Thursday, October 28, 2010

Bigots, Jerks and Homophobes - Oh My!

As my previous post indicates, I'm not at the top of my game right now but the recent rant from Clint McCance, School Board Member from a small town in Northern Arkansas, on his Facebook page shook the haze from my head and had me seeing red earlier today.

In response to the October 20th Spirit Day, conceived on Facebook to show GLBT youth they are not alone and should not feel isolated by encouraging people to wear purple, Clint McCance had this to say on his Facebook page.

"Seriously they want me to wear purple because five queers killed themselves. The only way im wearing it for them is if they all commit suicide. I cant believe the people of this world have gotten this stupid. We are honoring the fact that they sinned and killed thereselves because of their sin. REALLY PEOPLE."

Want to express your outrage? Friend, the "Fire Clint McCance" page on Facebook. But really the best thing you can do is spread the word. Use this as an opportunity to have a rational conversation with others. Mr. McCance will not change his views (although he may learn to keep his mouth shut) and he will have plenty of sympathizers who will see the movement on Facebook as part of a Liberal conspiracy. Too often this kind of news also flies under the radar of people not glued to a 24-hour news network so spread the word.

For those who may not know, the image above was used in the 80s by ACT UP, an AIDS activist group. However, recent discourse from men like Clint McCance, Carl Paladino, Andrew Shirvell, and Tom Demint, make it important we all start speaking up and saying enough.

5 comments:

A Lewis said...

Oh yeah, isn't that yet another fine example of professional, well-rounded, fair, balanced adult-minded people looking out for the kids of our nation.

Anonymous said...

What's disheartening about all this is that if McDunce had the nerve to write such hateful language, then he probably had it in his for many years. All those years where he served on a school board - and still does - perpetrating like he has children's best interest.

Personally, I think he's probably coming to grips with one of his one children possibly being gay. It's almost as though he's putting them on notice that he threatens to throw them out of the house in an effort to keep them in the closet - so he can remain in denial and deflect it away from him.

People who protest too much usually are guilty of what it is they are protesting, or have something to hide.

The truth will come out in the wash soon. The 24 hour news cycle won't allow it to go on for long before he is found out.

Straight Guy said...

The irony that he has removed the page and gone into hiding to "protect his family" is not lost on me. But the sad fact is that his job as an elected school board member was to protect ALL kids. There are gay kids in every school district, but it is toughest for the ones stuck in communities like this one. Hopefully this will help change the dynamic.

Rick Bettencourt said...

Unbelievable.

Hope you're feeling better.

Robyn said...

I thought it was strange how he changed his tune so quickly. I'm not convinced that "apology" was genuine. No one says such hateful things with their heart and then changes their mind so abruptly.