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Council to Debate Diversity
April 23, 2007 5:27 PM
Colorado Springs' city council will vote tomorrow (Tue., April 24) on whether to support a downtown cultural festival this summer. At least two members of council have expressed distaste for sponsoring an event where gay groups might be given a forum to express political views.
Two weeks ago the Springs Gazette quoted councilmember Daryl Glenn questioning whether the festival would give voice to pro-gay marriage views, and councilmember Margaret Radford was quoted as saying, "When a large portion of this community does not support gay and lesbian viewpoints, I don't see us putting tax dollars into supporting that direction."
A group called the Colorado Springs Diversity Forum is sponsoring the event, scheduled for August 18. Its intention is to celebrate the many cultures, talents, tastes and traditions in the city. And the forum is asking the City Council to sponsor the event, in part because that would free it from paying the approximately $4,700 in fees the city charges to provide services to non-city sponsored events. The city staff has recommended sponsoring the event and waiving the fees.
But after city council members questioned whether the city should sponsor the cultural festival over gay issues, a spirited debate erupted in local newspapers' op-ed sections, and at least one local non-profit group, the Citizens Project, is encouraging its members to come to tomorrow's city council meeting to lobby for city sponsorship of the event. Newly elected city council member Jan Martin is a member of the Citizens Project board.
The Springs City Council is scheduled to take up the cultural festival issue tomorrow at 1:00pm.
Posted by Eric Whitney on April 23, 2007 5:27 PM | Permalink
