In Hillsborough County, Florida, commissioners have voted to prohibit any county agency from "acknowledging, promoting or participating" in any sort of gay pride recognition or events. They also voted to require a supermajority of commissioners' votes for this measure to be overturned.

The New York Times reports:

Meagan Albright, a graduate student at the University of South Florida, created the exhibit on gay authors and literature to fulfill a requirement for a course on diversity. As part of the exhibit, Ms. Albright made available pamphlets that listed counseling resources for teenagers who have questions about their sexuality.

Commissioner Ronda Storms, who introduced the measure and has received the brunt of local criticism about it, said the pamphlet troubled her the most.

Oh, I'm sure that advice to see trained professionals to help deal with one's sexuality must have horrified her. On the other hand, advice that one see a priest who will convince them that homosexuality is evil probably would have been welcomed with open arms.

Community leaders here said the policy damaged recent efforts to promote the Tampa region as being multicultural and diverse. Addressing an arts group the day after the commission's vote, Mayor Pam Iorio of Tampa said: "Gays and lesbians are part of our diversity and deserve our respect. That is a value that I hold dear. We should build on tolerance, not intolerance."

On Monday night, more than 700 people met at the Metropolitan Community Church of Tampa to discuss ways to get the policy overturned. "I've been with my partner for three years and this is a small step to push us farther and farther back," said Jeff Isaacson, 40, who attended the rally. "It's the library now, but it could be more later. We're here to stop the bleeding and show we are here."

The measure is legal, however odious it may be — the county doesn't have to spend money on anything that it doesn't want to spend it on. They could also vote to refuse to acknowledge or spend money on events that educate about the history of Jewish Americans or African-Americans, too — but they wouldn’t.

Why not? Because people would recognize such a move for the rank bigotry that it is and insist that it not go forward. Open and unapologetic bigotry against Jews and blacks is no longer acceptable; against gays, though, it is acceptable — even promoted in some places. Tolerance and acceptance of homosexuality is a threat to some people's vision of a Christian America.

While such measures may be entirely legal, they are also inconsistent with the principles of democratic government. It's inappropriate for the government to communicate the message that a particular group of citizens has less value than the rest. The government should no more single out gays for such treatment than Jews, blacks, or liberals. The government can favor certain ideologies for favor or disfavor, but not groups.

Gay "pride" may appear to be an ideology, but the measure passed broadly bans even the acknowledgment of events that simply tell people that they don't have to be ashamed of being gay — that being gay isn't evil, immoral, or a reason to be thought of as inferior to other human beings. That's no more an "ideology" than the principles behind something like Black History Month.

The commissioners of Hillsborough County did not single out an ideology for disfavor, but a group — gays. The commissioners of Hillsborough County informed gays that their citizenship counts for less, that they don't have the same status in the community. This is not something which a democratic government should do — in a democracy, all citizens must be treated equally by the state.

Read More:

• Gay Rights, Gay Marriage
• Evangelical Christianity & Homosexuality
• Catholicism & Homosexuality