I KNOW very little about Clint McCance apart from the fact that he is an avowed Christian and, until this week, was the vice president of Midland School Board, a school district in Arkansas.
Clint McCance
WAS is the operative word. This stupid nobody no longer holds the post after he was called to account over homophobic rants he placed on Facebook.
Infuriated by “Spirit Day” – a day when people nationwide wear purple as a show of support for victims of anti-gay bullying – McCance wrote he would only wear purple if all gays committed suicide, adding that he was gratified that homosexuals:
Often give each other AIDS and die … 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.
And there’s more:
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 …
McCance  has since resigned, acknowledging on CNN that his comments were “ignorant” and “hateful”.
Referring to a rash of recent suicides by gay teens, a chastened McCance is quoted here as saying:
I don’t support bullying of any kids. I’d like to extend apologies to those families that have lost children, for all those children who feel that suicide is the only way out, especially for the five families who have already lost children. I brought more hurt on them … they didn’t deserve that and I do feel genuinely bad for them.
The Freethinker was founded in 1881 by GW Foote, an outspoken critic of religion. After the publication of 
November 2nd, 2010 at 11:20 am
“..and I do feel genuinely bad
for thembecause I lost my job.”November 2nd, 2010 at 11:31 am
what a twat!
November 2nd, 2010 at 12:05 pm
“…I do feel genuinely bad for them”.
No you don’t, you worthless lying sack of turd.
November 2nd, 2010 at 1:05 pm
Can’t you just feel the warm glow of Christian love from this man?
November 2nd, 2010 at 1:17 pm
So, let me see if I understand this: he doesn’t suport bullying of any kids. Except for his own, should one of them turn out to be gay and actually come to his/her father in the hopes of love and understanding.
Have I got that right?
This is why the southern US is perceived as a backwater of inbred hicks and goobers. Is this piece of white trash atypical? Then how the hell did he get elected?
November 2nd, 2010 at 1:18 pm
Stand by for bleating about xtian persecution! The only thing this moron is sorry about is that he has been caught out; no doubt he will soon get a job at some fundie school where his bigoted views are considered acceptable.
November 2nd, 2010 at 1:51 pm
If Southern Trailer Trash bigotry kicks in you do not have to look far for ignorance, stupidity and utter lack of anything that the civilised section of the world would accept as Education. He would disown one of his children if they were gay, would he? I wonder if he picked up that charming attitude from his own father. And is this not another Ratzo example of repressed homosexuality.
He must have made a great contribution to the School Board.
November 2nd, 2010 at 2:06 pm
Good point made on the comment board at
http://joemygod.blogspot.com/2.....cance.html
And for anyone thanking [whatever] that they’re not US citizens, remember how we used to laugh at ‘only in America’ compensation culture? When the US catches flu we generally get it a few years later. Be scared!
November 2nd, 2010 at 2:09 pm
As usual, now he’s been found out, it was all a big mistake, he’s been misquoted, he didn’t mean it like that, etc. The only thing that wankers like this are sorry about, is that they get found out.
November 2nd, 2010 at 2:10 pm
Yes, I know it’s been shown before, but does anyone know of a case of a christian been hounded to the point that they kill themselves. Bonus points if it’s a gay group that is doing the bullying.
Sorry, non Christians ARE better in generally than Christians. And before you jump to correct me. Please show evidence that I am wrong, because my evidence suggests that their rule book gives them permission and commands, while the media generally report these stories. And either the media does not make up non religious atrocities, or that they are few and far between to be worth reporting as such. So show me your contrary evidence that non religious are on an equal footing with the religious with regards to evil deeds.
