Boner Candidate #1:MIKE LEE IS A BULLY
Parents at a Provo elementary school are taking issue with disparaging social media comments Sen. Mike Lee made about precautions being taken to protect teachers and students from COVID-19. Lee reacted to an Edgemont Elementary post on Instagram showing children sitting in class at desks behind three-sided, box-like plexiglass shields. The students are wearing face masks as is a teacher standing next to them. “Kids are ready to learn with their new power shields — ready to be superhero learners (with masks and shields),” the caption reads. Lee, R-Utah, mocked the “power shields” on Facebook, Twitter and Parler, a conservative social media alternative to Twitter. “What the actual hell? If they’re already wearing masks and distanced, why the need for a “power shield”? (By the way, “power shield” = euphemism for “cage”). I’m sure that whoever came up with this idea had good intentions, but some ideas prove better on paper than in practice. This is mean,” the senator wrote Wednesday night. Lee later updated the Facebook post, noting that the school deleted the Instagram post, and provided a screenshot.
Boner Candidate #2:OKAY, WE’LL MAKE THE GAYS INVISIBLE
When Jamie and Ben Belnap bought a home in Heber City three years ago, their son had just come out as gay. The parents worried about the response he would receive in the conservative mountain valley town. But then in June 2019, the family noticed rainbow-colored pride flags hanging from the street lights along Main Street. “It was comforting at the time,” Jamie Belnap said. “It made us feel like, ‘OK, this is a more accepting community than we thought.‘” Then came the backlash. Residents began showing up at City Council meetings calling the flags “disturbing” and “political.” One Wasatch County Council member, speaking as a private citizen, called the concept of pride “odd.” He noted that he didn’t think rainbow flags did any harm, but worried what the City Council would do if people wanted to fly Nazi or Confederate flags on Main Street. “How upset a lot of residents are has been really discouraging,” Jamie Belnap said. “Think of all the kids who don’t feel comfortable coming out and the message that sends.” The pride flags flew again this summer in the city of about 16,000 people, sparking more complaints and prompting the City Council to consider an ordinance restricting what types of banners can be hung from city street posts.
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