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Vail Daily letter: We’re better than that

Jackie Randell
Vail, CO Colorado
newsroom@vaildaily.com

I was genuinely surprised to read Josh and Heather Thompson’s letter in Wednesday’s newspaper. I feel compelled to put forward a redemptive response on behalf of the vast majority of Vail Valley residents, who are compassionate and open-minded.

“Compromising ethics for money is what our family resort is doing and teaching our children by promotion Gay (Ski) Week,” the Thompsons wrote. “We are living the same message (as Wall Street) – money is more important than morality.”

The statement’s first glaring inaccuracy is its implication there is something immoral, akin to the “ethical sellouts” on Wall Street, about a Gay Ski Week that promotes compassion and is economically viable.



Not so. Money and morality need not necessarily be opposed. What’s wrong with attracting a well-educated and well-to-do demographic to Vail, while simultaneously promoting diversity and compassion?

The Thompsons’ line of reasoning obviously starts with the assumption there is something ethically depraved about homosexuality that would render the Ski Week immoral. It would take more space than this paper has to offer to effectively counter that notion – and that probably still wouldn’t be enough.

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So, suffice it to say, the situation is in no way analogous – in scale or in motivation – to the ethos of entitlement and greed that produced the economic fallout. If the town turns a profit in the process of promoting honorable ideals, it will be a wholly beneficial event. The only embarrassment is that it took us so long to realize it.

Secondly, the Thompsons seem to suggest that inviting the gay and lesbian community to Vail runs counter to the resort’s family-friendly ambiance. Perhaps they are functioning from a severely outdated (and long-since disregarded) stereotype of the gay community as a hard-partying, sexually deviant fringe group.

The truth is, the gay and lesbian community consists of couples looking for romantic weekend escapes. They, too, have families – families that might enjoy a week in a ski town that advertises its welcoming and compassionate attitude toward everyone, regardless of race, ethnicity or sexual orientation.

The ethical issue here isn’t whether or not we invite the gay and lesbian community to enjoy a weekend at our beautiful mountain town but whether or not we sit idly by while ignorant and hate-inspiring ideas like those eschewed (and spewed) by the Thompsons persist, openly and publicly.

In the spirit of acknowledging human likenesses, I should concede that the Thompsons were right about one thing: it takes a village to raise a child. I’d like to live in one that produces well-educated, open-minded, and thoughtful citizens by leading through example.

Jackie Randell

Vail

I was genuinely surprised to read Josh and Heather Thompson’s letter in Wednesday’s newspaper. I feel compelled to put forward a redemptive response on behalf of the vast majority of Vail Valley residents, who are compassionate and open-minded.

“Compromising ethics for money is what our family resort is doing and teaching our children by promotion Gay (Ski) Week,” the Thompsons wrote. “We are living the same message (as Wall Street) – money is more important than morality.”

The statement’s first glaring inaccuracy is its implication there is something immoral, akin to the “ethical sellouts” on Wall Street, about a Gay Ski Week that promotes compassion and is economically viable.

Not so. Money and morality need not necessarily be opposed. What’s wrong with attracting a well-educated and well-to-do demographic to Vail, while simultaneously promoting diversity and compassion?

The Thompsons’ line of reasoning obviously starts with the assumption there is something ethically depraved about homosexuality that would render the Ski Week immoral. It would take more space than this paper has to offer to effectively counter that notion – and that probably still wouldn’t be enough.

So, suffice it to say, the situation is in no way analogous – in scale or in motivation – to the ethos of entitlement and greed that produced the economic fallout. If the town turns a profit in the process of promoting honorable ideals, it will be a wholly beneficial event. The only embarrassment is that it took us so long to realize it.

Secondly, the Thompsons seem to suggest that inviting the gay and lesbian community to Vail runs counter to the resort’s family-friendly ambiance. Perhaps they are functioning from a severely outdated (and long-since disregarded) stereotype of the gay community as a hard-partying, sexually deviant fringe group.

The truth is, the gay and lesbian community consists of couples looking for romantic weekend escapes. They, too, have families – families that might enjoy a week in a ski town that advertises its welcoming and compassionate attitude toward everyone, regardless of race, ethnicity or sexual orientation.

The ethical issue here isn’t whether or not we invite the gay and lesbian community to enjoy a weekend at our beautiful mountain town but whether or not we sit idly by while ignorant and hate-inspiring ideas like those eschewed (and spewed) by the Thompsons persist, openly and publicly.

In the spirit of acknowledging human likenesses, I should concede that the Thompsons were right about one thing: it takes a village to raise a child. I’d like to live in one that produces well-educated, open-minded, and thoughtful citizens by leading through example.

Jackie Randell Vail


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