This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2013, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Salt Lake County Council Chairmen Steve DeBry is concerned that Salt Lake's Pride Parade is a political event, and therefore the county's library should not participate ("Did Salt Lake County show too much pride?" Tribune, June 12). He's signaling out gays for special scrutiny.
Gay pride events are no more political than Utah's Hispanic Fiesta, which surely includes advocates for giving citizenship to undocumented immigrants. Both celebrate the existence and rightful place of their minority community within the larger society — that's a political act.
The highly regulated, prudish pro-family Days of '47 Parade (which won't allow gay floats) is similarly political. Certainly, the Safe Kids Fair has a political agenda. And come to think of it, so do Independence Day celebrations.
I celebrate a proactive library that goes out where the people are to encourage reading and other information activities. Libraries are for everyone, male and female, adult and child, black and white, and, yes, even the homophobic and the homosexual.
Jeff Palmer
Park City