novapsyche | (no subject) (Reply)

Most businesses in this southern Utah town have a tourism booster sticker in their front windows saying, "Everyone Welcome Here," which sounds pretty tame until you get to the little rainbow-colored people beneath the text.

Are those little people gay?

Terril Honey, for one, is convinced that they are. "The rainbow colors are their symbol," said Mr. Honey, a member of the City Council and owner of Honey's Jubilee, a grocery store. Mr. Honey has decided not to post the stickers at his store because he believes they would offend some of his customers.

Victor Cooper, who owns the Rocking V Cafe with his wife, Vicky, and led the drive in March to introduce the stickers, said people like Mr. Honey were reading things into the sticker message that are not there.

The mayor, Kim T. Lawson, recently floated a compromise to bridge the sticker gap: another sticker, similar but without the rainbow people. And the Kanab Chamber of Commerce intends to have new stickers, with the Chamber of Commerce logo replacing the little people, ready in time for the start of the tourism season next month.

"We don't want to step on the merchants that came together and did the 'everybody welcome' campaign, but on the other hand we want every business in town to feel comfortable putting out the same message," said Ted Hallisey, the acting president of the chamber. "If that means a little different sticker, we're O.K. with that — the main message is that everybody's welcome."

--Welcome to Our Town. Or, Maybe Not.