Their have been several instances of school bullying (on both a secondary and higher education level) of homosexual students that resulted in these students taking their own lives. This tragedy has resulted in good people all over the country coming together to try and fight the problem of bullying. One of the ways this has happened is a "wear purple" day, where people wore the color purple to show solidarity with the victims of bullying.
Unfortunately, some right-wing fundamentalists have decided to show their bigotry in response to this. McChance took this even a step further by making homophobic and bigoted remarks on his FaceBook page celebrating the death of gays. Here are some of the remarks he made on FaceBook (which whether he realizes it or not is a public forum):
“Seriously they want me to wear purple because five queers killed themselves. The only way im wearin 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.”
“No because being a fag doesn’t give you the right to ruin the rest of our lives. If you get easily offended by being called a fag then dont tell anyone you are a fag. Keep that shit to yourself. I dont care how people decide to live their lives. They dont bother me if they keep it to thereselves. It pisses me off though that we make a special purple fag day for them. I like that fags cant procreate. I also enjoy the fact that they often give each other aids and die. If you arent against it, you might as well be for it.”
“I would disown my kids they were gay. They will not be welcome at my home or in my vicinity. I will absolutely run them off. Of course my kids will know better. My kids will have solid christian beliefs. See it infects everyone.”
Sadly, as an elected public official, McChance cannot be fired by the school district. If he had any common decency, he would resign. But after reading his remarks, I seriously doubt that will happen. He seems to be proud of his bigotry. Hopefully, the good people in Arkansas will take care of this in the next school board election (or in a recall election).
Fortunately for the students of the school district, other school officials were not amused by McChance's bigoted remarks. Here is the public statement released by the superintendent of the Midland School District:
The Midland School District, Board of Directors, administration, faculty, and staff do not support or condone the comments Mr. Clint McCance posted on his personal social networking page. Mr. McCance was not acting as an agent of the school board, but as a private citizen when this comment was posted. This post does not reflect the thoughts of the board or administration of the Midland School District.
The district strives to foster an environment that discourages all forms of bullying and an environment that encourages a safe and productive educational climate of all of our students. The district is very diligent in pursuing and addressing bullying of any variety on our campuses.
Sincerely
Dean Stanley, Superintendent
Midland School District
Midland School District
I saw McCance interviewed on Anderson Cooper's AC 360 the other night. Once I got over the relief that he was from Midland, Arkansas and not Midland, Texas (I hate to see us Texans portrayed in a bad light), I was struck by how contrite he seemed - much more so than I would have expected from someone who wrote what he did. During the interview, McCance announced that he would be resigning his position on the school board.
ReplyDeleteCredit should be given to Anderson Cooper for getting McCance to that point. I doubt if I've ever seen an interviewer hold someone's feet to the fire as effectively - not by shouting McCance down or raging at him, but by dispassionately pointing out how hateful and hurtful his rant was.
Credit should also be given to Steven Blackwood, a suicide prevention counselor who's own son committed suicide. Blackwood actually contacted McCance and appeared with him during the interview. It must take an incredible amount of self-control for the parent of a child who took his own life to address that kind of ignorance without flying into a rage. Instead, Blackwood used this opportunity as a teachable moment.
But tonight, when I heard about a young mother who shook her 3-month old baby to death for interrupting her playing "Farmville" on Facebook, something larger struck me. Cyberspace is an intoxicant that can take a person's anger, hatred or ignorance and intensify it beyond all rationality.
I consider myself a peaceful person, but I've snapped at my wife at least a couple of times when she's interrupted my blogging. And although I try to keep my comments civil, I can see how easy it could be, in the security of ones own home, to lash out at an individual or group, thinking that no one, least of all oneself, could ever be hurt by it.
Please don't take this as making excuses for the behavior of either McCance or that young mother. All I'm saying is that everyone who ventures into cyberspace (myself included) should do so with a least one foot planted firmly in reality. Failure to do so can result in some pretty horrendous consequences.
Before doing anything online, we should all ask ourselves: Is this informative? Is it worthwhile? Will it evoke something good, or does it merely provoke for provocation's sake?
Someone a lot smarter than me once wrote, "Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right; whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable; if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about these things."