What do we do with the famous stickers? ...or better yet...What do we do with the infamous stickers? None of us dispute their fame. But divided we are on their message. Fearful we are of their future - some of their possible survival, some of their possible destruction.

Bertrand Russell said, "Fear is the main source of superstition, and one of the main sources for cruelty. To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom." My question is, "Can you conquer fear? Or is that like chasing a rainbow?" Sorry about using the R word so much tonight, God knows I wouldn't want a riot.

Bertrand Russell also said, "I found one day in school a boy of medium size ill-treating a smaller boy. I expostulated, but he replied: 'The bigs hit me, so I hit the babies; that's fair.' In these words he epitomized the history of the human race." You know, that's the problem we all come in as many shapes and sizes as colors in the rainbow. Whoops...there's that dreadful word again.

Or maybe our fear isn't based around the word, but rather the rainbow itself. Sort of like an eclipse. You better not stare it. I can just imagine, "Tommy you stop looking at the rainbow you'll go blind!" I can just imagine a game of duck and cover every time it rains in the spring.

Perhaps, though, it isn't the actual rainbow that is frightening, but instead if we use the rainbow as a logo. That's probably the scariest. I know that whenever I follow a vehicle with a rainbow bumper sticker I turn off the road as soon as possible. Hell, I refuse to drive down South Airport because the Rainbow Book Store. Just imagine how hard it is at home...my dad works for Rex-Air...you know the maker of Rainbow Vacuum Cleaners. Every time my mom starts the vacuum I run screaming from the house!

Maybe everyone disagrees with me though. Maybe this whole debate isn't about fearing rainbows in the dictionary, or rainbows in the sky, or even rainbows made of plastic. Maybe this whole debate is about fearing equality.

It couldn't be that, though, could it? I mean, we as humans don't have a history of suppression, do we? We don't have discrimination or hate in Traverse City, do we? Probably not, it's probably all part of that scandalous word again...you know that rainbow word! I personally think Rabbi Fine was lying, she didn't receive any hate mail. And that bartender, he staged the whole event. I certainly can't explain why anyone would actually hate a guy because he's gay. It doesn't make any sense. The way I look at it, being gay means I love other men. And certainly no one would hate me because I love. I'm not sure, though...I've been wrong once or twice in my life.

So what is this sticker all about?

Did you ever notice that our flag is red, white, and blue? Did you ever notice that the British Flag is red, white, and blue? Do you think that's because our founding fathers wanted to be more like Britain? I am not sure, but I am guessing probably not.

Did Traverse City adopt this sticker because it wanted to be more gay? Again, I am unsure, but I am guessing probably not. Did the gay community adopt the rainbow because it wanted to be more gay? Did the British adopt red, white and blue because they wanted to be more British? Okay, this one I am sure of...NO!

The reason the rainbow is a sign of diversity is simply because of its nature. If you separate the sun's light...our life giving light, you get a rainbow. Humanity is much like sunlight. If you don't take a close enough look...we just blur together, but we all know that operating in the background are infinite characteristics that make us divinely human. And we can argue all we want, and we can fight from now until eternity...but guess what? It's not going to change. Unfortunately, some people are willing to hate, some people are willing to suppress, some people are willing to kill to create this unattainable uniformity. That, my friends, is what this sticker is all about. It is about Traverse City saying, "Your hate is not welcome here, your violence is not welcome here, your ignorance is not welcome here." It is about Traverse City saying, "We love and accept all. No matter their religion, their size, their economic or ethnic background...and yes even their sexual orientation." It is about Traverse City saying, "We value equality."

On our crawl toward equality, there will be opposition. That's where we are tonight. Facing the opposition on that journey. Now it's time to make a choice. That choice might not get one re-elected, that choice might. That choice might not make one popular, that choice might. But are we here to get re-elected? Are we here to be popular? Or are we here to fight for humanities right to be different? We could give the stickers to the Human Rights Commission and say, "Traverse City values equality." We could destroy the stickers and say, "Traverse City values equality for conformists." We could sell the stickers to a third party and say, "Traverse City values moderate steps toward equality, so long as there is little opposition."

Depending on what we do, we answer this final question. "Is there room equality, or are we just chasing rainbows?"

Bryan Siddell