November 2nd, 2010 at 2:17 pm
“I don’t support bullying of any kids. I’d like to extend apologies to those families that have lost children, for all those children who feel that suicide is the only way out, especially for the five families who have already lost children. I brought more hurt on them … they didn’t deserve that and I do feel genuinely bad for them.”
and maybe he should have added “I have renounced my faith and I have become a humanist” to be really believed that he was really aware of the impact of his statement
November 2nd, 2010 at 2:25 pm
One for the Christian Legal Centre to run with, then? Or perhaps not. He’s not exactly a Christian poster-boy, unless you’re into really quite terrifying horror films. Seriously, he looks like a really bad person to share a prison cell with, if you get my drift.
The CLC will step into the breach with their significant financial resources to defend those who hate gay people, but only those who appear fluffy on the outside, like the Johns.
This idiot was rather too honest and looks a bit scary, but are his views really that different to all the other religious protests against homosexuality?
- Homosexuality is a sin… check
- Homosexuality is intrinsically linked to HIV/AIDS… check
- Homosexuality is a choice that can be cured by religion… check
- Homosexuality cannot be tolerated under any circumstances, even your own children… check
- If a vulnerable person who died recently was homosexual, then it’s fine to dance on their grave and upset their family… check
Never mind rednecks or any of that regionalisation, this is not so far from the hatred ejaculated by Jan Moir last year regarding the late Stephen Gately. And yes, that is the right word to use: she had been letting her hatred build up so much that the release was palpably orgasmic for her. These people are all branches of the same rotten tree.
Time to grab an axe, my friends.
November 2nd, 2010 at 2:31 pm
Another post gone where the woodbine twineth. I won’t repeat it. It’ll turn up eventually, just as someone says the same thing, making me look like a total twat who repeated what someone else just said.
Wonder if the delightful MaryD has any views on this…
November 2nd, 2010 at 2:37 pm
heh heh, Daz!
Usually the Trolls just post something offensive, we respond to them and their response is deafening by its silence.. or they do respond, but not in any way related to our own (sometimes) erudite comments. Mostly a waste of time to argue with them, but the temptation is too, well, tempting.
And this Clint chap IS a pretty terrifying-looking individual, right? Creepy.
November 2nd, 2010 at 2:50 pm
Creepy, definitely. You half expect to see a view from the side as well, both pictures having a number across the bottom…
Yeah, I realised about the troll. They never turn up when I feel like abusing someone. I could go looking around fundie comment-boards, but that’d make me the troll, damnit.
November 2nd, 2010 at 3:45 pm
It never fails to amaze how low these bigots can get, seriously what a fucking lowlife how did he get his job in the first place??
And somebody should point out that straight people get HIV/AIDS as well.
November 2nd, 2010 at 3:53 pm
ZombieHunter:
Funny you should say that…
Link
Disclaimer for anyone who doesn’t know me. That’s not my opinion.
November 2nd, 2010 at 4:20 pm
I think MaryD and her ilk arrive here intending to proselytise and we just don’t play that game. The problem for them is like the one eyed man in the country of the blind. If a fundie christian is semi-literate then they are ahead of their game as most of them are ill educated, conditioned not to think and imagine they have superior knowledge by believing the religious junk poured on them by their preachers. They do not expect challenge.
Here is the fear in the BBC’s dire Thought for they Day. They are only comfortable with their own pea brained preaching, based on Stone Age fantasies, and any challenge is scary. Not only that, they fear a regular appearance by atheists which would reveal the paucity of their ideas and the mind numbing boredom of what they produce every day.
I wonder how many visit this site and do not comment?
November 2nd, 2010 at 4:23 pm
He got elected because the parents of the children in his school support his views in that dark desolate area. You can bet there are other members on that school board who have the same opinion, they were just clever enough to keep shtum.
Any one who wants to see this gobshite performing can see him on the Anderson Cooper show over at Joe.My.God.
(How Come that guy has my surename as a first name?)
November 2nd, 2010 at 5:46 pm
This is odd. I read this article on tea break at work. When I tried to look at the comments they were blocked by the filtering system that we have. I thought that some one must have made a really really sweary comment about it but now I am home I can’t find anything obvious. Strange.
