Clint McCance Resigns: The Back Story

HRC Back Story
By Michael Cole

Fair-minded Americans were thrilled last night when Clint McCance – the Midlands School Board Vice President from Pleasant Plains, Arkansas, who was under fire for an anti-gay Facebook tirade – announced he would resign from the board.  Appearing on CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360, McCance apologized for his screed that said he would disown his children if they were gay and encouraged LGBT youth suicide.  Read his full posts from when we broke the news on Tuesday evening.

HRC was originally alerted to the comments by Anthony Turner, a 1998 graduate of Midland High School.  Turner’s hope was that national attention would help kids from his town – and ones like it – know that people care about them and hopefully prevent other officials from creating the kind of environment that McCance fostered.  On the heels of a number of bullying-related suicides, we could not let McCance’s hate-filled posts go unanswered.

Because of Arkansas law, the only option at our disposal was for Mr. McCance to resign so we sprang into action to bring enormous pressure upon him, his colleagues on the local school board and his constituents.

The Advocate was the first media outlet to report the story on Tuesday evening, causing so much traffic that their site was periodically unavailable.  Other LGBT blogs followed suit.  HRC also posted screenshots of McCance’s rant on our blog, additionally pointing users to our “Welcoming Schools” resources that give elementary school administrators, teachers and parents across the country the tools to prevent bias-based teasing and harassment among elementary school students. 

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School Official Wants Gays Dead

ADVOCATE

Arkansas school board member Clint McCance believes "queers" and "fags" should kill themselves — that is, if they don't get AIDS and die first.

By Neal Broverman

While schools across the country are taking action against bullying and suicide, a board member of an Arkansas school district is using his Facebook page to encourage "queers" and "fags" to kill themselves.

Clint McCance is a board member in the Midland school district in northern Arkansas. Responding to a call to wear purple last Wednesday to support LGBT youth, McCance wrote the following message on his Facebook page: "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."

Initially, six people "liked" McCance's message. He also received supportive comments, though some challenged his statement. A commenter wrote, "Because hatred is always right." That led McCance to write, "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."

McCance was again challenged on his statements — and his Christianity. Wrote one commenter: "YOU NEED TO STOP AND THINK FOR A SEC GREAT YOU BIG CHRISTIAN MAN ! SO KEEP ALL OF YOUR THOUGHTS TO YOUR SELF YOU DONT WANT PPL TALKIN ABOUT YOUR FAMILY SO DONT TALK BOUT OTHERS."

McCance responded with, "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."

It's not clear if McCance has taken down the thread, since his Facebook page is private — the messages were made available to The Advocate via a forwarded screen capture. The superintendent of the Midland school district was unavailable and a phone call to the principal of the Midland High School was not returned. There was no response to e-mails to the superintendent and to the secretary of the Midland school board.

"Clint McCance has put a face on the hate that devastates our young people," says Human Rights Campaign president Joe Solmonese. "McCance shouldn't be allowed near children, let alone managing their education. We call for his immediate resignation from the school board."

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