'Festivus' pole sought for state capitol

LITTLE ROCK -- The latest in a series of requests for proposed statues on the Arkansas Capitol lawn came to the secretary of state's office Monday from a Florida-based blogger seeking to place a 6-foot-tall "Gay Pride Festivus Pole" alongside the traditional Nativity scene.

Although a copy of the request was unavailable Tuesday afternoon, a spokesman for the secretary of state's office, Chris Powell, said the request was under review.

The request was submitted by Chaz Stevens, executive director of The Humanity Fund, a group he founded years ago to promote civil rights through humor, with references to a popular episode of the television sit-com Seinfeld.

In the episode, a character frustrated by the commercialism of the holidays created "Festivus," an event for "the rest of us."

In 2012, Stevens erected his first Festivus pole, one made out of beer cans, at a fire station in south Florida.

In 2013 and 2014, a similar monument went up on the Capitol grounds in Tallahassee, Fla.

Reached by phone on Tuesday, Stevens said there were two reasons why he sought to place a similar monument -- this one 6 feet tall, draped in a gay-pride flag and topped with an 8-inch disco ball -- in Little Rock.

"Any state in the union could use some Festivus cheer on gay rights," Stevens said. "It's Arkansas. Given all the craziness in your state, who better than to spread the equality of all and stop bullying young boys and girls because of their sexual identity than Mike Huckabee."

Stevens claimed he contacted to the former Arkansas governor recently to voice support for the gay rights monument. He said he hasn't heard back from the Republican presidential candidate. Huckabee disagrees with the U.S. Supreme Court's decision this summer allowing gay marriage.

"Why? Why does it matter who I love or sleep with?" Stevens said. "I've learned personally that love is really hard to find. True love is something that should be expected and admired not something that's illegitimized or banished to the fringes."

Several groups -- including a Hindi organization and a Satanic group -- have sent in proposals for permanent monuments on the grounds, requests prompted by news the Capitol will eventually host a privately funded monument of the biblical Ten Commandments.

Unlike the other groups, Stevens seeks a temporary placement, one that would join the traditional Nativity scene as well as the Winter Solstice installation.

A seasonal installation is on the Capitol grounds for five weeks, between the day after Thanksgiving and Jan. 7, according to regulations from Martin's office.

While permanent monuments are considered by the state's Capitol Arts and Grounds Commission, requests for temporary installations are approved or dismissed by Martin's office.

NW News on 12/03/2015

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