DAYTON, Tennessee (AP) -- The county that was the site of the Scopes "Monkey Trial" over the teaching of evolution Thursday reversed its call to ban homosexuals.

Rhea County commissioners took about three minutes to retreat from a request to amend state law so the county can charge homosexuals with crimes against nature. The Tuesday measure passed 8-0.

County attorney Gary Fritts said the initial vote triggered a "wildfire" of reaction. "I've never seen nothing like this," he said Thursday.

But Fritts said it was all a misunderstanding.

"They wanted to send a message to our (state) representative and senator that Rhea County supports the ban on same-sex marriage," he said. "Same-sex marriage is what it was all about. It was to stop people from coming here and getting married and living in Rhea County."

Not that the issue of banning homosexuals didn't arise.

"I'm not saying it wasn't discussed," Fritts said. "Sometimes you had five or six people talking."

Fritts said he advised the commissioners they cannot ban homosexuals or make them subject to criminal charges. The U.S. Supreme Court in 2003 struck down Texas' sodomy laws as a violation of adults' privacy.

Fritts said he doesn't believe the issue will come up again.

"I think they got all the publicity they need about it," he said.

All of the commissioners declined to comment Thursday.

Social worker Esther Jackson, 24 -- one of 300 people who attended Thursday's meeting -- held a sign reading: "Breed Love, Not Hate."

"It's just ignorance is all," she said of Tuesday's vote.

But 12-year-old Caitlin Kinney, attending the meeting with her mother, said she supported the commissioners' initial vote.

"I think they should go further, try to see if they can ban them," she said. "It's not a Christian thing."

The politically conservative county holds an annual festival commemorating the 1925 trial at which high school teacher John T. Scopes was convicted of teaching evolution. The verdict was reversed on a technicality, and the trial became the subject of the play and movie "Inherit the Wind."

from cnn...

The same place that had the Scopes trial, now, in 2004 still has the same ignorant religious fervor and tries to make a law to make homosexuals criminals... same state where a bunch of good ol KKK boys accidentally shot an initiate in a kkk hazing a little while ago- and this is just one state.... sad thing is people like this exist all over our country
I saw so much racism and bigotry in New York... (And unfortunately I have seen it here, on HZ, too)

Seriously, how can any group vote unanimously for such nonsense? And whats really funny, these poor dumb bastards and their "strong moral stance" IMMEDIATELY crumbled - but thats not a surprise- most bigots are, at heart, cowards...

That is why so many hate crimes are _groups_ of bigots atttacking a single innocent person...

That is why it is important to take a strong stance against the bigots- if you do they will quickly crumble- while this case showed how prevalent ignorance and bigotry are in our country, it also showed how precarios their perch has become...

The saddest part of the article was on of the last bits- the 12 year old infected with hate by her parents.... Bigots are a dying breed, but ignorance and hatred die hard...

The good part of the article was that people spoke out against the ignorant, I think 40 years ago they couldnt pay someone to speak up for whats right...