Homophobia in the Heart of the Fens?
I have to admit something. I just sort of skimmed VP of the Park David St. Jean's bulk email to members urging them to cast their vote December 4th for him, for the juicy bits about me (I google myself — and photo google myself — pretty regularly, too), but in reading the whole thing (it's here, but don't attempt it on an empty stomach) I realized it's actually a homophobic screed!
Which is whack.
I mean, lookit:
If it were up to my opponent [St. Jean writes of me] these [unspecified] security measures would not be in place as in matter of fact there would be none, there would be as the FHC [by which he means Fenway Community Health, which provides us a meeting space for our annual meeting, by the way]. would like it and that's a needle in every arm and a condom in front of every plot.(This could be tantamount to calling me the Gay Herbert Hoover — with the gay version of "a chicken in every pot".)
But that's not all. He goes on:
To me that is not even close to acceptable,I have worked to hard to remove this effort of a needle exchange and condom give aways. This is our park and we will not tolerate this kind of abuse there are more gardens vandalized due to in inadvertent activities than anything else this year and I attribute this to Internet sites that still Cary that stigma and there are only two left.That bit would take years of therapy to unpack, but I think "inadvertant activities" is St. Jeanspeak for "gay sex"? And these internet sites that "still cary that stigma"? I hope he doesn't mean my blog!
with a shift in administrations the forces that will set a course to harm or destroy us will be in your hands. Do you want a park that you can feel secure in or do you want a park that makes you have to think about what time or I hope there not there.That's got to be the Gay Agenda he's talking about there. Unless "I hope there not there" is some kind of exercise in quantum physics. I think one of the "there"s is a "they're" and the "they"'s the gays.
Of course my approach to the issue of a clean and safe park is to strengthen bonds in the garden community and our partners in the city. This is not the Pleistocene Era. We can communicate. We can cooperate. We can address the challenges of an urban park in positive, productive ways.
But does it shock anyone else out there that in this day and age in a city like Boston and a venerable organization like the Fenway Garden Society, an organization so long devoted to diversity, with stewardship of this gem of a seven-acre park so well-loved by so many, that this is the hateful, homophobic rhetoric of someone who wants — and feels entitled — to lead it?
Posted by Mike Mennonno at 11/16/2010 3:04 PM 
Categories: The Agenda, The Naked Gardener, A Day in the Life
Categories: The Agenda, The Naked Gardener, A Day in the Life
He's given you the perfect campaign slogan though: "Vote Mennonno: a needle in every arm and a condom in every plot!"
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Scary to read this shortly after watching "Fall From Grace" (the 2006 documentary about Fred Phelps and his clan/'church') not only in Topeka... SLIGHTLY couched in euphemism in a grotesque attempt to veil the more-than-implicit bigotry, but, sheesh! In this day and age?!...in BOSTON?! The egregious spelling and grammar are just too perfectly emblematic...yikes!
In any case: GO MIKE!! Uphold all that is decent in both garden-community organization and effective writing! One can only hope (and rather expect) that Mr. St.Jean's ill-tempered screed will have the same effect on his election hopes that Mr. Caprio's newsworthy comment (on what the President could do with his endorsement) had for his RI gubernatorial prospects.
How long 'til this little paranoid psychodrama is over?
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December 4th is the Big Day. This is definitely more drama than the Garden Society has seen in ages. Hopefully it won't get too ugly.
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Good luck Mike, your list of clearly defined goals puts you ahead of your opponent, who seems to run as a member of the "Fear Party".
I hope you win, although after my tenure in community service I've learned one important fact:
If you are diagnosed with a terminal disease and have only a year to live become a community leader. This way that last year will seem like an eternity.
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I noticed the homophobia too. I think it's important to make a distinction between all gays who have sex in the park and the specific ones who happen to leave condoms and generally make a mess in the gardens and on the garden paths. Some of them (the gays) are causing problems (ooops we fucked your fence down, sorry), most probably are not. More concerning to me are the drug dealers since drugs tend to bring arguments over money and arguments over drug money might lead to stray gun shots through the garden at some point.
But then that would probably be at night. And as we all know, the park closes at dusk. I make sure to get out of there by dusk too. And it's sad but true, there is reason to be afraid. I really don't know what can be done about this, but I'm sure David St Jean won't do it. Imagine suggesting Fenway Health shouldn't pass out condoms or needles. For shame.
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