Elderly Texas couple want ‘Gay Drive’ to be renamed because the gays have ruined it
Residents in a Texas town are trying to get their road name changed from ‘Gay Drive’ – because of homosexuality.
Elderly couple Maria and Mel Villarreal have lived on Gay Drive in Pharr for more than 40 years.
The pair say they really like living in the neighbourhood – but don’t feel comfortable with the road name because “it just has that meaning”.
Mel Villarreal told CBS 4: “The word ‘gay’ used to be a word that the meaning was being jolly, being happy, and now they’ve added another meaning to it and they define themselves as ‘gay people’.
“I don’t have anything against gay people, it’s just that it has that meaning.”
Ms Villarreal added: “The reason I wanted to change it is because I don’t like gay!
“My kids never liked that name of the street. They were embarrassed.”
The pair started a petition to change the name of the street to ‘Los Unicos Street’ after Mr Villarreal’s former Tejano band.
Nearly all of the Gay Drive residents were onboard with the idea, which the couple took to the Pharr City Commission.
However, the proposals were struck down by commissioners by a vote of 6-1 last month.
The commissioners ruled that there is no good reason to change the name – which “could affect emergency service responses”.
The Villarreals have since called for a compromise between “Gay” and “Los Unicos”. Personally we’re big fans of Gay Unicorn Drive…
The people of Gay, Georgia have faced the opposite problem – they’re insisting on keeping the town’s historic name, despite pressure to rename it.
Watch a clip below:
