Anti-Gay School Official To Resign Over Facebook Post

Clint McCance, the Arkansas school official who called for the suicides of LGBT youth on his Facebook page, announced he would resign

LITTLE ROCK, Ark.—The Arkansas school board member who recently advocated for the death of LGBT youth on his Facebook page on Thursday announced his resignation amidst a churning sea of nationwide outrage over his deplorable statements.

 

Clint McCance, a member of the Midland school board in Pleasant Plains, Ark., claimed on Thursday night’s edition of the CNN news show Anderson Cooper 360 that he was quitting to allegedly help the Midland school and community. The night before, Anderson Cooper had run a scathing segment on McCance that fiercely condemned the school official’s violent and bigoted remarks against LGBT teens.

 

“The only thing I can do is extend my apologies for my poor speech,” McCance said on the show. “I don’t wish death on anyone.”

 

McCance had, prior to Thursday’s program, refused to comment on his remarks since they began attracting national media attention. McCance’s Facebook post ridiculed a campaign asking LGBT supporters to wear purple on Oct. 20 in remembrance of an alarming number of LGBT youth who’d recently committed suicide after enduring anti-gay bullying.

 

“Seriously they want me to wear purple because five queers killed themselves,” McCance ranted. “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.”

McCance reported that since the posting and resulting backlash, he and his family have received “thousands of phone calls and hate mail,” and the school district he formerly served on Wednesday released a statement distancing itself from McCance’s extreme views.

 


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