Rainbows have long been used as symbols to represent many different things, yet Nevada’s city attorney has vehemently opposed their proposed use on signs to be placed in parks throughout the city — to him, they “endorse homosexuality.”

CharACTer Nevada, a local initiative of the national “Character Counts!” program, wants the signs to increase exposure for the program and its six rainbow-colored pillars of character, symbolizing respect, responsibility, trustworthiness, fairness, caring and citizenship. “Character Counts!” has been adopted by many cities as a way to promote and recognize positive character development.

At last month’s Nevada City Council meeting, a councilman and liaison for the CharACTer Nevada Board presented the original design for these signs, which featured, you can guess, a rainbow — a rainbow that didn’t represent anything but the program’s six cute little innocent pillars.

But obviously Nevada City Attorney Don Juhl is offended by the use of rainbows anywhere simply because they have been adopted as a symbol to promote the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender movement. So Juhl unleashed his tirade against the GLBT community by writing a heated letter to the city council, in which he wrote, “The thought that our city was being asked to endorse homosexuality and prominently display this public badge of the homosexual community makes a mockery of the word ‘character.’ The further thought that the ’26th Best Small Town in America’ would, overnight, be vaulted into prominence as a community that welcomes and encourages homosexuality in locations predominantly frequented by children of an impressionable age is utterly repulsive and repugnant to everything I believe the City of Nevada stands for.”

Juhl sent along with his letter copies of a gay pride advertisement featuring rainbows and information on rainbow symbolism in relation to homosexuality. “I am compelled to believe that if all the citizens of Nevada understood that in this 21st Century the rainbow no longer signifies a promise made by God Almighty thousands of years ago … 95 to 97 percent of this community would be just as opposed to rainbows in our parks as I am,” Juhl wrote.

So the CharACTer Nevada board had to choose a new rainbow-free design, all because one wack-job felt offended.

What a stunning display of logic — by an attorney, no less. As I said before, rainbows have been used to symbolize lots of things. Many myths, traditions, and beliefs use the Rainbow bridge to span heaven and earth and join the physical world with the non-physical world. Just because homosexuals adopted it as a symbol of gay pride doesn’t inherently make rainbows part of an “alternative lifestyle” that Juhl finds morally unacceptable.

Rainbows will always be rainbows no matter how they are used. Symbols are adopted every day — for example, Lifesavers candies are handed out with pro-life literature to promote their agenda, and crosses have been used by the KKK to burn on people’s lawns. CharACTer Nevada Chairperson Mark Frideres said in response to connecting the park signs to an endorsement of homosexuality, “The rainbow-colored pillars of Character Counts are no more promotional of homosexuality than the rainbow peacock of NBC or the rainbow apple of Apple computers. Rainbows continue to symbolize hope and peace and are universally recognized as such by children and adults throughout the world.”

Even if Juhl managed to keep children away from all offensive material featuring any hint of a rainbow, they are going to have to go outside at some point in their lives where rainbows appear in the sky almost every time it rains. Rainbows are created by nature, and are even used in the Bible as a symbol of God’s promises to mankind. What does Juhl propose to tell children, then — that rainbows appear in the sky because nature endorses homosexuality? Or maybe that rainbows are projected into the sky by the “evil homosexuals” to promote their lifestyle?

Since Juhl was the only person to respond in such a manner to using a rainbow on the signs, no one else probably saw the “liking rainbows means I’m gay” connection. In fact, Nevada Mayor Patrick Sheets said that “the thought didn’t cross his mind to make that connection” when the design was originally presented to him.

By changing the design, the board only caved in to a ridiculous demand by a public official. If Juhl can’t respect the homosexual community, or rainbows, for that matter, maybe his demands shouldn’t have been respected, either.