Holding Mecklenburg County Commissioner Bill James Accountable for Hate Speech

by Michael Jones · 2011-01-04 13:10:00 UTC
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North Carolina politician Bill James has taken his anti-gay extremism too far.

The Mecklenburg County Commissioner has used his position as an elected official to call gay people “sexual predators,” to label homosexuality a “crime against nature,” and to argue that homosexuality should be a criminal offense. He even told a fellow Commissioner whose son died of AIDS that he was a “homo.”

LGBT activists in Mecklenburg County and thousands of Change.org members have urged the Mecklenburg County Board to hold Bill James accountable. Now it looks like they’re willing to take the first step.

Tonight, fellow Commissioners on the Mecklenburg County Board will debate a resolution condemning bias against LGBT people. And they’re doing so because of pressure put on the Board by gay rights advocates, who no longer want to see Bill James given a free pass for hate speech.

Commissioner Harold Cogdell introduced the measure because he was worried that the reputation of Mecklenburg County, the county that encompasses Charlotte, was being painted with anti-gay extremism.

“I felt that the image of our community was being impacted in a way that did not reflect the core values of what Charlotte-Mecklenburg is really about,” Commissioner Cogdell said. “Commissioner James got a great deal of, frankly, press, and he's certainly entitled to his opinion, but I don't think his opinion reflects mainstream thinking in Mecklenburg County.”

According to LGBT publication qnotes, numerous people from the Mecklenburg area will be speaking at tonight's County Board meeting. Among them include representatives from GetEqual, and the group Queer Rising QC.

"We are showing our support for the resolution that Cogdell has proposed,” said Queer Rising QC member Joshua Carpenter Costner, with hopes that the board will eventually censure Bill James.

Tonight's vote is an important step to get the Mecklenburg County Commissioners on record condemning the type of homophobia and anti-gay rhetoric that Bill James promotes. Keep up the pressure.

Photo credit: chascow

Michael Jones is a Change.org Editor. He has worked in the field of human rights communications for a decade, most recently for Harvard Law School.
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