November 2nd, 2010 at 6:33 pm
He doesn’t support the bullying of kids? You mean they won’t go to Hell if they don’t believe in Jesus?
November 2nd, 2010 at 6:55 pm
This one strikes me as odd because just about every time someone gets caught on this sort of thing they tend to distance themselves from their own comments and plead ignorance or some kind of mistake, but this particular guy’s response seems to have been a frank acknowledgement that what he said was “hateful”. Which it was, undoubtedly, but for a homophobic Christian to apologise for their obvious hate and acknowledge that what they said came from that hate is something I don’t think I’ve seen before. Usually once their comments are challeneged they will swear blind that they do not hate homosexuals and are not bad people, just misunderstood. This guy took it on the chin that what he said was not at all acceptable and I have to wonder if something behind the scenes is the reason for that. This is pure speculation, but perhaps his change of heart comes from homosexuality suddenly hitting close to home, and him realising that he cannot really disavow people he cares about.
November 2nd, 2010 at 7:16 pm
JohnMWhite,
That’s a very charitable interpretation.
November 2nd, 2010 at 7:35 pm
I have to remind myself that it is a bad idea to judge people by their appearance, this is despite being repeatedly taught this lesson at karate competitions, some very capable competitors look like chess geeks. However, this guy does not look evil to me but he certainly looks like a bit of a dope. If we judge him by his opinions he is certainly a dope.
November 2nd, 2010 at 7:45 pm
@ Don
Please elaborate. I’m not defending the guy, but his reaction strikes me as being markedly different from the countless others who have been publicly in the same situation.
November 2nd, 2010 at 8:12 pm
John. I wasn’t suggesting you were defending him. ‘Charitable’ wasn’t meant as a slur.
The apology,
I don’t support bullying of any kids. I’d like to extend apologies to those families that have lost children, for all those children who feel that suicide is the only way out, especially for the five families who have already lost children. I brought more hurt on them … they didn’t deserve that and I do feel genuinely bad for them.
looked as though it had been provided to him, formulaic. That’s just a subjective reading and I don’t claim it to be anything more.
Apparently he has ‘acknowledged’ that his words were “ignorant†and “hatefulâ€. I confess I haven’t watched the interview, but did he volunteer this, or was he backed into a corner?
When this shitstorm went down I’m certain he got himself lawyered up and started to realise that he seriously needed closure.
So, you may be right. But, given the venom and clear sincerity of his original renmarks, I just see expediency as more likely than a change of heart.
It’s all in the eye of the beholder, my eye is beholding a slippery bigot.
November 2nd, 2010 at 8:22 pm
“Of course my kids will know better. My kids will have solid christian beliefs …”
So, since being gay is just a lifestyle choice, when exactly did this christian gentleman make the choice NOT to be gay? As for “christian” beliefs – I’m not aware that the late JC ever put anything on record about folks being gay or not. Maybe some of these bigots should get their religion clear in their own minds and realize that what they subscribe to is not christianity but but bronze-age judaism.
November 2nd, 2010 at 8:45 pm
@ JohnMWhite
John, when this guy gave his apology on the Anderson Cooper show there was another guy with him who had driven some distance to confront McCance. This other guy was a father of a teenager who committed suicide. Although the teenager wasn´t gay it outrage the father that somebody in McCance´s position would say something as hateful as he did about any suicide of any children.
McCance´s apology amounted to saying that he was sorry he had been found out. He offered no apology to the parents of the “five queers” and didn´t, or couldn´t name one of them. He even said that he would stand for election again when all the fuss had blown over.
As I said in my previous post, I´m sure there are many parents in that part of the good ol´USA that will vote for him.
Check out the full story on Joe.My.God
November 2nd, 2010 at 9:28 pm
@David Anderson: You say he offered no apology to the parents, but in fact he did:
“I don’t support bullying of any kids. I’d like to extend apologies to those families that have lost children, for all those children who feel that suicide is the only way out, especially for the five families who have already lost children.”
