Letter: Consider gay leaders and women in renaming push

Graphic by Lori Deaton

This may not be politically correct, but I feel I must speak up as I am becoming increasingly angry at the bandwagon Asheville leaders have jumped on. It’s a far cry from believing that “Black Lives Matter” (which I do) to renaming every street in Asheville, the Vance Monument and possibly even the city of Asheville itself after Black people.

Sorry folks, but African Americans, who have indeed been discriminated against, are still only about 15% of the population, as are gay people, who also make up about the same percentage and who have been discriminated against for perhaps longer than people of color.

Why not rename the Vance Monument and the streets after prominent gay leaders who have supported and helped to grow Asheville into the vibrant city it is today? Or, my gosh, maybe even women, who make up a higher percentage of the population than either of those groups (maybe 50%?) and who are still being discriminated against today.

Come on, Asheville. Let’s promote equality for everyone.

— Nikki Marmo
Asheville

Editor’s note: A 2019 Reuters article reported that an estimated 4.5% of the U.S. population identifies as LGBT, though a 2016 Liveability.com article noted that Asheville has 83% more gay and lesbian residents than the average U.S. city, according to census figures. The Census Bureau’s 2019 estimate of Asheville’s Black population is 11.7%.

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7 thoughts on “Letter: Consider gay leaders and women in renaming push

  1. G Man

    This whole concept of renaming streets and buildings and parks, and tearing down and/or renaming monuments and memorials is nothing more than a stupid distraction from actual important things and it is a total waste of money and time.

    If you want to build new memorials and name new streets after whoever, I’m all good with that. Why does “progress” need to involve tearing things down? That makes it a lie and makes it about hate. Indeed, brace yourself for the Biden “cold dark winter”.

    • James

      The only people who feel it is bad or “hate” to tear down things like you describe are the people who supported or benefited from the things they represent. I suppose you’d have insisted we leave up the “Colored Only” water fountains and restrooms? Because “tearing them down” would be “hate.” Such a “stupid distraction,” right?

      Statues to traitors who killed 120,000 American troops should never have gone up in the first place so they SHOULD be torn down. Only people who hate our troops support leaving those monuments up.

  2. Big Al

    As usual, the hyphenated-american partisans who talk so much about inclusion, unity and diversity are the same ones who use identity politics to cancel, destroy and demean “those other people” for their own selfish gains.

  3. dyfed

    Typical identitarian games. “Stop raising the social status of #thatgroup, when you should raise the social status of #mygroup instead.” They’ll end up with the society they deserve.

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