Gay Men in Kentucky Denied the Right to Swim in Pool

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Gay Men in Kentucky Denied the Right to Swim in Pool

by:

Jordan

Sunday, June 26, 2011 at 2:07:00 PM EDT

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It's summertime here in Philadelphia, and the public pools are now open. Now, of course, if two gay men want to enjoy the pool and they are told to leave, the PCHR would be on their case so fast, it would make one's head spin. Unfortunately, that is not quite reality in Hazard County, Kentucky.

The city of Hazard has disciplined two workers involved in a controversy over two gay men who were asked to leave a public swimming pool.

On Saturday the city issued a press release from City Manager Carlos Combs announcing the disciplinary actions and promising the city would have more non-discrimination training for all members of the staff at the Hazard Pavilion pool and recreation center as a result of the June 10 incident.

The city also released a report by City Attorney Paul R. Collins that summarized conflicting accounts of what happened when two men with developmental disabilities went swimming at the pool with the social service group Mending Hearts Inc.

At least one witness saw the two men “standing ‘man to man’ or ‘belly to belly’ in the pool … splashing each other with water and pushing each other under the water,” Collins reported. The witness “also said he observed them hug each other on at least one occasion” and give each other a kiss.

A complaint by Mending Hearts Executive Director Shirlyn Perkins to the Kentucky Equality Federation, a gay-rights group, had said that when Pavilion staff were asked why Mending Hearts clients and staff were being asked to leave, “they were informed that ‘gay people’ weren’t allowed to swim there.”

This makes me mad. As someone who has someone in my family with developmental disabilities, and as an LGBT activist, this makes me doubly mad. According to the story, the city employee behind this discrimination, Kim Haynes, started quoting the bible at a Mending Hearts staff member. I don't think there is anything in the bible that says "Thou shalt not allow two gay men to play in pool".

But most of all, I open this up as a chance for people not only to rally behind anti-discrimination in Kentucky, but to see the intersectionality between disability and sexuality/gender.

I cannot say for certain how severe these two men's challenges are, but those who are developmentally challenged have a harder time expressing and advocating for themselves. If I was told to use the men's changing room at a Philadelphia public pool, it would already have been posted here. However, some people do not have the ability to blog out their feelings as to why they felt the action was discriminatory.

I hope these two men have not been too scarred by this incident and I hope justice comes soon.

-Jordan Gwendolyn Davis

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