Granted he did not name any of the children who had died, but at least he said he was sorry, and as the story says, he “has since resigned, acknowledging on CNN that his comments were “ignorant†and “hatefulâ€.” It’s very rare that someone of this ilk would acknowledge that their position has anything to do with ignorance or hate.
On the other hand, I did not actually see the Anderson Cooper show and am just going on the quotes in the article here. If he’s saying he is just going to wait out the storm then seek re-election, he clearly hasn’t learned a damn thing and is as much an ass as the rest of them. I guess I was being overly optimistic in hoping we had found someone who had managed to turn their hateful views around.
November 2nd, 2010 at 10:12 pm
@ JohnMWhite.
Yes john you are right, he did say that about the parents.Sorry to be misleading,.thanks for pointing it out.
Another thing though, after watching the interview again he couldn´t say that he wouldn´t use the words queer or faggot again. He told us that he loves his kids but when asked if he stuck by what he said about disowning them if they were gay, he answered that he would face that if it happened. Not he loves them no matter what.
I wouldn´t trust anyhing this man says and he certainly isn´t sincere.
November 2nd, 2010 at 10:17 pm
Seemed to me that he apologised a lot for his choice of words, and not at all for what he actually said with those words. Sneaky bastard.
November 2nd, 2010 at 11:16 pm
John,
I did post a long, elegant and well reasoned reply. And put in the captcha code. But it still vanished.
So briefly, I thought he had realised the shit storm he had unleashed, had got lawyered up, and had said what he needed to say when backed into a corner.
More expedient than enlightened. But that was just a subjective view and I didn’t mean charitable as a perjorative
November 2nd, 2010 at 11:29 pm
The times they are a-changin’
Lexington, Kentucky (Kentucky!), just elected an openly gay mayor today.
November 3rd, 2010 at 4:24 am
Slightly bizarre…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....r_embedded
November 3rd, 2010 at 10:55 am
erm, two words…GAY GENE! live with it you twat.
“love your neighbour…(unless he’s gay, in which case feel free to torment)” ermmm no!
November 3rd, 2010 at 4:32 pm
Thanks, Don, I see your point.
Also, great video from George Takei.
November 3rd, 2010 at 8:39 pm
Daz is correct again. I have said before on here that I have had personal experience of evangelical Christians in this country getting themselves elected to school governing bodies just so that they can influence school policy, and, strangely enough, just before my father’s funeral I heard the local vicar here confiding, with undisguised glee, to the officiant that “We’re getting Christians onto the school governing bodies now”. Be vigilant!
November 3rd, 2010 at 8:48 pm
Broga is also spot on. If you have half a brain cell then you are hailed as a genius in evangelical circles. People like myself soon become leaders, teachers, writers and conference speakers, and even broadcasters as well in many cases – just look at Billy Graham, an undoubtedly gifted and personable man who, nevertheless, has very limited intellectual abilities. If you read these people’s books you would be amazed at the shallowness, superficiality, inconsistency, lack of originality and intellectual rigour, and sheer repetitiveness of what they have to say, but the mass of believers consider them brilliant!
November 4th, 2010 at 2:29 pm
Typical BS. They go on a hideously bigoted rant. Then when they’re called on it they offer up a non-apology. He hasn’t changed his views. He doesn’t give a damn about the LGBT people who are dying thanks to people like him. He’s just sorry he can no longer spew his crap with impunity.
November 4th, 2010 at 4:26 pm
You’d hope the president of a school board would set an example with his written English. (I can’t add anything about his views: I think it’s all been said, and I think he’s an arsehole, too.)
November 6th, 2010 at 5:15 am
Has anyone any news on that other hate filled ‘loving’ christian, Eddie Long? Last I’d heard there are four men out for his tainted blood.
November 6th, 2010 at 7:45 am
Things not looking good for Eddie Long, I’m afraid:
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-50.....04083.html
Such a Man of God!