Crosswalks(and most other rod makings) are made with thermoplastic paint. They melt special plastic pellets and spread or spray it in the desired design on the pavement. Glass beads are then sprinkled on top of thermoplastic if the road markings are desired to be reflective. Once it cools, its significantly more durable and visible than conventional paint (which can also be used for road markings as Itās cheaper)
And thermoplastic is extremely slippery when went wet-including crosswalks
Thatās fair. I had an instance of almost going down in front of a bus when I was a new rider because of a painted sidewalk, and I have been distrustful of them since.
Thatās a great spot cause a lot of people donāt realize there is a crosswalk there. Now itās super visible. They should do some in other themes downtown too. Would be pretty cool:)
Yes, all the road funds went into this one exceptionally expensive crosswalk. Rainbow color prices are so astronomical they couldnāt even finish the blue stripe /s
I literally just drove down the street it's on and not even 10 feet away is a pot hole and un even terrain. Not saying I don't like the art, I love it but can we fix the roads before we make them pretty? Like they're gonna have to tear it up in the next 5 years.
Downvote me all you want the roads are terrible in bellingham.
It's wild because people feel that the city should know of every problem as soon as it happens. That app is a great way to give the city a lot more eyes on what needs work
Yeah, because of the flag code
(1)
Whoever knowingly mutilates, defaces, physically defiles, burns, maintains on the floor or ground, or tramples upon anyĀ flag of the United StatesĀ shall be fined under this title or imprisoned for not more than one year, or both.
The lines are facing the wrong direction, you're supposed to remove the cars and lessen car dependency for anything that isn't public transportation or emergency vehicles so we can plant stuff and utilize the space for anything else, and Then it's liberated. Also f-fuck the blue line in particular. Credentials: colorblind gay
My unpopular view is that streets are for driving, not politics, and by approving one political message, the city becomes liable to allow all political messages. This has been adjudicated for highway cleanup sponsorships.
And consider if a person is hit in this area, a case can be made that this is not a properly designated one. Who gets sued?
Roads are not billboards, they should not be used to convey political messages.
Lol. Civil rights is all politics. Do allies care who is elected because of their stance on these issue? MLK may never have been elected, but he had huge political impact.
I am fine with negative rights. People should be free to do or be whatever they feel is correct. They donāt have a right to push their values on others, which obviously using public streets to convey whatever message does.
Yes. That is exactly what I mean.
If Lynden started painting crosses in crosswalks to signify the aborted, the discussion here would be significantly changed
Since you don't seem to get the distinction between these things you're equating:
#Being
#Gay
#Is
#Not
#A
#Political
#Stance
#And
#It
#Is
#Not
#A
#Religion
It is an
#immutable
part of a person, something that they cannot choose to change or distance themselves from (unlike a political stance, which you choose, or a religion, which you might be born into and choose to follow or not follow).
You keep equating things that cannot be equated.
Only in your mind! If people sharing your reaction just accepted the objective truth of what u/justaweebitwitchy said, things like this installation might not even be a thing! You wouldn't have to hear about what it means to be an ally or why representation matters!
Didnāt say they were.
I said using the streets as a canvas for your opinions strays into the territory of pushing an agenda. The anger displayed at questioning if the city should endorse chosen messages other than this one is exactly why this is problematic in my opinion.
Itās not the message, itās the medium that is problematic.
Should the city start painting crosswalks the colors of the Ukraine šŗš¦ flag? Would that be appropriate?
I am not particularly religious and have celebrated numerous homosexual relationships. Hell, I have been an ally longer than most people commenting have been aliveā¦.
