June 13,2017
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, There was much ADO about the Pride Flag in Ridgewood. Some naysayers chose to loudly and nastily vilify members of the Ridgewood Village Council. One Village Council member managed to get The Record to write a somewhat-inaccurate account of the Ridgewood Pride Flag discussions and actions. Some residents got into online and in-person arguments with each other. The CRAB (Community Relations Advisory Board) got into the thick of it with commentary and not-so-veiled accusations about the Ridgewood response to their request to fly the flag. Somehow in all of this Glen Rock was held up as the more inclusive, welcoming, agreeable Village Government and community.
Take a look at the Pride Flags displayed in Glen Rock and Ridgewood. This is what you will see:
1. The Ridgewood flag is larger than the Glen Rock Flag.
2. The Ridgewood flag is displayed at eye level while the Glen Rock flag is way up high (you have to really look to see it).
3. The Ridgewood flag is displayed in a very central location where there is a ton of pedestrian traffic, outdoor cafes, parking on the street, and in general many people coming and going all day and evening, seven days a week. The Glen Rock Flag is by a field on a very busy street where it can only be seen as you either whiz by (and you would have to take your eyes off the road if you are driving) or if you happen to be at a game being played at that field. There are no stores, no restaurants, no businesses of any kind on that stretch of road, and no parking on the street where the Glen Rock flag is.
4. The Ridgewood Village Hall has two flags on display – the American Flag and the MIA-POW flag. The Glen Rock Village Hall has numerous flags on display, maybe six or eight different varieties. So while Ridgewood did not wish to display this flag at their Village Hall, stating that no other flags traditionally fly there, Glen Rock has a whole menu of flags but opted not to put the Pride Flag among them.
5. The Ridgewood Pride Flag is displayed proudly and prominently. The Glen Rock Pride Flag is out of the way and hard to find.
It is disgusting that some members of our Ridgewood Village government were wrongly accused of bigoted behavior and attitudes while their counterparts in Glen Rock were held up as paragons of inclusiveness. The truth is, Ridgewood’s Pride display is, well, much more PROUD than that of Glen Rock. Go Ridgewood!!!
Who was the fellow who wrapped a set of cliffs in fabric and called it art? That will be the next demand. Then every Tom, Dick and Harry with a two-bit cause, demanding that they be allowed to drape Ridgewood with their “pride” flag for a month, and standing ready to sue us under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution if the Village Council takes a vote and…OOPS!…fails to give formal approval. How soft-minded could our five Council members have been for failing to predict the downstream consequences of allowing our municipal charter to be drawn into irrelevant “feel-good” social debates? And as for our Village Attorney, Matt Rogers, does anyone know whether he answered the Council’s questions on the matter with appropriate admonitions warding the Village away from the manifold pitfalls associated with feel-good municipal virtue signaling?
Black Pride Shuts Down Gay Pride at DC March
Gateway Pundit ^ | June 11, 2017 | Cristina Laila
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Thousands of people came out for the annual gay pride parade, waving rainbow flags on Saturday. The parade was stopped dead in its tracks by Black Lives Matter activists.
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Read more at thegatewaypundit.com …
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The moral of this story? When two sacred cows collide, you get hamburger!
Drove up Chestnut yesterday with the 4 and 6 year olds. They pointed out a HUGE gay pride flag on top of the old Fish Restaurant and asked me what it was – they had never seen it before.
Any suggestions from council on the best way to explain sexuality to toddlers and kindergarten age students? I told them it was a summertime flag – thought maybe it was a bit early to get into the discussion at this stage.
I figured the American flag represented all of us – not sure why gay pride is flying over the village….very odd.
Pandering Paulie had to put up a gay pride flag in front of his restaurant because his Democrat bosses told him to do so or risk losing votes. His slide into the political gutter continues.
7:18. It is not about sexuality. It is about equality And inclusiveness.
Is that hard to explain to your children? Maybe you need to check your biases.
The difference was due to the tone of the initial meeting for each council. In Glen Rock they voted immediately to proceed. In Ridgewood the public was left to believe there would be no flag. Now, in fairness, supposedly the Mayor sent an email the following day suggesting VanNess. There are questions about that email and I have not seen that email so I cannot confirm. BUT the PUBLIC did not know that solution was in the works. So many reacted to the information that was available. I believe you saw that anger quickly dissipate once a solution was found.
7:56 – it is not about equality and inclusiveness. It is about power, dominating the agenda and indoctrination.
You know it, I know it and everyone else knows it.
