Pre-Madonna mayor gets smackdown for criticizing pop star

In case you missed it, Madonna recently said in an interview on the Howard Stern radio show that she has no interest in returning to her hometown of Rochester Hills because it’s a place dominated by “basic, provincial-thinking people.”
Rochester Hills Mayor Bryan Barnett famously took offense to the pop star’s criticism and responded publicly by writing a chamber of commerce-style letter telling the singer about lots of wonderful things in Rochester Hills.

The mayor’s rebuttal, in turn, sparked a biting response from Rochester Hills native Nick Rinehart, who said in an Oakland Press letter to the editor that “I’m not convinced that you understand what she actually meant when she made these comments.”
“Madonna expressed earlier in her interview that she felt unwelcome in Rochester Hills for a number of reasons,” wrote Rinehart, a gay-rights activist and a student at the University of Michigan. “She was alienated by a homogeneous community dominated by affluent white suburbanites that weren’t accepting of her. While the city has grown more diverse since her childhood, your belief that Rochester Hills has transformed into a progressive, forward-thinking community is far from the truth.”

In 2001, Rinehart was a participant in the ACLU’s efforts to stop high schools from blocking legitimate websites that discuss LGBT issues. The teen joined the fight after learning that Rochester High School’s “acceptable use” policy for school computers blocked his search for Internet sites on gay-straight alliances.

Barnett/OP photo

What may have inspired Rinehart to respond to the mayor’s letter was this sentence:  “We are growing in many ways including in our economic, racial, and religious diversity. We are home to one of the largest Mosques in Metro Detroit …”

Rinehart’s response described an incident at a Rochester Hills City Council meeting at which a group of LGBT activists who called for passage of a human rights ordinance were brushed aside by the mayor and his council colleagues – eight straight men – who insisted the city exhibited no discrimination against gays.

Rinehart Facebook photo

“For someone like you (Barnett), Rochester Hills is an ideal place to live. As a white, educated, conservative, religious man, you find yourself surrounded by people just like you,” he wrote.
“However, problems arise for people who don’t fit in so easily. As a gay man, I have felt unwelcome by many in our community, including classmates, neighbors, teachers, and even government officials.

“That’s right. Even you, Mayor Bryan K. Barnett, have made me feel unwelcome in my community.”