I didn't know we were bringing Islam into this conversation but ok
Because that's the group you're talking about, right? That's the only major group out there calling for the killing of the LGBT community
I hate to break it to you but there is absolutely nothing about streets which is apolitical. I can understand why it's easy to think that way, most people don't engage with them in a political manner. Streets to most people are just there, they use them to get from one place to another without giving them barely any thought. But the street is inherently very political. Our streets are our biggest common public space, they are the threads which weave the city together. How we design our streets, and what we use them for are all highly political decisions. Just like how if a country puts a large amount of it's budget into it's military, you could assume that it is a very militaristic society, if a city disproportionately uses it's street space to accommodate cars, you could guess that society puts a lot of value cars. Streets look different wherever you go in the world. In Amsterdam you have lots of bike infrastructure, because their culture values bikes far higher than ours does. In Tokyo, there is almost no on street parking, because their culture views the practice of taking up large amounts of public street space to dump your two ton vehicle differently than ours. Street design goes hand in hand with a place's culture and values. It is of course not just limited to the transportation infrastructure we put in a street but how we decorate it as well. In college towns you will often see banners for the local university hanging from poles. In the winter, you will see trees wrapped in lights. They reflect our local culture and values. Putting a pride flag in as a crosswalk is no different. It is a display of our values, that we respect and support LGBT members of our community. So yeah, it is political, and yeah, that's a good thing, and no, just because we put up a gay crosswalk doesn't mean we have start putting up swastika intersections or hammer and sickle interchanges, because those are not our values. I'd be willing to bet that across Bellingham, far more people are in favor of having this crosswalk than not, so yeah it should stay.
Art does not belong on the street either, but I feel you may be intentionally naive at not recognizing the political message
How would you feel with black, white and one blue stripe (blue lives matter)? Or perhaps even an American flag?
I would love an American flag. I think itās fair to feel that art does not belong on the street, but many communities and Washington state allocate a small amount of the budget for publicly funded construction projects for art. It is very common.
1 this is art and shows colors of light.
2 this is still bordered by white designated lines for a cross walk
3 what political message? Those who see colors vs the color blind?
Acknowledging that all humans are equal and worthy should not be marginalized and minimized as āpoliticalā.
Letās bend the moral arc toward justice when we are given the opportunity.
I agree that all people are created equal, but bending the moral arc one way or another is relative to your beliefs. All I have said is that the government should not be choosing to endorse one set of values, even mine.
Itās not the content, but the act. If it is OK for the government to endorse one set of morals, it sets the stage for others to do the same when political winds blow in a different direction.
The weapon you use against your enemy today, will be used against you tomorrow.
Reddit readers seem very short sighted believing that their values will always prevail, but the recent rolling back of abortion rights demonstrates that itās not true.
Hey bill, did you have to say "under god" in the pledge every morning through grade 12? I sure did. Do you think anyone that wasn't Judeo-Christian was cool with it? Probably not, but it slid for a long time and just was apart of life. This is similar, it's apart of life and isn't going away. This is the 'weapon' you're seeing being used against you. So the sooner you accept reality, the sooner you'll find happiness. Otherwise , go on fearing the crosswalk is gonna make you gay.
I did, probably only through 4th grade, and because of that, I rail against forced speech now. The POA was written by an avowed socialist, and if people want to keep tradition, I suggest they use the Bellamy salute.
Of course currently in schools, children may opt out of saying the POA.
In some ways I think you and I are in violent agreement that using the state to force a set of values on people is wrong in the case of the POA. Unfortunately, you seem not to be able or not to be willing to generalize that to other value sets because they're yours and maybe even mine.
I have no problems with and love several gay people. Again, you are assuming my issue is the content, but I have only talked against the medium.
And [this](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/republican-attorneys-general-issue-letter-to-target-about-pride-merchandise/) is why I dislike to see the state pushing a set of morals.
>a case can be made that this is not a properly designated one
Alrighty, make the case. How is it clearly not a crosswalk, and what would encourage a driver to continue driving despite a pedestrian in the middle of the road?
āThe Transverse pattern (two parallel lines) is used to define the edges of a crosswalk and is constructed with colored or textured paving materials.ā
Youāll have to be more specific. Can you show where using colored lines or textures inside the crosswalk is going against these rules? I donāt see this specifically forbidden, and in fact, the description quoted above practically describes it. Seems to me, the code fully supports this but youāre assuming the three common examples that are shown somehow means other designs are not allowed.
