Mayor Murphy: Proclaiming Immorality

Thanks to Eric Heyl for this article that ran in the Tribune-Review last week.

Most mayoral proclamations carry about the same weight as helium. Theyare issued to briefly commemorate some particular person or event, then float harmlessly skyward until disappearing forever. Mayor Tom Murphy had no reason to suspect his recent proclamation supporting an effort to reduce bullying in public schools would be different. He probably believed it would be a typical public relations slam-dunk, akin to advocating cribs for infants or udders for cows. Not this time. Not after Murphy proclaimed a "No Name Calling Week" for the Pittsburgh Public Schools. Not after he advised the school district to participatein the national no name-calling program calling attention to the taunting and bullying universally practiced by students of all ages.

Though the fallout from the proclamation continues more than a month after it was issued, don't fault city school directors. They did their part to ensure the document would vanish into thin air by failing to acknowledge its very existence. This partly was because Murphy has no legal authority to compel the district to engage in any activity. But it also was because the district wanted to avoid the controversy that might arise by embracing a program developed by the New York city-based Gay, Lesbian and Straight EducationNetwork. The organization's mission is to create safe school environments for homosexual, bisexual and transgender middle and high school students. (Isn't sixth grade a bit young to be worried about being taunted over gender reassignment? I've yet to hear of any sixth-grade Greenway Middle School recess kickball phenom undergoing a sex change because he always felt uncomfortable in the body of a prepubescent man.) So Murphy experiences some minor mortification over being ignored by the school board, and that's the end of it, right?

It was, until a conservative Christian group, the American FamilyAssociation of Pennsylvania, blasted Murphy on for his anti-bullying stand. "Even though (the district) didn't participate, the door was opened bythe mayor for city school children to learn that gay is OK," association President Diane Gramely said. "(Parents) do not want their children taught that same-sex marriage is equal to one-man, one-woman marriage." If Murphy had to do it all over again, do you think he would have issued that proclamation? First, his suggestion to the school board was completely, embarrassingly disregarded. Now he is being dragged into the eternal, unrelenting battle between social and moral conduct. All for supporting an event that didn't even occur locally. Given all this needless aggravation, Murphy may want to change course inthe remaining 10 months until his retirement. He may want to stop issuing these wholly irrelevant proclamations and start focusing on significant city business. Bully for him if he does.