The Hamilton County Republican Party believes every life deserves dignity and respect. We also support speaking truth in love. As such, we strongly believe it is time to move away from the overemphasis on identity-based politics, especially because they divide and hurt us more than unite and help us.
Mayor Kelly’s decision to light up City Hall for Pride Month may seem like a harmless gesture of inclusion, but he is aligning our non-partisan city government with an agenda that has become increasingly political, aggressive and intolerant of differing views. Pride Month has become a vehicle for Democrats’ efforts to reshape institutions, sexualize childhood and shut down debate.
Nationwide, we are seeing corporations and communities step back from Pride campaigns, not out of hate, but out of exhaustion and concern. People are tired of being told their traditional norms make them bigots, or that children must be exposed to adult ideology.
This year, while San Francisco’s Pride theme is “Queer Joy is Resistance” and New York Pride theme is “Rise Up: Pride in Protest”, major corporations are not on board. Anheuser-Busch has ended its sponsorship of PrideFest in its hometown of St. Louis. Nissan and PepsiCo pulled their funding from NYC Pride this year. Business executives are realizing that what began as a gesture of goodwill has become politicized, weaponized and out of step with the values of everyday Americans.
Mayor Kelly’s display sends a message – not of neutrality – but of alignment with a radical political agenda. It may win applause from local Democrats, but alienates anyone who is tired of seeing sexuality turned into a public spectacle, often especially targeted at our children.
Chattanooga has long been a place that welcomes everyone, respecting the values of all its residents, including those who believe that sexuality is not to be a government-sponsored celebration.
Mayor Kelly, the Hamilton County Republican Party urges you to focus on community values that bring us together: family, hard work, service, common sense, and more. Not rainbow lights that send a message more and more Americans can no longer, in good conscience, support.
Hamilton County Republican Party
Gail Greene, Chairman
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An early American idiom is "the squeaky wheel gets the grease". In the horse and buggy era, when one of the wheels started squeaking, it got attention. Chances are the other wheels could have used some measure of attention at the same time; they just weren't squeaking for it.
Thank you, Gail Greene, chairman of the Hamilton County Republican Party, for standing up for the 95+ percent who are not squeaking wheels. Part of the 95+ percent are gay or lesbian, they just want to live normal lives and go about their business. They want to be able to live without the attention or spotlight on their sexuality, as it is just one small component of who they are.
I would prefer for Mayor Kelly to be a promise keeper, rather than a small group pleaser. Of course, he is not the only politician to make promises he had no intention of keeping, and made a farce out of campaigning by pretending to fill potholes with his own shovel and wheelbarrow.
I think you were doing more than standing up for the straight majority, you were also speaking for those who want to live normal lives and not draw attention. You have set a good example, so again, thank you.
J. Pat Williams
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In Chattanooga, we love and accept our neighbors. Including those who disagree with us.
Eric Holl
Senior Advisor to the Mayor
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The Hamilton County Republican Party's statement opposing Mayor Kelly’s decision to light up City Hall for Pride Month, while not surprising, is deeply disappointing.
Let’s be clear: Pride Month is not about politicizing sexuality. It's about visibility, dignity and equal protection under the law. LGBTQ+ Chattanoogans are our neighbors, coworkers, classmates and family members. They deserve the same public affirmation and inclusion any group receives when our community celebrates its diversity. Lighting up a building in rainbow colors is not "radical"; it's a simple gesture that says, “You belong.”
Pride is not about indoctrination. It's about survival. LGBTQ+ youth are four times more likely to attempt suicide than their straight peers. Public support, like seeing City Hall bathed in rainbow lights, can literally save lives.
Ironically, Mrs. Greene warns against “identity-based politics,” while practicing exactly that: drawing lines around whose identities are worth public support. You can’t say “every life deserves dignity” and then deny that same dignity to LGBTQ+ people when it makes you uncomfortable.
As for corporations scaling back Pride sponsorships? That’s not evidence of a moral reckoning; it’s evidence of cowardice under pressure from the loudest and most intolerant voices. Governments, especially local ones, should be better than that. They should lead with courage and compassion, rather than caving to fear.
