Backfire!

It's a sad day in America when a good, honest, down-home bigot can't escape the evil homosexuals and their "ways." At least that's how some residents of Meade, Kansas are feeling right about now.

This is an amazing story for a number of reasons, here it is in a nutshell:

A couple from southern California, J.R. and Robin Knight, move to Meade, KS to open a B&B. No they aren't a gay couple, no it isn't a gay B&B. It's a heterosexual couple and a regular run of the mill B&B in a small Kansas town.

The couple's 12-year-old son (who still lives in CA) came across a rainbow flag at a store and purchased it for his parents because it had pretty colors. Even though the parents knew it was a gay rights symbol, they put it up anyway to remind them of their son and as a showcase for his thoughtful gift. And that's when it all went haywire.

Needless to say, many members of the town went into a coniption fit over the idea that there might be a gay-friendly inn in town. What stated out as a simple show of affection for a son's gift, with no political or religious meaning behind it, has turned into a gay rights fight.

Waitress Vicky Best says such a flag has no place in Meade. "It's hard enough to keep your kids on the straight and narrow without outside influences like that," she complains. "We stay in a small town to stay away from the crap like that that's happening in big cities," she says.

Lord, knows we wouldn't want those kids getting the idea that all people are created equal and that you should seek to love and understand everyone and not judge them before you have any idea about them.

While the Knights were embroiled in this outpouring of anti-gay hate, it began to stiffen their resolve to keep the flag up.

Flying the flag not only protests discrimination, they say, but they also believe that giving in to the pressure would send the wrong message to their son Anthony.

Now that's REAL parenting in action.

The flag was torn down by vandals, but the Knights are determined to keep the flag flying.

What kills me more than anything is that this all started because two parents basically hung up their child's gift. No different than putting up a picture from school on the fridge or hanging a art project in the den. Nothing political, nothing antagonistic, just a nice gesture. It cracks me up that NOW the Knights have accidentally become gay rights activists. If the residents of Meade, KS had just left it alone, there would be no issue, the flag would fly and no one would care. But because the just had to get it's hate on, they not only turned a non-issue into an issue, but the polarized the town and created new activists over a 3x5 piece of nylon with a bunch of primary colors on it.

Now I know what the flag represents, so I am hugely in favor of it flying in rural Kansas, but from the perspective of the opposition, you must really be frothed over with hate to get this bent out of shape over a flag - especially if they know the story behind it. Plus to have the glaring message to children be the values of hate, discrimination, segregation and inequality is about the most despicable thing I can think of. I'm sorry, but any day that love, acceptance, understanding and inclusion are evil, bad and wrong, something has gone terribly wrong with society.

How anyone can defend that point of view and still consider themselves a rational person is beyond me. There is no way that those values build community, they only tear it apart. And we need look no further than what is now happening. By their own admission, this town was a peaceful small community in Kansas, and it would have remained so if they hadn't jumped on their high horse. Now we have hate speech, intolerance, community division and vandalism - that's your family values at work again.

I hope the Knights keep flying the flag, and if the next one gets torn down, I'll personally send them another one. Wouldn't it be great if others in the town started flying the flag too to show support. Who knows, maybe they can have a pride rally next year.

**Additional reporting courtesy of The Advocate.