Councilman reiterates opposition to gay unions
Last summer I wrote about Newport Beach Councilman Scott Peotter’s controversial email blast in which he railed against the Supreme Court decision on gay marriage, and his use of the official city seal in its heading.
Why a seated councilman would go out of his way to create a divide in the community — especially since the city doesn’t issue marriage licenses — remains a mystery to me.
I felt strongly then, as I do now, that the City Council should have censured him, but it didn’t. Instead, the council officially disassociated itself from the email.
Peotter said he wouldn’t use the seal again — and it was obvious he didn’t appreciate the proverbial slap on the wrist.
Fast forward to Peotter’s latest email newsletter to supporters. The city seal appears, albeit in a photographed image, in the sidebar to his newsletter in which he writes:
“The City Seal is Gone” (what you see above is a photograph of the seal from the council chamber’s wall that used to be in my photo montage banner above). I have removed images of the Seal from my e-mails in case anyone from Rio Linda might think that this email is an official city correspondence (it’s not) rather than a political newsletter, paid for by campaign funds, stating opinions, from an elected official (which is what it is).”
Talk about a snarky way of thumbing your nose at authority!
In addition to his opinion on fellow council members Ed Selich and Keith Curry’s votes on a sewer-tax issue, Peotter promotes the new book, “You will be Made to Care,” by Erick Erickson. Erickson’s an ultra-conservative, right-wing blogger and radio host who is a little right of Attila the Hun — and he’s not big on gay marriage.
“If you remember, last summer after the Supreme Court ‘found’ a right to same-sex marriage, I stated my disapproval in this newsletter,” Peotter writes in the new missive. “Last summer, I quoted Erick Erickson, using the ‘You Will be Made to Care’ line in my defense, and now Erick has followed up with a whole book giving examples throughout the country about people that have been punished for their beliefs.”
Peotter gives examples from the book, including wedding photographers fined for refusing to shoot a lesbian wedding and a fire chief who lost his job for stating in a Christian book that he believes gay sex is a sin.
I asked Peotter if he was being paid to promote Erickson’s book and he said he “wouldn’t accept money if he offered it.”
Also in the email blast, Peotter invites supporters to pray at City Hall with folks from the St. James Anglican Church, who meet from noon to 12:30 p.m. Thursdays.
Who are these folks?
Interestingly, the current St. James Anglican congregation was part of the congregation of St. James the Great Episcopal Church in Newport. They broke with the national Episcopal Church over differences on gay issues, and asserted they owned the church building and grounds.
The L.A. Episcopal Diocese sued to get the church back and the church property was returned to them.
“The L.A. bishop assigned the Rev. Cindy (Voorhees) to the recovered St. James the Great Episcopal Church, and charged her with rebuilding the loyal Episcopal congregation, which she did,” says church spokesman Roger Bloom. “It is this congregation under Rev. Cindy that is currently in dispute with the bishop over selling the church.”
Bloom made it clear that Voorhees welcomes all, gay and straight, and her group is not the same group praying with Peotter.
Now there’s a time and a place for prayer — and City Hall isn’t it for me. But more important, could this prayer group with such a biased background offend LGBT employees at Newport City Hall?
“I don’t know how the gay employees at City Hall feel about the Episcopalians’ national debate over ordination of gay priests in the church, nor is that why the prayer group meets,” Peotter said.
He said the prayer group is not limited to any denomination and all are welcome.
When I spoke to City Manager Dave Kiff, he said, “I have no problem with prayer; we can use all the prayers we can get.”
When I explained the group’s history on gay-rights issues, Kiff said the city can’t legally prohibit any group from meeting on city property.
Kiff is a happily married gay man and well-respected city manager. That was evident at the last mayor’s dinner. When Mayor Diane Dixon mentioned Kiff, he received rousing applause from the who’s who of Newport, which spoke volumes.
Now Peotter is well within his rights to promote his agenda, but he’s an elected official who has to work with a gay, married city manager.
What he does personally certainly has ripple effects, not only in the court of public opinion, but for those working at City Hall.
BARBARA VENEZIA lives in Newport Beach. She can be reached at bvontv1@gmail.com. Listen to her weekly radio segment on “Sunday Brunch with Tom and Lynn” from 11 a.m. to noon on KOCI/101.5 FM.