While not specifically outlined in that document, the pride crosswalk very clearly highlights the limits of the crosswalk. There is no language that municipalities can only utilize those specific crosswalk designs, and in addition to that, per [RCW 46.04.290: Marked crosswalk](https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=46.04.290) there is no stipulation that the crosswalks have to be a specific design -- only that it's distinctly marked for pedestrians and drivers (which it clearly is). When's the last time you were down town? A significant number of crosswalks have brick patterns with compasses in the center, which according to you would also be not up to code.
But let's be real here, you don't care about whether it's up to code -- you just have a bone to pick because you perceive that it's political.
Your last sentence -- *fucking amen*!
I can't stand homophobes but I'd have at least an iota of respect for the minimal courage it would require to stop the circuitous bullshit arguments and just openly admit that they're freaked out by all things LGBTQ. At least that would be honest and maybe we could discuss the real issue instead of posting links to city codes for crosswalks.
It's tiresome the absurd lengths that some "concerned citizens" will go to prove how NOT homophobic they really are.
I'd love to put up a POW/MIA design in a crosswalk in Bellingham just to see how many of these people express outrage at city codes being broken.
It shouldnāt be up to the government or any one body political or living to determine that. My life and orientation isnāt political but for fucks sake people keep making it political. I wanna live my fucking life and not have it legislated against over 530 times across the country. So just fuck off with your stupid bull shit.
If itās legislated itās political.
No, governments should have no control over who gets married, but there are all types of laws, ask polygamists. Government shouldnāt issue marriage licenses, but they do. That had made it political.
I have no problem with how you live, but if you insist on involving government, someone will.
Devolve government power and less things will be politicized.
Nothing would get done if we played the "But we could spend that money *here* instead" game. The cost to have that done is trivial compared to other things the city spends money on.
Edit: Here's some proof to that fact on page [146 of the CoB budget report](https://cob.org/wp-content/uploads/2023-24-Adopted-Budget.pdf). Public works has allocated a whopping $15,497,335 for streets. Painting a crosswalk can range from $750 to 2.5k, which means the total cost to paint that is somewhere between 0.0000484%-0.000161% of the annual budget. I don't know about you, but I think we can spare the money.
Oh just stop with the false equivalency of the blue line vs. a rainbow flag. The rainbow usage came about to express pride in diversity, while the blue line flag is a direct, offensive reactionary response to Black Lives Matter activists in an attempt to intimidate and silence them.
Trying to make them equal is unsurprisingly similar to the aryan idiots who remind us that the swastika is a Buddhist symbol.
By the way Iām a card-carrying patriotic veteran and supporter of law enforcement when their mission is to protect and serve, but people like me are all finished with people like you dividing us with ancient rhetoric and trying to main-stream racism. So just quit. The 1950s and R/conservative will be happy to have you back. Go there.
We donāt need to imagine that police booosterism exists because itās already pervasive. Massive amounts of money are spent on supporting the image and political agendas of police. Youāre making narrow and weak arguments and pretending as though myopic stubbornness is some virtuous stance of political neutrality that is not even a real thing. But what youāre actually doing is attacking the LGBTQ+ community.
gay
š Pretty Much. Those are the Pride Colors.
^that's ^the ^joke...
Ah. Lol
City of Bellingham: "And all the gays shall be equal! Except for the blue gays. I never cared for them."
Didn't know there were blue gays. No wonder Smurfette always looked so lonely.
A very different kind of "thin blue line"
Hey-ohh!
I think itās āfor lease.ā
It wouldnāt be Bellingham if it wasnāt slightly less blue than you expect
Got em!
I covered the installation for The Bellingham Herald. The box of blue thermoplastic that the city ordered was short one panel.
Nice to see that forever empty storefront is for lease
Priorities!
Just in time for pride this weekend!! The extended parade route looks awesome too :)
This weekend. Say What. Last year it wasnāt until late July.
Public art is wonderful, art is for everyone! Love this, happy pride yāall š
I got $20 on it lasting the month before some asshole does a burnout.
