and women quietly moving in, daring Rhea county to find them and escort them to the county line. Vlad/Igor ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2004, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guilty-of-living-while-gay/234935/16 "2004-03-18T00:40:38Z")
Didn’t the Supreme Court already rule on these kinds of laws? What kind of fucked up people are these? You can’t live in the county if you’re gay? How do they decide who’s gay? Jesus, this is the stupidest fucking thing I’ve ever seen in my life. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2004, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guilty-of-living-while-gay/234935/17 "2004-03-18T00:55:40Z")
> [@Diogenes the Cynic](#): > > How do they decide who’s gay? Well, as we all learned from watching the movie “Heathers” … _mineral water!!!_ “Ah luv mah dead gay son!” ---
**Author:** ![look\_ninjas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b2d939/32.png) [@look\_ninjas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/look_ninjas)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2004, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guilty-of-living-while-gay/234935/18 "2004-03-18T01:02:47Z")
That’s just well and truly fucked up. “Crimes against nature”? What the unholy fuck is wrong with people? ---
**Author:** ![DoctorJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctorj/32/2904_2.png) [@DoctorJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoctorJ)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2004, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guilty-of-living-while-gay/234935/19 "2004-03-18T01:08:53Z")
If they want the gay folk out, they should just send them a message by, say, burning crosses in their front yards. ---
**Author:** ![Grant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a5b964/32.png) [@Grant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grant)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2004, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guilty-of-living-while-gay/234935/20 "2004-03-18T01:12:21Z")
I moved to TN about 8 years ago for my current job. For the record TN is the Mid South not the Deep South. I grew up just outside of Philadelphia. Imagine the culture shock. [http://www.tnvacation.com/do/events/moreinfo.php?Event\_ID=682](http://www.tnvacation.com/do/events/moreinfo.php?Event_ID=682) > [@](#): > > 4 performances of the famous historic trial, craft vendors, demonstrators > Location: Historic Courthouse I’ve never been to this festival and I don’t want to. I live 5 hours from there and surely wouldn’t waste that much time on it. \*\*Nothing \*\* that these bible thumping bigots do surprises me anymore but this is just stupid beyond belief. Both the festival and this “law”. You see what I’m up against here. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guilty-of-living-while-gay/234935.md?page=2)