Oops! Got to go hide my RuPaul Christmas CD

Last week The Palmetto Scoop broke a story about a $4900 ad agency buy promoting South Carolina, among several other states, to gay Britons in one London Underground tube stop. Apparently making them feel welcome to come here, spend money that stays here, and go home, is A Bad Thing.

Now The Scoop is hunkered down in outrage and defensiveness about a $10,000 entertainment expense in Columbia:

RuPaul is expensive

By Adam Fogle | Mon, Jul 14, 2008 - 2:11 pm | Posted in Around the state

COLUMBIA DROPS $10,000 ON DRAG QUEEN PERFORMANCE — CRIME, CORRUPTION STILL MAJOR PROBLEM

With violent crime, homelessness, gang activity, domestic abuse,corruption and various other things running rampant in Columbia the city council has decided to allocate $10,000 taxpayer dollars to the South Carolina Gay and Lesbian Pride Movement which said it will use that money on their September festival, the Free Times reports. Much of that funding will come from a hospitality tax and go toward paying drag entertainer RuPaul.

The hospitality tax, a 2 percent levy on prepared food and drink, goes toward supporting tourism in the city. […]

Mayor Bob Coble says he is pleased that the city is presenting a welcoming image. “Columbia respects people of all walks of life, and this diversity is our strength,” Coble says.

From a financial standpoint, Coble says having an open and accepting community is important if the city wants to be competitive in the global economy. [Free Times]

You know what else is important? Not getting mugged or having your property stolen because the $10,000 that could have paid for an extra police officer to patrol the streets at night for a third of the year was spent on a drag show.

But just like the “So Gay” campaign, it’s only a few thousand dollars, supporters say. No big deal. Chump change.

Forget that it could have been put to use in about 500 million better ways that would bring about desperately needed changes. And forget that the city budget is loaded with BS handouts like this and the nearly $500,000 allocated by a member of city council to HIMSELF.

Nope, saving lives apparently isn’t PC-enough anymore.

Note: The first loud-mouthed New Englander that has never lived in Columbia and had their car broken into, their house robbed, their friends attacked at gunpoint and on and on because there aren’t enough on-duty police officers who comes on here calling me a bigot or homophobe is banned for life.

We're curious: are there other, similar, allocations for entertainment at non-gay organized public events in Columbia? Should those funds be redirected to public safety, too? If not, what's the basis for the distinction?