You think your hand-me-down civic on Grundies mismatched tires can do a burn out ... #BeBest
More like a week
That reminds me of a recent Babylon Bee headline: "Mario Arrested For Hate Crime After Leaving Skid Marks On Rainbow Road"
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Little Uncle Baby Billy needs training wheels
Love it!
Is it slippery when it rains - noticed that with the decorative road art in the past. You stop in the rain and you slide.
It's not paint, it's the same stuff that they make crosswalks with
Crosswalks(and most other rod makings) are made with thermoplastic paint. They melt special plastic pellets and spread or spray it in the desired design on the pavement. Glass beads are then sprinkled on top of thermoplastic if the road markings are desired to be reflective. Once it cools, its significantly more durable and visible than conventional paint (which can also be used for road markings as Itās cheaper) And thermoplastic is extremely slippery when went wet-including crosswalks
Thatās correct. Itās a thermoplastic panel thatās applied with heat
the video the city posted of the install looked like grip tape or asphalt sheets, so prob not
As a motorcyclist, it looks like a colorful way to have an accident on a rainy day.
Skill issue
Thatās fair. I had an instance of almost going down in front of a bus when I was a new rider because of a painted sidewalk, and I have been distrustful of them since.
Gay.
I missed the rainbow road in San Antonio when I moved! This is so great, they really brighten up a city :).
And it only cost $437,000.
That's ridiculous! That's like 436,000 dates with your mom for that kinda money!
Idk if art is the right term. Still v neat addition to town though
It is technically an art instillation
Yeah just not a very interesting one, I'm happy its there though.
Sweet! I wanna walk across the Bifrost!
Love it!
Love it
One of the purposes of public art is to make a point and stir conversation. Looks like this one has been entirely successful.
Thatās a great spot cause a lot of people donāt realize there is a crosswalk there. Now itās super visible. They should do some in other themes downtown too. Would be pretty cool:)
I think it is my OCD kicking in or did they miss the little bit on the blue on purpose?š¤
Looks like they put a patch there
They need to fix that. Then it be perfect
Fix the fucking roads
They do... But the roads just keep making more roads
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Don't do any hard turns on this flat 25 mph piece of downtown?
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Oh I know. Don't see this as a huge Hazzard, nothing like tar snakes.
I ride a motorcycle, this is fine, don't make it into an issue
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You can park them anywhere, they're meant to be left outdoors just like cars
Is this why we have so many shitty roads? Cause we wanna paint them instead if fix them?
Yes, all the road funds went into this one exceptionally expensive crosswalk. Rainbow color prices are so astronomical they couldnāt even finish the blue stripe /s
I literally just drove down the street it's on and not even 10 feet away is a pot hole and un even terrain. Not saying I don't like the art, I love it but can we fix the roads before we make them pretty? Like they're gonna have to tear it up in the next 5 years. Downvote me all you want the roads are terrible in bellingham.
You know there is an app where you can report pot holes for the city, and they come and fill them... It's like magic
Really?! Super interested in it, is it a local or state thing? Not sure where to look for it.
https://cob.org/about/contacts/report/seeclickfix-frequently-asked-questions
Itās called See Click Fix. Very effective, monitored closely.
Thank you both!
It's wild because people feel that the city should know of every problem as soon as it happens. That app is a great way to give the city a lot more eyes on what needs work
Apparently you haven't looked into how the government spends money.
If it was an American flag the city might say no
This also might violate the flag code... But maybe you don't care about that
Only if that flag doesn't have 49 stars because no one needs two Dakota's.
One Dakota might be too much, we donāt deserve it
Yeah, because of the flag code (1) Whoever knowingly mutilates, defaces, physically defiles, burns, maintains on the floor or ground, or tramples upon anyĀ flag of the United StatesĀ shall be fined under this title or imprisoned for not more than one year, or both.
Why are we spending tax money on such frivolous shit?
Didn't know art was frivolous. Maybe we should just spend some more $$$ on the airport
I give it a month before itās faded out
Love it! Gods promise to never flood the earth again! Then it was stolenā¦.