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Most people are all for equality. They are just against “bullying” behavior, and having one group forcefully push their agenda on another.
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Pretty funny that some of the loudest voices about the flag have not put flags up at their own homes.
The dispute was never about the Pride Flag. No one on the Village Council is biased against anyone. Jan Philips and Jeff Voigt used false and skewed information to turn it into a free-for-all simply to try and discredit the Mayor.
Glen Rock voted immediately to proceed. yeah. To put it in an out-of-the way place where no one can even see it. Not impressed.
Anger…due to what? Because one’s chosen lifestyle or that of a friend or family member was not given the formal stamp of approval of the municipality in which one lives? So tolerance…that’s not sufficient, is it? Smiling acceptance…yes, that’s what’s needed…for now. Later on, of course, enthusiastic participation in the lifestyle in question will be the irresistable social norm. And when that day comes, the rubes in this unenlightened backwater hamlet will finally get the education-by-firehose in modern progressive politics they’ve been asking for. First Amendment jurisprudence be damned.
In America all people are equal.
The American flag represents all of us.
Council should pass an ordinance against posting any flag (ANY FLAG) except Stars & Stripes on municipal property in the future. End of story.
Aronsohn is laughing his *** off at the wasps’ nest he started so that this manufactured uproar can be used next year in the council campaign to get his hangers-on elected. Jan Phillips does whatever he wants and got all those people to “out” themselves at the microphone and talk about prejudice. Prejudice is bad! That does not automatically mean the town has to do anything but work to remove bias. CRAB SHOULD NOW BE DISBANDED. Any group whose SOLE reason for existence is to ADVISE the council but takes its mandate as justification for publicly BASHING the council SHOULD BE DISBANDED. This includes the Financial Advisory Committee. Their so-called work is done. Farewell.
Ironically after all the hoopla in FB , local media etc. when I drive around town I only see a tiny number of flags around and this is great. People do not give a shit for pride about nothing. I am much more inclined to respect people who don’t show me their personal flags than someone who is waving it in my face. The American flag is what everyone should respect and embrace. Any other “pride” flags can be flown in private.
Yesterday, I heard they are raising “the flag” at RHS. I think this is discriminatory , the flag show be flown in middle schools and why not in elementary as well. I won’t be surprised if these people ask for it next year. A big , hearty FU to these jerks.
@ 756 – did you not read where the american flag represents all of us, no matter what your orientation. Duh.Why doesnt every sliver of society have their particular “flag” flying? Everyone is equal and included – not sure why ones sexuality needs to be on parade, Saving the “Johnny has 2 Dads” conversation for a bit later on thank you.
The only thing that forcing this flag down the throats of Ridgewood residents accomplishes is turning people who were impartial or ambivalent to the gay agenda against it.
12:15. Someone seemed upset that they had to explain the gay pride flag to a child. There is an age appropriate explanation for everything. You do not need to explain human sexuality to a 4 year old asking about the rainbow flag. It does not matter if the flag is in a park or on a house.
And I posted 11:31 also. I think that the American flag represents all Americans. There are a lot of flags flying in other places. I do not worry about the motives.
1253- aside from sexuality, what makes gay people different? I wasn’t aware of anything else but could be wrong. 4 year olds need to get to the bottom of it FYI – I would rather not get into that conversation just yet. It’s a summer flag for now. I’ll save the explaination for when they are ready – thanks! Live by the golden rule and we are all good!
Only 17 days left!
Excellent observation made by 930 am. Some of the most obnoxious supporters of the “must be flown at Village Hall” issue have chosen not to fly flags at their own homes. ?
From Street to Sanctuary: The LGBT Take On the Church
JUNE 12, 2017 BY FR. REGIS SCANLON, OFMCAP 8 COMMENTS
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The “Lesbian-Gay-Bi-Trans” movement (hereafter, LGBT) has largely succeeded in becoming fully accepted into the secular society worldwide. Now it’s clear that this movement—composed of lesbians, gays, bisexuals and the trans-gendered—is setting its sights on the Roman Catholic Church. Members of the LGBT movement want to be accepted as fully Catholic and wholly Christian, without any admittance that the two ways of life—LGBT principles and an authentically Catholic life—may be mutually exclusive. They seek the Church’s approval of their lifestyle, even though most members of the LGBT movement reject the Church’s teaching on celibacy for single life outside of a “one man-one woman” marriage. What’s more, the acceptance of the movement has become a real possibility, given the reactions of a growing number of bishops and theologians in recent years.
