by F. Grey Parker
Whenever you think you've seen just about the worst behavior you can expect from a particular person or group, you are probably kidding yourself. We have come a long way as a nation and a citizenry regarding the issue of sexual orientation. Yes, we are currently fighting the big fights. The fact that we are likely at the end of that discussion only decades after Stonewall is a testament to our progress. Though we are behind, in some cases far behind, other developed nations on the issue of LGBT rights, this should be viewed with our country's founders in mind. By and large, the first Europeans to arrive here were motivated by what they viewed as too Godless or Statist an approach to Christianity. Their puritan legacy still runs deep.
From CNN:
"Among other things, Shirvell has published blog posts that accuse Armstrong of going back on a campaign promise he made to minority students; engaging in "flagrant sexual promiscuity" with another male member of the student government; sexually seducing and influencing "a previously conservative [male] student" so much so that the student, according to Shirvell, "morphed into a proponent of the radical homosexual agenda;" hosting a gay orgy in his dorm room in October 2009; and trying to recruit incoming first year students "to join the homosexual 'lifestyle.'"
Mr. Shirvell apparently thinks gay sex will render a conservative "Previously conservative." Perhaps he's unaware of the Log Cabin republicans.
As I said, it can always get worse. Here is Mr. Shirvell's actual blog titled Chris Armstrong Watch. In a September 1st post, Shirvell tries to gin up heterosexual student's fears at U of M by saying, "Christian, pro-life, and minority students on campus should be aware that they will be VIOLENTLY persecuted." On July 5th he wrote that Mr. Armstrong had hosted an "orgy" with "homosexual shenanigans." (the second set of quotes are Shirvell's, not mine)
There's a tough rebuke by Elie Mystal at abovethelaw.com:
"Shirvell refers to Armstrong as: “a viciously militant homosexual activist who is (currently) the president of the Michigan Student Assembly (MSA).”
You know what they say about vicious militants, Mr. Shirvell: it takes one to know one. Shirvell — who, once again, is an Assistant Attorney General — is using his blog to conduct the worst kind of “smear the queer” campaign, and it’s all directed against a college student. You’d call Shirvell a homophobe, but that would be insulting to the many bigots out there who merely try to suppress a civil liberty or two."
Mystal points out a real kicker from the September 4th Shirvell blog:
"Parents of University of Michigan freshmen beware: the University's first openly "gay" student body president, Chris Armstrong, is actively recruiting your sons and daughters to join the homosexual "lifestyle." At this past Thursday's "New Student Convocation" at Crisler Arena, Michigan Student Assembly (MSA) President Chris Armstrong told thousands of incoming freshmen "to open up to themselves and others by being true to who they really are," as reported by the Michigan Daily."
How Shirvell could get the former from the latter is frightening. This is no run of the mill bigot. This is sort of like cyber gay-bashing. It goes beyond the ordinary phobias of "otherness" to embrace every exploded myth about predation. To Shirvell, the actively gay person is no longer one of us... not really a person anymore.
I began to wonder why? So, Shirvell is a hateful little man who doesn't like gays and, yes, he is an alumn of U of M. But why Chris Armstrong? What was so terribly radical about the student body president? I have been looking for other articles. The only real illumination I could find was this:
“His agenda was…to promote the radical homosexual agenda at the University of Michigan, and to use his position to promote that cause,” said Shirvell.
Armstrong campaigned to stop tuition hikes, expand gender-neutral housing to transgendered students, and make drinking less dangerous by keeping cafeterias open later. Students went to the polls, voting Armstrong in overwhelmingly, and Andrew Shirvell went to the web.
“Did he think he was just going to get some free pass just because he’s gay or whatever,” said Shirvell.
One of my colleagues wondered allowed this morning whether Shirvell might not be psychotic. "He needs to go get checked," She declared when I shared the links. I am inclined to agree.
Now, you just may be asking yourself the same question I am. What the hell does Mike Cox, the Attorney General of the State of Michigan, have to say about Shirvell? After all, he is Shirvell's boss. Apparently, what he has said is not very much:
"Attorney General Mike Cox has not reacted appropriately to this reality. As reported on Tuesday, the attorney general’s office confirmed to the Daily that the office was aware of Shirvell’s blog. Yesterday, the Detroit Free Press reported that Cox had “chastised” Shirvell for the statements made on the blog. According to a statement from Cox, Shirvell is entitled to “a right to free speech outside working hours … But Mr. Shirvell’s immaturity and lack of judgment outside the office are clear.”
Perhaps Attorney General Cox doesn't really think that this matters. Perhaps we should contact his boss. The Governor of Michigan is Jennifer M. Granholm. She is tough and she is smart. In this election cycle, she might need our support a little more to get involved.
Her phone number is (517) 373-3400
All of her contact information is available here.
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