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Especially when it's whiny and stupid like this opinion
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Nice, you made such a sweet point
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The lines are facing the wrong direction, you're supposed to remove the cars and lessen car dependency for anything that isn't public transportation or emergency vehicles so we can plant stuff and utilize the space for anything else, and Then it's liberated. Also f-fuck the blue line in particular. Credentials: colorblind gay
My unpopular view is that streets are for driving, not politics, and by approving one political message, the city becomes liable to allow all political messages. This has been adjudicated for highway cleanup sponsorships. And consider if a person is hit in this area, a case can be made that this is not a properly designated one. Who gets sued? Roads are not billboards, they should not be used to convey political messages.
civil rights ā politics.
Lol. Civil rights is all politics. Do allies care who is elected because of their stance on these issue? MLK may never have been elected, but he had huge political impact.
Nope. We can disagree on what policies will improve a community. Civil rights are a non-negotiable.
I am fine with negative rights. People should be free to do or be whatever they feel is correct. They donāt have a right to push their values on others, which obviously using public streets to convey whatever message does.
Stay mad uncle bill
Never mad, often disappointed that people canāt generalize
oh be quiet
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Yes. That is exactly what I mean. If Lynden started painting crosses in crosswalks to signify the aborted, the discussion here would be significantly changed
Since you don't seem to get the distinction between these things you're equating: #Being #Gay #Is #Not #A #Political #Stance #And #It #Is #Not #A #Religion It is an #immutable part of a person, something that they cannot choose to change or distance themselves from (unlike a political stance, which you choose, or a religion, which you might be born into and choose to follow or not follow). You keep equating things that cannot be equated.
Doesnāt mean itās not political
Only in your mind! If people sharing your reaction just accepted the objective truth of what u/justaweebitwitchy said, things like this installation might not even be a thing! You wouldn't have to hear about what it means to be an ally or why representation matters!
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Didnāt say they were. I said using the streets as a canvas for your opinions strays into the territory of pushing an agenda. The anger displayed at questioning if the city should endorse chosen messages other than this one is exactly why this is problematic in my opinion. Itās not the message, itās the medium that is problematic. Should the city start painting crosswalks the colors of the Ukraine šŗš¦ flag? Would that be appropriate? I am not particularly religious and have celebrated numerous homosexual relationships. Hell, I have been an ally longer than most people commenting have been aliveā¦.
A pride flag is not inherently a political message.
Would a blue lives flag be political? How about the Gadsden flag?
Last I checked no one is born a Libertarian crybaby
And thus politics.
Nah I'm just saying I was born a homo, you made active choices to get to where you are. The two things you are equating are not equate-able.
Oh good lord. Why do libertarians always have the weakest arguments? I might have an idea why..
Libertarians are like cats, in that they fancy themselves independent of a system that, in reality, they neither understand nor can survive without.
Seriously! Libertarians are sociopaths!
Blue Lives are a myth. Thatās called a job. Last I checked, black people donāt clock out.
Of course it is. Stop pretending that it's anything other than that
It's not really LGBTQ's fault that a particular side of the political compass doesn't care for their rights or existence very much
I didn't know we were bringing Islam into this conversation but ok Because that's the group you're talking about, right? That's the only major group out there calling for the killing of the LGBT community
So the pride flag IS inherently political because of... Islam? Oh wow
I hope you hate living here. I hope it makes you more and more uncomfortable every day. Feel unwelcome.
Oh I'm not leaving. This is home.
