And who said government wasn’t entertaining. We could have sold tickets to the Starkville Board of Aldermen meeting Tuesday night and probably paid off the Park Commission’s budget deficit.
There were several issues that could have drawn the crowd, but a seemingly innocuous clause of insurance coverage being offered to the city employees was the dastardly offense that got pastors and their congregants up in arms. It put board members and attendees in tears and caused some of us to despair of Starkville’s commitment to equality.
All that was missing was the tar and feathers. The Mississippi Isis crowd was out in force with all the love they could muster to ensure that those who did not conform to their version of the “Judeo-Christian” ethic were not advantaged in ways that good people are advantaged: healthcare for their loved ones.
So what exactly does plus-one mean? It means that if you have an adult child they can be covered; it means that if you have a committed relationship with an adult of either sex, they can be covered. That is until Tuesday night. Now, you have to be a legally married, Mississippi recognized, couple.
There were lots of red herrings to go with this topic including what did the Mayor and CAO know and when did they know it? Why didn’t they spoon feed the concept and all its ramifications to the Board members in advance. The irony of this for me is that I was once criticized for providing some of these same board members too much information. But hey, that was then, this is now.
Scriptures were quoted and Bible stories were told. Anecdotes were shared and flags were waved. History lessons and historical quotes were the basis of rebuttal and comments. All in all it was worth being there. If you are curious, the board meetings are streaming and available on the City of Starkville website, www.cityofstarkville.org
The hoopla is surrounding a recently adopted employee non-discrimination policy and a Blue Cross/Blue Shield offered adult plus-one health coverage. The concept of a non-discrimination policy is in great accord with offering insurance coverage to employees in the broadest sense possible. It is not a gigantic leap of brilliance to understand that plus-one coverage is part of that acceptance policy.
And yet, board members took great pains to publicly reprimand the CAO and the Mayor for not spoon feeding them the information with all its possible ramifications. The benefit derived from this coverage by the rest of the employee group might also mean significant others (adults plus-one) could include a benefit for a same sex relationship.
Many concepts were tossed about that night. I was particularly disturbed by the person who endorsed the concept of “tyranny of the majority.” My history lesson was “majority rule with minority rights.” One of those rights for which we fight is equity. Equity was pretty much left in the dust of government discrimination Tuesday night.
One individual also had the temerity to say that we shouldn’t give these employees special treatment. Come again? This is not special treatment; this is simply equal treatment. Carving those employees out is giving special treatment; it’s called discrimination.
Why are we employing government to impose our intolerance on such intimate matters? Where does our intolerance end? Do we need to be reminded of the slippery slope of the treatment of perceived wrongdoers? Today it may be non-traditional partnerships, but tomorrow we could target adulterers or drunks. The Old Testament wasn’t particularly forgiving of those transgressions either.
The Old Testament religious thou shalt nots rose up to conquer the New Testament thou shalt. The losers were all of us. Unequal treatment of others means when it comes your turn to be in the minority as one day may be the case, what goes around may come back around to you.
Life isn’t fair, but using religion to perpetuate any form of governmental discrimination when we claim to be a country of inclusion is troubling. I don’t believe that value system is indicative of the country I was proud to serve. I continue to be grateful every day that I was born here and not in some other country on some other continent.
Sadly, some days it is a challenge to be grateful I was born in Mississippi. However, the one thing I am always grateful for is that it was Starkville and not some other Mississippi city. I believe we will still work toward the goal of equitable treatment and Starkville will continue to lead that charge.
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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