Unbecoming of public servant | News, Sports, Jobs – Williamsport Sun-Gazette

It was very disheartening to hear of Mr. Mussare and Mr. Metzger’s attack on the James V Brown Library display of LGBT Pride Month. Pride Month is an occasion for the world’s LGBT communities to come together to celebrate the freedom to be themselves. Pride gatherings and displays such as the one at which the two County Commissioners take such offense are rooted in the arduous history of minority groups who have struggled for decades to overcome prejudice and be accepted for who they are. It has been a long hard road for them. Perhaps Mr. Mussare and Mr. Metzger are unaware of this but before the 1960s almost everything about living openly as a lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender person was illegal. Pride Month is a way of honoring how much the gay community has overcome.

As far as their objection to the library display as an example of “indoctrination of children,” I find it ironic that Mr. Metzger says indoctrination means “trying to instill one’s own beliefs or values into someone else’s way of thinking.” It is ironic because that is exactly what he is advocating by demanding that the LGBTQ display be taken down from the children’s wing. Except that he is trying to force his own beliefs and values onto others. And that is truly unbecoming and inappropriate of a public servant.

Finally, before they take up the crusade of “protecting” our children and our community from books with “immoral” content like “Julian is a Mermaid,” perhaps Mr. Mussare and Mr. Metzger should take a closer look at the message of that book. Actually it is a powerful story of the importance of being seen and affirmed, about being seen for who we are by someone who loves us. Heaven forbid that a thought like that should be presented to our children!

JOHN A. STUGRIN

Trout Run