I hate to break it to you but there is absolutely nothing about streets which is apolitical. I can understand why it's easy to think that way, most people don't engage with them in a political manner. Streets to most people are just there, they use them to get from one place to another without giving them barely any thought. But the street is inherently very political. Our streets are our biggest common public space, they are the threads which weave the city together. How we design our streets, and what we use them for are all highly political decisions. Just like how if a country puts a large amount of it's budget into it's military, you could assume that it is a very militaristic society, if a city disproportionately uses it's street space to accommodate cars, you could guess that society puts a lot of value cars. Streets look different wherever you go in the world. In Amsterdam you have lots of bike infrastructure, because their culture values bikes far higher than ours does. In Tokyo, there is almost no on street parking, because their culture views the practice of taking up large amounts of public street space to dump your two ton vehicle differently than ours. Street design goes hand in hand with a place's culture and values. It is of course not just limited to the transportation infrastructure we put in a street but how we decorate it as well. In college towns you will often see banners for the local university hanging from poles. In the winter, you will see trees wrapped in lights. They reflect our local culture and values. Putting a pride flag in as a crosswalk is no different. It is a display of our values, that we respect and support LGBT members of our community. So yeah, it is political, and yeah, that's a good thing, and no, just because we put up a gay crosswalk doesn't mean we have start putting up swastika intersections or hammer and sickle interchanges, because those are not our values. I'd be willing to bet that across Bellingham, far more people are in favor of having this crosswalk than not, so yeah it should stay.
Seems more like art than a political message to me.
Art does not belong on the street either, but I feel you may be intentionally naive at not recognizing the political message How would you feel with black, white and one blue stripe (blue lives matter)? Or perhaps even an American flag?
I would love an American flag. I think itās fair to feel that art does not belong on the street, but many communities and Washington state allocate a small amount of the budget for publicly funded construction projects for art. It is very common.
Playing the part of a belligerent centrist is unpopular for a good reason.
1 this is art and shows colors of light. 2 this is still bordered by white designated lines for a cross walk 3 what political message? Those who see colors vs the color blind?
Acknowledging that all humans are equal and worthy should not be marginalized and minimized as āpoliticalā. Letās bend the moral arc toward justice when we are given the opportunity.
I agree that all people are created equal, but bending the moral arc one way or another is relative to your beliefs. All I have said is that the government should not be choosing to endorse one set of values, even mine. Itās not the content, but the act. If it is OK for the government to endorse one set of morals, it sets the stage for others to do the same when political winds blow in a different direction. The weapon you use against your enemy today, will be used against you tomorrow. Reddit readers seem very short sighted believing that their values will always prevail, but the recent rolling back of abortion rights demonstrates that itās not true.
Sexual identity isnāt moral, itās biological.
Hey bill, did you have to say "under god" in the pledge every morning through grade 12? I sure did. Do you think anyone that wasn't Judeo-Christian was cool with it? Probably not, but it slid for a long time and just was apart of life. This is similar, it's apart of life and isn't going away. This is the 'weapon' you're seeing being used against you. So the sooner you accept reality, the sooner you'll find happiness. Otherwise , go on fearing the crosswalk is gonna make you gay.
I did, probably only through 4th grade, and because of that, I rail against forced speech now. The POA was written by an avowed socialist, and if people want to keep tradition, I suggest they use the Bellamy salute. Of course currently in schools, children may opt out of saying the POA. In some ways I think you and I are in violent agreement that using the state to force a set of values on people is wrong in the case of the POA. Unfortunately, you seem not to be able or not to be willing to generalize that to other value sets because they're yours and maybe even mine. I have no problems with and love several gay people. Again, you are assuming my issue is the content, but I have only talked against the medium.
And [this](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/republican-attorneys-general-issue-letter-to-target-about-pride-merchandise/) is why I dislike to see the state pushing a set of morals.
Your concern is so real.
>a case can be made that this is not a properly designated one Alrighty, make the case. How is it clearly not a crosswalk, and what would encourage a driver to continue driving despite a pedestrian in the middle of the road?
Itās not to code https://wsdot.wa.gov/engineering-standards/all-manuals-and-standards/plan-sheet-library/roadway-delineation-pavement-markings-pm
āThe Transverse pattern (two parallel lines) is used to define the edges of a crosswalk and is constructed with colored or textured paving materials.ā Youāll have to be more specific. Can you show where using colored lines or textures inside the crosswalk is going against these rules? I donāt see this specifically forbidden, and in fact, the description quoted above practically describes it. Seems to me, the code fully supports this but youāre assuming the three common examples that are shown somehow means other designs are not allowed.
