‘The Colbert Report’ visits gay-tolerant small town in Kentucky
Vladimir Putin could learn a thing or two from Johnny Cummings, the openly gay mayor of the tiny but tolerant coal town of Vicco, Ky.
On Wednesday night “The Colbert Report” profiled Cummings, the politician and hairdresser who helped Vicco become the smallest town in America with an ordinance on the books banning discrimination based on sexual orientation.
The segment was part of the recurring feature “People Who Are Destroying America” (which, in true Colbertian fashion, tends to spotlight people doing anything but) and punctured the stereotype of “close-minded hillbillies,” to borrow the words of one Vicco resident.
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Nearly all the townspeople featured in the report voiced support for Mayor Cummings, praising the work he’d done for the community and expressing their approval of the anti-bias ordinance.
The one notable exception was a local pastor named Truman Hurt, who insisted he had nothing against gays even though he wished they’d “go back in the closet where they belong.”
But his viewpoint did not appear to be the consensus in Vicco, where even the faithful seemed inclined to tolerance rather than judgment.
As one man put it, “If [God] is against it, why did he make ‘em born that way? I can’t understand that. I’ve tried and tried and tried to understand that. I just can’t.”
Maybe they’ve all been watching “Honey Boo Boo”?
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