July 29, 2009

Will the Real Officer John Greet Please Stand Up?

What do you call someone who swears he voted against Proposition 8, yet is doing his darnedest to kill the proposed Equal Benefits Ordinance in his own city of Long Beach, California?

If he’s telling the truth, “Janus” comes to mind; if he’s not, then “liar” comes to mind:

For and Against the Proposed
Equal Benefits Ordinance

Regardless your stance on First District Councilman Robert Garcia’s proposed Equal Benefits Ordinance (EBO), you had to admire Long Beach Police officer and LBPost.com columnist John Greet for coming out against it at Tuesday’s Beer & Politics.

Standing up against the EBO, which would require that companies doing business with the City of Long Beach provide the same benefits to same-sex domestic partners as heterosexual married couples, is not altogether unlike saying you hate babies or sunshine. It might even have made you wonder, Greet said, recounting the reaction he’s encountered, whether the opinionator is … anti-gay?

He’s not, Greet said emphatically and convincingly. In fact, those were pretty much his first words on the topic, followed with an explanation for his EBO position.

“I’m not — as I was just this afternoon named on another website — a homophobe,” Greet said, after Garcia began the evening with a description of the proposed EBO and why it’s a good thing. (We’ll get to that.)

“I’m not a lawyer,” said Greet. “I happen to think it’s unconstitutional. Really, EBOs in my opinion allow the city to circumvent the law.”

And what law is that? Proposition 8, of course.

“I think we need to fix our mistake at the state level. I think we need to fix our mistake with Prop. 8, and not enact subservient laws that in effect allow us to circumvent the law,” said Greet, who told the crowd on no uncertain terms that he voted against Prop. 8. …

Bzzzzzzzzt! Not buying it, Greet. Did you read the proposition you say you voted against? There’s nothing in it that precludes equal treatment of same-sex couples, married or not.

We have no idea what your vested interest is in killing equality in Long Beach, Mr. Greet, but the reasoning you offer is spurious at best.

You know what we’re guessing, Greet? We’re guessing you’re bucking for a run at elected office, and playing both sides of the fence in order to fool as many people at once as possible.

More of Greet purportedly sweating over the costs of lawsuits against the city if an EBO is passed — which (gosh!) San Francisco has never worried about — at the link.

Posted by: Sapphocrat

Permalink | |