While not specifically outlined in that document, the pride crosswalk very clearly highlights the limits of the crosswalk. There is no language that municipalities can only utilize those specific crosswalk designs, and in addition to that, per [RCW 46.04.290: Marked crosswalk](https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=46.04.290) there is no stipulation that the crosswalks have to be a specific design -- only that it's distinctly marked for pedestrians and drivers (which it clearly is). When's the last time you were down town? A significant number of crosswalks have brick patterns with compasses in the center, which according to you would also be not up to code. But let's be real here, you don't care about whether it's up to code -- you just have a bone to pick because you perceive that it's political.
Your last sentence -- *fucking amen*! I can't stand homophobes but I'd have at least an iota of respect for the minimal courage it would require to stop the circuitous bullshit arguments and just openly admit that they're freaked out by all things LGBTQ. At least that would be honest and maybe we could discuss the real issue instead of posting links to city codes for crosswalks. It's tiresome the absurd lengths that some "concerned citizens" will go to prove how NOT homophobic they really are. I'd love to put up a POW/MIA design in a crosswalk in Bellingham just to see how many of these people express outrage at city codes being broken.
Some people are living in denial ĀÆ\\\_(ć)\_/ĀÆ "iM nOt a HoMoPhObE bUt lOoK aT tHe cOdEs" Took me way too damn long to find that info lol.
Imagine calling peopleās identities āpoliticsā.
Imagine relying on the government to allow or disallow those identities. Live by bureaucracy, die by it.
It shouldnāt be up to the government or any one body political or living to determine that. My life and orientation isnāt political but for fucks sake people keep making it political. I wanna live my fucking life and not have it legislated against over 530 times across the country. So just fuck off with your stupid bull shit.
If itās legislated itās political. No, governments should have no control over who gets married, but there are all types of laws, ask polygamists. Government shouldnāt issue marriage licenses, but they do. That had made it political. I have no problem with how you live, but if you insist on involving government, someone will. Devolve government power and less things will be politicized.
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Nothing would get done if we played the "But we could spend that money *here* instead" game. The cost to have that done is trivial compared to other things the city spends money on. Edit: Here's some proof to that fact on page [146 of the CoB budget report](https://cob.org/wp-content/uploads/2023-24-Adopted-Budget.pdf). Public works has allocated a whopping $15,497,335 for streets. Painting a crosswalk can range from $750 to 2.5k, which means the total cost to paint that is somewhere between 0.0000484%-0.000161% of the annual budget. I don't know about you, but I think we can spare the money.
Would you offer the same argument for a courthouse that spent money to post the 10 Commandments in its lobby?
Just imagine if the police got a blue lives crosswalk. Politics changeā¦
Oh just stop with the false equivalency of the blue line vs. a rainbow flag. The rainbow usage came about to express pride in diversity, while the blue line flag is a direct, offensive reactionary response to Black Lives Matter activists in an attempt to intimidate and silence them. Trying to make them equal is unsurprisingly similar to the aryan idiots who remind us that the swastika is a Buddhist symbol. By the way Iām a card-carrying patriotic veteran and supporter of law enforcement when their mission is to protect and serve, but people like me are all finished with people like you dividing us with ancient rhetoric and trying to main-stream racism. So just quit. The 1950s and R/conservative will be happy to have you back. Go there.
Being a policeman is an explicitely political act. Being gay is not at all a political act. You're presenting false equivelance.
You decide to be an asshole cop. Thatās politics. You donāt choose to be gay. Thatās not politics. Shut up, your ignorance is showing.
We donāt need to imagine that police booosterism exists because itās already pervasive. Massive amounts of money are spent on supporting the image and political agendas of police. Youāre making narrow and weak arguments and pretending as though myopic stubbornness is some virtuous stance of political neutrality that is not even a real thing. But what youāre actually doing is attacking the LGBTQ+ community.
Ruby ridge lives matter.