Dialing 911?

I am so glad I don't live in San Diego. Or at least in Hillcrest -- San Diego's a lovely city. But the idea that I couldn't rely on the fire department to respond in an emergency, which is the message I get from this story, would be kind of scary. Is this what the Dobson Gang has brought us to? The idea that you pay taxes and then city employees' religious beliefs determine whether you're entitled to services?

There are a lot of questions the news articles don't answer, or even raise, and that Kincaid's post does try to answer: Did any of these guys register their objections prior to the parade? Did they offer any alteraivives, or attempt to get substitutes? Did it occur to them that bystanders were rude to them because they were unfriendly?

This looks like another put-up job from the Thomas More Law Center, which has a history of anti-gay nuisance suits. My guess is that it will be thrown out of court. And frankly, if I were a resident of Hillcrest, I'd file a complaint against these guys with the department asking that at the very least they be transferred, citing their statements as evidence that they cannot be relied on to do their jobs.

The fire and police departments in Chicago, on the other hand, participate in the parade every year with no problem. Granted, this is a 180 from a decade or so ago, but the mayor saw the light (and counted the votes) and the city followed suit. (I'd sometimes prefer that the mayor had less influence, but you take what you can get.) The Town Hall police station at the north end of Boys's Town, which is the one that serves the neighborhood, has a community liaison, and the department as a whole has a GL liaison, as well as actively (even aggressively) recruiting gay men and lesbians for both the police and firefighters. They even have booths at Northalsted Marketdays, THE neighborhood street fair, and the biggest in a city remarkable for its street fairs. And the fire station at Halsted and Diversey, at the south end of Boys' Town, has a lovely garden.

I am so glad I live in Chicago. Now if we had a climate. . . .