North grad took own life after week of 'toxic' comments
A week after attending a Norman City Council meeting where a heated debate played out in public, 19-year-old Zach Harrington took his own life at his family’s home in Norman
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Here are a few of the choice quotes from citizens speaking their bigoted minds.
One man said he moved to Norman because he thought it was the kind of place that would never accept the GLBT community with open arms. A woman, who described herself as "bi-racial," said she was tired of the GLBT plight being compared to Civil Rights.
Some of those who opposed the proclamation claimed that members of the GLBT community would use it to infiltrate the public school system, essentially allowing the "gay lifestyle" to become a part of the curriculum.
Others claimed that council recognizing October as GLBT History Month was a waste of their time. Some members of the audience even suggested that any council members voting in favor of the proclamation may have trouble getting reelected.
Numerous residents also claimed the Bible was their guiding light, citing the ancient text as their primary reason for opposing the proclamation and the GLBT community in general.
So is this what Democracy ™ is supposed to look like? Does it make you proud to be an American?
I can remember a time when a display like this of racist anti-black public remarks would have been quite common. They had regular public meetings of the White Citizens Council in the town where I grew up. Today there is almost no place in the US where such open racial bigotry would be tolerated and that is indeed progress.
Why must LGBT people be expected to endure the same kind of abuse and humiliation without recourse? It doesn't seem reasonable to me.