We all know the prevailing narrative of most major southern cities by now. Tight budgets, high crime and Democratic leaders who want to take as money as possible from those already struggling to provide for their families.

But Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin is going to fix all of that, you guys. Despite being the second worst place to live in the U.S., and despite government departments getting underfunded left and right, Woodfin has created the position of LGBTQ liaison so the city can “continue to uphold that legacy of equality by ensuring that all of our citizens have a voice in this administration.”

Except for the voices that don’t want their tax money going to unnecessary positions, apparently.

Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin has hired the city’s first LGBTQ liaison to serve as both a spokesperson for the city and as a representative of LGBTQ interests.

Josh Coleman, who currently works as vice president of Central Alabama Pride, will start his new role on June 25.

Woodfin made the announcement Sunday at PrideFest held at Sloss Furnaces.

Coleman will be starting in two weeks in the position, and the move comes with Woodfin’s creation of the Mayor’s Office of Social Justice and Racial Equity. Coleman is basically a professional activist, having worked as vice-president of Central Alabama Pride and a volunteer with the Human Rights Campaign. He’s also a life coach and a chief operating officer at a Pizza Hut franchise. Go figure.  

But maybe there’s some huge rash of gay murders that we don’t know about in Birmingham. Maybe it’s so bad that riots are about to break out and city government HAS to do something. Let’s see what Coleman says:

“I’ve been working with the community for the last five or six years, but some of the issues have just been not feeling safe in certain spaces, not feeling welcomed in certain businesses. We just want to make sure that everyone in the city feels welcome where they live and work and play,” said Coleman.

Is “not feeling welcome” all it takes to have someone get on a government payroll? You think I never felt unsafe in Birmingham? Maybe the mayor should create the Department of LSU Equity to ensure I feel nice and safe. 

Or maybe the municipal government should stop trying to virtue signal and actually address semi-important things like fiscal responsibility and a murder count so horrendous that it’s led to the creation of a multi-agency task force.

Birmingham government has already cut funding to a number of nonprofits and local organizations. I wonder how those groups feel about losing that money so the mayor can start prepping his public relations campaign for the inevitable presidential run.

The word is still out on how much this is going to cost taxpayers, but Birmingham residents should be outraged if it’s anything over a penny.