Oregon Thankful

I give rural Oregon a lot of shit for its hillbilly ways. Perhaps, undeservedly so. Perhaps, especially today.

The city of Silverton, Oregon, is essentially a geographical side note. It is a wayside on the way back to Salem from Silver Falls. It is filled with white picket fences, churches and playgrounds. A nice place to drive through, but not an ideal place to live.

Of course, that is my own brand of dismissiveness.

A strange thing happened there recently. The kind folks of quaint Silverton elected themselves a new mayor. A long time resident. A pillar of the community.

Also, a transsexual.

Mayor-elect, Stu Rasmussen, is a man who is apparently on his way to becoming a woman. He dresses as a woman, and seems to have a "nice rack," although the surgical modifications appear to end there.

Silverton surprisingly doesn't seem to mind, and really, as a community, it's their business. Yet, the election has caught the attention of unwanted guests...

Specifically, the Westboro Baptist Church of Kansas, of "god hates fags" fame, have focused their sights on this tiny Oregon town. Four prolific protesters, including the head hate-monger himself, arrived in Portland this week and wasted no time in protesting Portland's openly-gay mayor-elect, Portland State university and Portland's Swedish Consulate.

Of course, their prime target lay 45 miles to the south...

All four Westboro bigots arrived in Silverton yesterday, bearing signs that read "God Hates You," "Fags Are Beasts," "Your Pastor is a Whore" and "Barack Obama Antichrist."

Tragically, one of the protesters was a child, only further fueling my argument against exposing children to the hateful and destructive brain-washing message of religion... But I digress....

The fearsome foursome, however, did not have the street to themselves. Rather, they were met by, and out-shouted by, nearly 200 counter protesters. Nearly 200 rural Oregonians took time out of their day to confront hate, to protest in the name of love and tolerance, and to defend their own political odd ball from narrow-minded harbingers of idiocy.

Generally, I like the state that I call home. Today, however, I am openly and enthusiastically proud and thankful to live in the State of Oregon.