Bill Donohue
The mayor of Bloomington, Indiana, John Hamilton, announced last year that he was censoring Good Friday by renaming it “Spring Holiday.” So this Friday government workers will be paid for celebrating the spring. He cloaked his intolerance in the name of inclusion.
Mayor Hamilton’s edict makes it clear that when multiculturalists employ the term inclusion, it is often used as a club to destroy diversity—it certainly was used as a pretext to nix Good Friday, a day of special significance in the Christian calendar. Yet we noticed that Bloomington recognizes the “Day After Thanksgiving” as an official city holiday, and it celebrates nothing.
As we pointed out last year, Hamilton is married to Dawn Johnsen. In 2010, the Catholic League worked against her nomination by President Obama to head the Office of Legal Counsel. We did so because of her efforts to strip the Catholic Church of its tax exempt status, something she did while working for the ACLU in 1988. She did not get the job. But if there were any doubts about Hamilton’s motive for renaming Good Friday, this settles the matter.
On Good Friday, Bloomington’s multicultural calendar lists “Hola Bloomington,” a Latino radio show that runs on Friday evenings. It would be fitting if the hosts read the Stations of the Cross in recognition of Good Friday, and see what Comrade Hamilton does next.
Contact Hamilton: mayor@bloomington.in.gov
