OUR LATEST ISSUE
SITE SEARCH
Gay News: The member of a school board in America has resigned after saying gay teens should kill themselves
By: Nigel Robinson
Clint McCance
Clint McCance
School board member resigns after anti-gay comments
29 October 2010
Clint McCance, a member of the Midland school board in Arkansas, announced his resignation in an interview on CNN.
He said he was resigning to “help my school and my community.
“The only thing I can do is extend my apologies for my poor speech. I don’t wish death on anyone.”
On his Facebook page, McCance had mocked the Spirit Day campaign of 20 October, in which people were encouraged to wear purple as a mark of respect for all the gay teenagers who have recently killed themselves in the US after being bullied for their sexuality.
“Seriously, they want me to wear purple because five queers killed themselves,” he wrote. “The only way I’m wearing it for them is if they all commit suicide.
“I can’t believe the people of this world have gotten this stupid. We are honouring the fact that they sinned and killed themselves because of their sin.”
He went on to say that he would disown his own children if they were gay, that he was glad that people couldn’t procreate, and “I also enjoy the fact that they often give each other AIDS and die.”
In his televised apology on CNN. McCance said: “I’d like to extend apologies to those families that have lost children, for all those children who feel that suicide is the only way out... I brought more hurt on them. They didn’t deserve that and I do genuinely feel bad for them.”
He also said that he had received thousands of phone calls and hate mail with people threatening to kill him and he had had to send his wife and two children out of Arkansas for their own safety.
The school has disowned McCance’s comments, and in a letter to a former Midland student Superintendent Dean Stanley of the school said McCance did not represent or speak for the board when he posted on Facebook.
“Every student life is equally valuable without regard to race, sex, or sexual orientation," he wrote. “Everyone really is someone special and deserves to be treated with care and respect.”