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The seeds of this acceptance go back a long way. I recall working with young college students some years ago when some leading LGBT members first attacked the local bishop for defending the Church’s teaching that homosexual acts are intrinsically evil. They did this by taking out full page ads in the local newspaper. The Catholic students were outraged, and collected money for a full-page ad in the newspaper to defend the bishop’s stand on the immorality of homosexual activity.
Then the diocese got wind of what we were doing. I was asked to have the students stand down. The reason was that the diocese did not want to be involved in a street fight between LGBT members and the Church. We failed, then, to engage in a street fight over moral values, which means that today, the Church could very well be facing a sanctuary fight over these same moral issues. Given the track record on the LGBT’s tolerance for people who do not agree with them, if the movement does manage to become accepted by the Catholic Church, the question will then be: How will the LGBT react to the reading of scriptural passages from St. Paul which condemn sodomy and adultery?
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They exchanged the truth of God for a lie and revered and worshiped the creature rather than the creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. Therefore, God handed them over to degrading passions. Their females exchanged natural relations for unnatural, and the males likewise gave up natural relations with females and burned with lust for one another. Males did shameful things with males and thus received in their own persons the due penalty for their perversity. And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God handed them over to their undiscerning mind to do what is improper. They are filled with every form of wickedness, evil, greed, and malice; full of envy, murder, rivalry, treachery, and spite. They are gossips and scandalmongers and they hate God. They are insolent, haughty, boastful, ingenious in their wickedness, and rebellious toward their parents. They are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Although they know the just decree of God that all who practice such things deserve death, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them (Rom 1:25-32)…
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Do you not know that the unjust will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers nor boy prostitutes nor sodomites nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor robbers will inherit the kingdom of God. That is what some of you used to be; but now you have had yourselves washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God (1 Cor 6:9-11).
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Is it naïve to think that one day we shall face legal action against having such texts proclaimed publicly? How will legal proceedings unfold when those who espouse a homosexual lifestyle are denied Church weddings? And, so, the larger questions become: Whose scriptures? Whose Church? The Christians or the LGBT?
These are obviously very serious matters—at least to faithful Catholics—which must be carefully examined before the Church can extend true acceptance, counsel, and mercy to members of this movement. Yes, we all stand in need of wisdom, of love, and of pastoral care. But authentic mercy does good to all, and not just to one group or person at the expense of others. So, let’s examine what mercy should mean in this case.
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For the sake of this discussion, let’s agree that the LGBT movement, and its followers, are those who actively promote and politicize the acceptance of alternate sexual life styles, including what the Bible unpolitically-incorrectly calls “sodomy.”1 This is not meant to be an inflammatory categorization, it’s only meant to define the parameters of this discussion. To begin, I think we can all agree that the goals and intentions of the LGBT movement are well-known because of LGBT’s aggressive methods of promoting freedom for same-sex life styles. These methods, expressed, for example, in gay pride parades, and other entertainment venues, have been slowly championed by the conventional media, with the effect that if anyone has a reasoned argument why the homosexual lifestyle may not be God’s plan for human flourishing, one is castigated as “homophobic,” their argument seen as nothing more than “hate speech.” Time and time again, we have seen how the LGBT movement is far less tolerant about allowing opposing opinions.2
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But while parades are one thing, the movement has become prominent and front-and-center in the Catholic Church. In the past few years, a number of high-ranking cardinals, archbishops, and bishops have made no secret about the fact they are open to the idea of same-sex unions. They openly talk about welcoming members of the LGBT movement—not only into secular society—but especially into the Catholic Church, without any call to a change in lifestyle, or understanding of the nature of love and marriage.
Who are these high-ranking Church leaders? To begin, they are prominent members of the hierarchy who convened in St. Gallen, Switzerland, to “circle the wagons” and promote a reformer to the papacy. This group has been very forthcoming about its goal to elect a pope who is sympathetic to their goals of updating the Church’s teaching on human sexuality, including unquestioned support of the LGBT movement. Perhaps the most vocal member of this “St. Gallen Society” has been Cardinal Danneels of Belgium who has counseled that country’s government to pass same-sex “marriage” legislation (he also advised the government to pass a law favoring abortion back in 1990!); but other high-profile clerics are Cardinal Kaspar, England’s Basil Hume, and the Swiss Bishop, Ivo Fürer, former Bishop of Sankt Gallen, from where this mafia-like group takes its name. Then there is Cardinal Nichols from the UK, who called for a nationwide expansion of Eucharistic celebrations with the LGBT communities.3 And we must not forget Chicago Archbishop Blase Cupich, who was one of the first in the United States to prioritize the conscience of someone engaging in homosexual activity over the Church’s teaching. He teaches that practicing homosexuals can follow their conscience, and come to Communion, even though the Church clearly teaches that Catholics who continue in “manifest grave sin” cannot receive the sacraments (Canon §915).4
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More recently, a recent book by Fr. James Martin, S.J., entitled Building A Bridge: How the Catholic Church and the LGBT Community Can Enter into a Relationship of Respect, Compassion, and Sensitivity, has won the praise of some American cardinals and bishops. They inclu
Since when does it matter that one town ups the other town. I think this article is very inappropriate as it’s more of an attack article at the Borough of Glen Rock rather then a congratulatory article because no matter where or how the flag is presented, the main point is that both towns decided to support the LGBTQ community by displaying this symbol.
