By: Brooke Meadows, Community Reporter

Date: June 2022

            The Fort Gay, WV Mayor Jolene McCoy and City Council are considering a motion proposed by several members of the community to change their name during Pride Month. Several members of the city council and community members who spoke at last week’s city council meeting stated they were afraid their town was considered too friendly to the LGBTQ+ community. As a part of the proposal, several council members floated the idea of returning the town to its original name, Cassville, for the duration of Pride Month.

            Fort Gay town historians do point out in the original pronunciation of Cassville, the ‘C’ was silent. Town Historian Wayne Shorty had the following to say when asked for comment: “In 1875, when the town was founded, there were actually two Cassvilles relatively close to each other on the same railroad route. Therefore, the town that became Fort Gay was colloquially called ‘Assville.’”

            The Wildcat Tavern owner Terry Bobcat spoke out in support of the measure saying, “Pride Month always coincides with our Ride Month where we host a lot of bikers. There’s nothing more masculine than a hunk of motorized metal humming betwixt a man’s thighs. I don’t know how people confuse Ride Month with Pride Month, but we tend to get a lot of homosexual bikers because of the town’s name. This needs to stop because I don’t want to challenge my preconceived notions of masculinity.”

            Gunther Brown spoke out against the motion pleading that, “I’ve got a lot of stuff ordered from Amazon and I’m worried changing the name, even for just one month, might delay my packages getting here. I don’t pay for Prime, so I don’t get 2-day shipping.”

            The motion for the name change was tabled at the City Council’s last meeting in order to gather more public comment. The measure is expected to be voted on at the next Council meeting.