Richmond Courts Gays, Snubs Confederates?

Via SHNV

Gay travel writers adore Richmond. Confederate conventioneers won’t come here.

Wait. When did this happen?

The Sons of Confederate Veterans, an organization founded in Richmond in 1896, hasn’t held its July national convention here for more than a decade. Richmond already has lost two bids to serve as host to the group during the sesquicentennial of the Civil War.

“I don’t think the city really welcomes the Sons of Confederate Veterans,” says Brag Bowling, chairman of the Stephen D. Lee Institute and a past commander of the Virginia division of the organization. The national reunions draw between 1,200 and 1,500 people.

Bowling blames Richmond’s “anti-Confederate policies” — meaning the emphasis on emancipation and the exclusion of the SCV from sesquicentennial planning.

“I absolutely disagree with that,” says Jack Berry, president and chief executive of the Richmond Metropolitan Convention and Visitors Bureau. Richmond welcomes every group, Berry says.

Richmond bid for the 2012 Sons of Confederate Veterans’ convention 18 months ago, Berry says, but lost because the group felt the city “was not engaged in the bid.” Six months ago, Berry tried again — and tried harder.

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