Gay Pride Festivus pole heads to Georgia statehouse

Posted: 5:01 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 17, 2015
By Greg Bluestein - The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Around the corner from the towering Christmas tree that fills the Gold Dome’s rotunda will soon stand - for one day at least - an entirely different sort of spectacle.

A six-and-a-half-foot pole splotched with rainbow colors, highlighted by purple glitter and topped with a shiny disco ball will rise above the South Wing of the state Capitol on Dec. 23 to commemorate a made-up holiday invented for a 1990s sitcom.

The “Gay Pride Festivus Pole” will serve as a reminder that the court rulings and state laws that seek to protect religious symbols in government buildings can cut both ways. And, in this case, that means allowing a sparkly pole to share space with portraits of famed Georgia leaders at the Gold Dome’s most prestigious real estate.

If Georgia officials, who allowed the display Tuesday of a Nativity scene on the second floor of the Capitol, had rejected the Festivus pole, it would have surely invited a lawsuit from atheists groups or organizations that seek to preserve the separation of church and state ...

http://www.myajc.com/news/news/state-regional-govt-politics/gay-pride-festivus-pole-heads-to-georgia-statehous/npmm5/