Mayor Kelly’s gesture is not divisive. What’s divisive is implying that inclusion is an attack. What’s harmful is framing LGBTQ+ existence as a "spectacle" rather than a human reality.
Pride Month is about love, resilience, and community. That’s not a political agenda—it’s a reflection of Chattanooga at its best. We should be proud to stand up for every resident, not just the ones who fit someone’s idea of “traditional norms.”
Let’s be honest: rainbow lights aren’t what’s making people uncomfortable. Visibility is. And that’s exactly why Pride still matters.
Walker Rhodes
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Ms. Greene,
Your letter is the reason why Pride exists.
Pride exists because, historically, the party of “no big government” keeps trying to legislate the community out of existence.
Heterosexual people have never had to fight for their right to marry, aside from interracial marriage. Heterosexual people have never had to fight people who think they know better than the licensed doctors, psychiatrists and parents of transgendered children and adults. Heterosexual people can’t be fired for being heterosexual. Both sexual orientation and gender identity are not protected classes in Tennessee. Heterosexuals have every right to take their kids to Hooters but God forbid some parents use those exact same rights to take their kids to a drag show.
It’s been in the past handful of years that we’ve seen corporations drop Pride support because people can’t respect other people. They have to go into Target and vandalize merchandise. They have to shoot their cases of Bud Light. Interestingly enough, the year after everyone lost their minds over Target’s Pride merchandise, Walmart had a whole Pride section by the front door. Not a single one of you raised a stink about that.
You’re the party of “just let people live their lives” yet you continually legislate what non-white, non-straight people can and cannot do.
You say that the Pride lights on “alienates anyone who is tired of seeing sexuality turned into a public spectacle.” Heterosexuals walk around with their sexuality on display 24/7 – they hold hands in public; kiss in public; get married in public places; and flaunt their kids. How do you think those kids got here? I think those displays, also, “alienate(s) anyone who is tired of seeing sexuality turned into a public spectacle.”
How about following what your party claims to be – the party of “just let people live their lives” instead of the party of “just let people live their lives as we see fit?”
I'm glad Mayor Kelly's office is showing the LGBTQIA+ community that, at the very least, Chattanooga's city limits are welcoming and safe.
Robbie Nicholson
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Chattanooga has become known as the Scenic City - most logically because of its beautiful landscape and breathtaking views in every corner of our city.
A more covert reasoning behind this nickname is due to the beautiful people - of all creeds, color, and backgrounds - who call our city home.
Ms. Greene’s statement does not reflect those values - showing you how truly out of touch the new wave of leadership she has ushered into the local Hamilton County Republican Party truly is.
Pride has always been about love and acceptance - no matter who you are - not about sexualization or whatever else Ms. Greene has chosen to demonize the LGBTQIA+ community as being about. Ironically enough, her statement clearly only seeks to ostracize, demonize and divide an entire class of people, despite her claim that it was Mayor Kelly’s intention to divide our city by erecting a message that Chattanooga is about love and acceptance. I urge her to read more about the history of the LGBTQIA+ community and the history of pride to learn why that hasn’t always been the case for us - and clearly we still have a long way to go.
And let me be clear about this - I’m well aware that does not reflect the entirety of membership within the local Republican Party. There are plenty who call themselves a Republican in Chattanooga who don’t share the kinds of values Ms. Greene has so shamelessly and publicly demonstrated. It’s a shame that this level of hatred and reverse-thinking has infected the local party. If the new leadership would like to see just how unpopular their stance is on this issue, look no further than the comment section of their own posts and the post from Mayor Kelly.
I’m troubled, however, to learn that Mayor Weston Wamp’s new Deputy Chief of Staff, Mary Francis Hoots, appears to be endorsing this message by ‘liking’ their post on Facebook. I would ask County Mayor Wamp to make his opinion on this clear, given this action by a member of his staff and his unsavory connection to the new leadership.
Luckily for us who live in Chattanooga, Ms. Greene does not reside within city limits. I encourage her to stay in her home on the mountain if she is so upset and angered by a light display.
Liam Collins