Straight Kansan Loves His Rainbow Flag

This man is our hero! A straight businessman who respects his gay clientele no matter what. (See followup report on Thursday, August 10.)

Barbara Wilcox, PlanetOut Network
published Wednesday, July 26, 2006

A bed-and-breakfast owner in Meade, Kansas, has created a tempest with the rainbow Pride flag, a gift from his son, that he hoisted three weeks ago next to the Stars and Stripes over his establishment.

J.R. Knight and his wife, Robin, moved to town two years ago to run the Lakeway Inn, "midway between the infamous 'Boot Hill' in Dodge City and the fabled 'Land of Oz' in Liberal," as their Web site states.

Knight received the rainbow flag from his 12-year-old after a trip to a nearby museum about the Wizard of Oz. The flag reminded the boy of "somewhere over the rainbow."

Knight says he knew the flag stood for gay rights ("I'm not an idiot"), but also for a lot of other things, like unity and friendship.

People in the town of 1,600 apparently went ballistic. But Knight dug in his heels. He claims a radio station threatened to pull the Lakeway Inn's ads if he did not remove the flag. Quite a few "sweet Christian people" sincerely told him the flag stood for sin. A pastor told him it was as inappropriate as hanging women's panties on a flagpole. Knight joked that he might consider it.

"I told him, 'How about I go to your church and take down everything about Jesus?' It's the same thing."

While the Lakeway Inn has lost local restaurant business over the controversy, Knight says hotel patronage is up. He's on two major highways -- Hwy. 54 east/west and Hwy. 23 north/south -- and has, he says, the only alcohol license for 40 miles.

"Any gay or lesbian people that do stop by will be treated with the best service I can give you," Knight told KWCH-TV reporter Tucker Jankosky of Wichita. "When this rainbow flag shreds, I will buy another one, and another one, and another one. Just like my American flag, I'll buy another one."

He told Gay.com: "I wasn't flying it in people's face, but anymore I kind of am, because people need to learn."