By DMITRY RASHNITSOV
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In South Florida, Broward County School Board Chairwoman Jennifer Gottlieb fought to have the district honor National Day of Silence, the day that GLBT students use to peacefully protest anti-lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) bullying, harassment, and name-calling. Gottlieb’s former near equivalent in the Midland School District in Pleasant Plains, Arkansas, however did not feel the same way.
“I would disown my kids they were gay,” wrote former Midland School District Vice President Clint McCance on his Facebook wall. “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.”
McCance was angry because people he didn’t know on the internet were asking him to wear purple to help bring attention to the five gay teenagers who committed suicide in September after being bullied and harassed by classmates. “Seriously they want me to wear purple because five queers killed themselves,” McCance wrote in his original ‘sin’ Facebook post. “The only way I’m wearin it for them is if they all commit suicide.”
Six people “liked” McCance’s Facebook rant and some commentators actually agreed with his statement. Other’s challenged his words.
McCance began serving on the school board in 2007. He was re-elected for another four-year term in September, but after what McCance told CNN’s Anderson Cooper was “thousands of phone calls, hate mails, people threatening to kill my family and me,” McCance abruptly resigned from his post, allegedly planning to lead a life of hatred and bigotry behind closed doors.
“I’m sorry I’ve hurt people with my comments,” McCance said. “I’m sorry I made those ignorant comments and hurt people on a broad spectrum. I’m reaping what I’ve sown. I’ve had a lot of hate speech thrown at me and my family on every level.”
The Arkansas Department of Education had said it was “dismayed to see that a school board official would post something of this insensitive nature on a public forum like Facebook.”
The Midland School District had also denounced the posting. “The district strives to foster an environment that discourages all forms of bullying,” it said in a statement this week, “and an environment that encourages a safe and productive educational climate [for] all of our students.”
McCance has sent his wife and kids out of the state because of fears for their safety and that said he is installing a security system.
