The Red Herring

“We’d like a neutrality bylaw that would keep our crosswalks and flagpoles free of political, social and religious causes.”
“You want to ban the Legion Flag?”
“No, no flags would be banned.”
“How dare you dishonour our veterans!”

Wait, what?!

“We’d like a neutrality bylaw that would keep our crosswalks and flagpoles free of political, social and religious causes.”
“You want to get rid of the Pride crosswalk?”
“Yes, it’s a political and social and even a religious issue and is causing division in our town when it’s being painted on the road.”
“You hate the LGBTQ community!”

Pardon me?!

That folks, is a Red Herring being hung in front of everyone’s noses to deflect away from the actual issue a Neutral Space Bylaw would seek to correct, a deflection and misdirection from the real problem. Don’t fall for this sort of fallacy that would keep us from discussing the actual issue which is Council’s propensity to approve divisive policies.

Opposers to neutrality want to make it about people. They will say we dishonour our veterans or hate our neighbours, that we would not be accepting of differences. They will paint us all kinds of colourful words, proving the point that we need to focus on the real issue.

We’ve made it clear the issue is the policy.

Under the current Decorative Crosswalks Policy, any number of paintings will be allowed on town crosswalks and they are not merely decorative as the policy specifies they should be. These are not paintings of butterflies and puppies, of abstract shapes and colours. The paintings that have been approved under Council’s Policy are paintings of flags of various causes. Therefore, we have no “decorative crosswalks” in Barrhead, we have “crosswalks for causes”. And who gets to decide which cause gets painted? An unelected Chief Administrative Officer.

The policy says that decorative crosswalks are simply for the purpose of adding “colour and vibrancy to the Town’s streets”, and instead the Town allowed politically and socially charged flags to be painted on our crosswalks. Is it enhancing town streets, to have political and social symbols, even divisive ones, painted on the roads? Moreover, have you seen them lately? Is the chipped and faded paint still vibrant and beautiful?

Voting YES to neutrality does not equate to voting yes to hate. It does not mean voting yes to excluding people from the community. Rather, voting YES to neutrality is a vote FOR inclusion! You cannot build community if you are segregating people into groups based on politics, ability, religion, or sexuality. Barrhead is filled with people of all political, social and religious stripes and should feel like home for everyone!

Let’s build up our community! Vote YES to equality and neutrality in our public spaces! Vote YES to a town for EVERYONE!