"I’m hear to tell you that Topeka is not more tolerant as a result of Fred Phelps,” stated Topeka Mayor Joan Wagnon.  “We have a lot of work to do [in Topeka],” she added. Mayor Wagnon spoke to an audience of around thirty as the August speaker for the Flint Hills Alliance.

Mayor Wagnon firmly believes in inclusiveness for all people, including gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgendered. Her outspoken advocacy for equal rights for gays, lesbians, and bisexuals has caused her constant criticism by conservative groups.

Joan is the first Kansas mayor to appoint an openly gay man and a lesbian to the city’s nine-person Human Relations Commission (HRC), which is a regulatory arm for discrimination in Topeka. She had wanted the group to discuss whether or not sexual orientation should be included in Topeka’s human rights ordinance.

Conservatives and homophobes caught wind of the issue, and raised hell.  On Tuesday, June 9, the Topeka City Council stripped Mayor Wagnon of her power to appoint members of the HRC because of her action and disbanded the current commission in order to remove the two gay appointees. The City Council bowed to pressure by hatemonger Fred Phelps—whose Westboro Baptist Church advocates the execution of homosexuals—and local NAACP president, Rev. K.E. Hill, who called the gay commissioners “stated supporters of. . . sinful acts.”

The lessons Joan has learned are immense, and deep.  “In the course of trying to change attitudes, you’ve got to get a well-placed strategy,” Joan said.  This is in order to build support so that you can get something passed.    What had happened initially as a chance to have a debate on inclusiveness became a polarizing debate in our community, noted Wagnon.  Everything else was overlooked.  Concludes Wagnon, “We moved too quickly, didn’t do our homework, and it blew in our face.”

Mayor Wagnon doesn’t feel that she’s been damaged politically as a result of this, but she also realizes that she did not gain any ground for inclusiveness for same-sex Topekans.  In this latest struggle she acknowledges that nobody won. But she hasn’t given up.  Wagnon still plans to organize and legitimize support for every member of Topeka. In the future, though, Mayor Wagnon plans to move “carefully, thoughtfully, and slowly,” when it comes to working on sensitive issues.

“Because,” she wisely notes, “you can only move as fast as people will let you move.”

Mayor Wagnon can be reached at mayor@ksnews.com.
 

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