You are literally saying min is bigger about a flag representing openness and inclusion. This is pathetic.
thats what the big mouths implied at CRAB , Alfred Doublin of the Record ,Aronsohn’s loser flunkies and so on
Given the point of the flag is to remember to practice inclusivity and welcome all, the tone of your blog is uncalled for and childish. You don’t need to knock others down to lift yourself up. Be proud of both Glen Rock and Ridgewood for flying the flags and making a statement. You should re-read your work. You sound like you’re having a tantrum.
“uncalled for and childish” really like calling the Bergen Record , bullying your neighbors , big talk when there is little or no consequences
This article has nothing to do with Gay Pride and everything to do with the fact that Ridgewood cannot stand being seen as second to Glen Rock. This article is shameful, insulting and childish. Seriously? You have to be better than everyone?
News flash. People who live in GR wouldn’t be caught dead living in Ridgewood. Once, a few years ago, I was behind a convertible going through a fast food drive thru in Midland Park. The car was from Risgewood (had HS stickers in the back) and filled with kids. They made fun of the girl serving them because English was not her first language. Then and there, I decided U would never live in Ridgewood. Obviously the writer of this appalling article was not told to play nice with others. Shame on you.
I knew I should have moved to Glen Rock. Better people, better town
Did the author of this piece honestly take all of this time to serve some stupid Ridgewood bias? Really? We in Glen Rock don’t care enough to insult Ridgewood, because we have better things to do than worry about a stupid small town rivalry
Did the author of this piece honestly take all of this time to serve some stupid Ridgewood bias? Really? We in Glen Rock don’t care enough to insult Ridgewood, because we have better things to do than worry about a stupid small town rivalry.
Comparing the size, location, and number of flags has to be the gayest thing ever.
This was hilarious thank you for making my day this absurdly written article, who gave you a keyboard
If you don’t make something a “thing” it isn’t a “thing”. Saying to a four year old that love is love and sometimes it’s two men, sometimes two women, and sometimes a man and a woman, is a good answer. If you think that’s too much for them to handle then it’s you with the issues.
The American flag doesn’t represent everyone until there’s no racism, antisemitism, homophobia, misogyny, xenophobia, etc.
I was at that Ridgewood meeting where the council looked at every person asking to fly the flag completely stonefaced- devoid of any emotion whatsoever. They had more emotion for the lady wanting a no birdfeeder ordinance because she’s overrun with chipmunks and the woman who announced she’s a Ridgewood resident AND a married lesbian. That’s when one man up on the dais literally let his mouth hang agape for her entire speech. My friend and I bet that he was only thinking- “how do you have sex?”
So there was nothing erroneous about anyone’s reporting at that meeting. People spoke, asked to raise the flag, and were met with silent stares, leading us all to believe that it would be a big fat no.
I was at the glen rock meeting where it was brought to the council and it was unanimous that night. There isn’t a huge menu of flags at borough hall- there is the American flag and the POW flag. The POW flag has been there for 30 years or something and they didn’t want to move it. The pole where it is was the only place on short notice to put it. Have no worries- There are plans in time to make pride month a bigger glen rock celebration. Rome was not built in a day and a formerly conservative town wasn’t reformed in one either.
This is ridiculous blog post. I didn’t know this blog existed until today but this had to be written by a guy- since it’s the equivalent of penis measuring. Ridgewood flag vs glen rock? Your flag is bigger? What a joke. Why do we need pride flags flown? Read the comments here. A cesspool of bigotry & people who can’t seem to figure out how to simply explain gay to children (or out of a paper bag), that reside in Ridgewood- that’s why.
Ridgewood and Glen Rock…the New Hope and Provincetown of North Jersey, duking it out to see which will be crowned the hip new place for sodomites to congregate. Isn’t it cute?