I love mayors. They’re inherently funny, like the head of a condo association—passionately seizing what amounts to no real power. And aren’t we in luck? There are two mayor stories today!

Bill Mills, the mayor of Truru, Nova Scotia (who you may remember for some earlier anti-gay shenanigans), is facing extra accusations of homophobia after declaring that gay men alone are responsible for a proposal to install a locked gate at Victoria Park, restricting hours for all residents. Many people are angry with the proposal, and while the park has a reputation of being shady (pun kind of intended), it has many problems, including drug dealers, underage drinking, and teenage hookups—not just gay cruising. Still, Mayor Mills has refused to withdraw or clarify his comments. The rest of the city council, meanwhile, has publicly distanced themselves from the mayor’s craziness.

In some better mayor-related news, our friends in Houston, Texas have reason to celebrate after electing their very first lesbian mayor! Annise Parker, an openly gay politician with a partner of 16 years and two adopted children, won with 53.6 percent of the vote in the normally über-conservative U.S. state. The voter turnout was one of the lowest in history, mind you, at just over 16 percent. But that’s just more proof that mayors are silly positions. Am I right?

• Victoria Park, Victorian attitude [Chronicle Herald]
• Voters elect Houston’s first openly gay mayor [CBC News]

A human rights complaint has been filed against the town of Truro for refusing to fly a gay Pride flag, while accommodating other organisations’ flag-flying requests.

Although the town’s decision to pass on the Pride flag inherently raised suspicions of homophobia, Truro mayor Bill Mills removed all doubt when he delivered this gem to the media: “If I have a group of people that says pedophiles should have rights, do we raise their flag too?”

Now, I’ve written about why the mayor’s understanding of the Pride flag is deeply flawed, but I have to say I’m a little concerned that a human rights complaint—filed over what basically amounts to a rude dismissal—would turn him into a martyr of sorts. (I can see the “pro-family” headlines spinning now: “Glorious Mayor Mills Tortured and Fed to Eels By Homosexual Secularists For Bravely Defending Religious Freedoms.”)

Truro Pride, the group that filed the complaint, said the town did not contact them to resolve the matter privately, and the complaint was necessary to kick-start discussion and draft an official policy for flag raising—a valid strategy when dealing with stubborn and wrong policy-makers. Let’s just hope the concerns are resolved quickly and civilly.

• Rainbow flag snub sparks human rights complaint [CBC News]
• Gay-pride group files complaint over Truro flag flap [Chronicle Herald]

Flashback: The year is 1989 and—oh, wait, no. I misread something. Let’s try this again.

August, 2007: The town council of Truro, Nova Scotia (population 11,700) has voted 6-1 against raising a Pride flag at city hall during the city’s gay pride week. The mayor, Bill Mills, decides to let his words speak louder than actions:

If I have a group of people that says pedophiles should have rights, do we raise their flag too? I don’t want to lump them in with homosexuals, but that’s the point—the issues—and that’s my feeling.

Gays and lesbians already have equal opportunities and work and pension benefits; I wonder what else they’re fighting for.

Charming lad.

So, what else are gay people fighting for? Freedom from being publicly compared to pedophiles by ignorant mayors is a good start. I am not a criminal.

You see, the folks running Truro are unusually slow at understanding the Pride flag. Bill Mills considers it a display of arrogance—a means to “flaunt a lifestyle” to those who don’t care to see it. He’s the type of person who emails me now and then to ask why gays are so insistent on visibility when there isn’t a straight pride flag or straight pride parade.

My take is simple: Pride flags exists because pride is the opposite of shame, which is precisely how people like Mills would have us gays feel. The “lifestyle” I’m supposedly flaunting is, in reality, no different from anyone else’s, but there’s a lot I’ve had to put up with. Pride is a fitting symbol: I am proud of having overcome the misinformation I was fed over the years about gay people; I’m proud of overcoming the personal struggle to accept who I am; and I’m especially proud of how I continue to overcome ignorant policy-makers, lobbyists, journalists, individuals, and churches who don’t hesitate to attack me at every opportunity.

Raising the Pride flag is not an “endorsement” of any particular lifestyle—and certainly not the lifestyle that Mayor Mills has chosen to assign to all of a diverse group. Rather, it’s a gesture of dignity and recognition of a minority’s struggle that, if refused in this manner, re-enforces the purpose of why that symbol exists. Mayor Mills may not care to see the Pride flag one week a year, but I have to put up with discriminatory nonsense all the time.

Incidentally, municipal proclamations such as flag raising are generally considered a public service of city hall.

A tip o’ the hat to Devin Maxwell, who grew up in Truro.

• N.S. town council votes against raising pride flag [CTV News]
• Truro in gay flag flap [CBC News]
• Truro mayor: It’s not OK to be gay [Chronicle Herald]