Amid heated public debate, Truro town council will vote today on restricting vehicle access near a park the mayor labelled a top cruising destination for gay men from across the region.
Public decency is not the only reason politicians want to move the pedestrian entrance to a less secluded area of Victoria Park, which locals say has long been a destination for amorous people of all orientations. But the comments from Mayor Bill Mills have overshadowed the broader debate.
Mr. Mills, who will no longer discuss the issue, is a controversial figure who cited Scripture when refusing to allow the rainbow flag at town hall on Pride Day in 2007. This time he framed the debate in a local newspaper as a matter of protecting women who feel "uncomfortable" and men who are being "propositioned."
"It's a favourite pickup spot for guys from all over the Maritime provinces," the Truro Daily News cited him saying last month when the issue of moving the gate was first raised at council. "They go up and have a rendezvous and then they go into the woods and do their thing. It's been known for years and years and is becoming more and more of a problem."
The extent of such behaviour is unknown - a woman walking her dog there one recent evening said there are often lots of men around but she has never seen sexual activity - and the mayor's comments sparked an immediate reaction. His critics say they don't condone illegal sexual activity but that he appears too quick to single out only one community using the park.
"This is a mayor who has in the past absolutely put on the table his feelings on gays and lesbians and made it very clear he's going to allow these to affect how gays and lesbians are treated in this town," said Catherine Meade, a Halifax lawyer and human-rights activist.
A prominent gay citizen in Truro is worried that moving the gate heightens risk to people walking in the park. He notes that visitors will be farther from the safety of their vehicles and is concerned that the mayor has told homophobes where they can find a target.
"That just leaves the door wide open for an escalation of violence," said Al McNutt, with the Northern AIDS Connection Society. "I hope that never happens but I really will hold Bill Mills responsible."
Mr. Mills, who was re-elected without opposition last year, is refusing all media interviews. He referred questions to Deputy Mayor Greg MacArthur, who made no bones about his criticism.
"I don't want to be associated with those remarks," he said. "You can't say, [if]there's a red kid, a black kid and a white kid and they're all doing the same thing, the white kid can't be [in the park] Because you've assaulted that kid."
In spite of his criticism, Mr. MacArthur does favour moving the gate farther from the park. He said that restricting vehicle access will help preserve the watershed, help protect cross-country ski trails and help reduce illicit activity, of all sorts, at what is now a secluded entrance.
"You don't want to go by with your family and someone's having sexual relations and then your five-year-old says, 'mummy, what's that?' " he said. "The park's 1,000 acres. Let's face it, you want to go in the park and hide no one's going to find you. But the cars are more open."
A Web poll by the local paper found that 40 per cent of respondents were unaware of gay sex in the park before the mayor raised the issue. And Mr. McNutt mocked the notion that straight men were the focus of unwanted attentions.
"The gay community, when it comes to the term cruising, they have it down to a fine art," he said. "You don't just cruise everyone. There is an underground communication. You don't just walk up to a stranger and say 'wanna get it on?' "