Posted on 01/30/2006 9:38:06 PM PST by Howlin
Turning a battleship around is never easy — especially in the politically roiled waters of the San Francisco Bay.
Last July, San Francisco’s county supervisors voted 8-3 against bringing the vintage World War II battleship Iowa to San Francisco as a permanent tourist attraction. Some opponents said they were taking a stand against both the war in Iraq and a military that boots out gays and lesbians, a powerful faction in local politics.
But now, advocates of
the move are trying to woo
the supervisors with
a promise to create a
privately funded dockside museum that will tell the story of minorities in the military, including lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender troops.
“Our feeling was that this would make it a better fit for San Francisco,” said Jim Maloney, director of the Military Education Initiative, a group that supports the lifting of restrictions on gays in the military. “Adding in the component of LGBT service would be obviously quite unique,” he said.
The new plan also calls for an annual peace symposium on the Iowa, which has a storied record of combat in the South Pacific and off the Korean coast.
Franklin D. Roosevelt’s favorite battleship, the Iowa carried him to Casablanca, Morocco, in 1943, en route to a conference of Allied leaders in Tehran, Iran.
In 1989, 47 crew members were killed in a shipboard explosion that officials blamed on a sailor who they said was involved in a failed gay relationship. The Navy later backed away from that explanation, ruling that the explosion was an accident and apologizing to the family of the dead sailor.
“That’s a story that deserves to be told,” Maloney said.
BTT
They should moor this ship next to the USS Texas by Houston, these flakes don't deserve to have this great ship anywhere near them.
It has to stay in California for some reason.
Ping.
As long as it stays in Northern California that's fine with me.
Why not take it up the Mississippi River and park it somewhere in Iowa?
Are you kidding? A gay museum?
I'm in Southern California. :)
Didn't I hear them mention Stockton once?
Look, they said it's a story that needs to be told. Bullshit. It's the same old sob story that we've heard over and over again.
I'm in the Bay Area. They don't call SF Sodom by the Bay for nothing.
Isn't this "special"?
That's up North.
Turn the Iowa's guns on City Hall and then send her south to San Diego, where they still respect the military.
Bring the Iowa to Houston or Galveston. We know how to honor proper warriors.
I don't think even an LGBT themed museum will sell the board of stupidvisors on keeping the Iowa here, maybe if ya paint it pink or rainbow colors.
The current crew of idiots at City Hall are a bunch of ignoramuses that seem to relish spitting on those who served , regardless their orientation. I'd like to be proven wrong, but..
Thank you G-d that the battleship Oklahoma went to the bottom during a
tow from Pearl Harbor.
It was bad enough she'd have ended up as scrap...but as a memorial to
Brokeback luvin' is too much to contemplate.
LOL!
ROFL! Best suggestion yet.
Our plans worked well, huh? LOL.
Wide awake here.
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