Ohio Mayor Resigns Amid Accusations of Calling Gay Cop 'queer'

The mayor of a southeastern Ohio town has resigned over accusations that she repeatedly called a gay police officer "queer" in front of his colleagues and created a hostile work environment.

This is pretty fresh so I'll go back and see just how big this 'town' is and other details.

Regardless, if you're supposedly smart enough to be elected Mayor, then you should have already been through the school of political correctness and cultural diversity.
I find it actually a bit 'creepy' that so many little back wood, stuck in time, little towns like this still exist.
When I drove from the California Northwest back to Florida I saw some places that simply left me dumbfounded, a Twilight Zone moment like Children of the Corn or something.

Source

Jackie Welker, council president in the Village of Pomeroy, tells The Associated Press that 78-year-old Mayor Mary McAngus submitted a letter of resignation Saturday.

Police Chief Mark Proffitt told the council this week that McAngus referred to Officer Kyle Calendine as "queer" in front of other officers and dispatchers. He says that at one point she said, "I don't like a queer working for the village."

Proffitt had warned the council that McAngus' alleged comments could open the village to a lawsuit.

Too much political correctness. If the mayor had just called him an idiot, or jackass, or numbnuts, or #wit, nothing would have happened. Sure it might have been uncivil, and an apology might have been in order. But it wouldnt have made the news, or if it did, it wouldnt have interested anyone.

But since she allegedly used a not "politically correct" term, its a big story.

It gets tiresome how some words are more equal than other words, when the sentiment behind them all is the same.

Why is it that the words of the offender, carry more weight than the actions of the offended?

If you offend anyone from any of the segregated groups that make up the Democrat party, (ex: gays, blacks, Hispanics, feminists, ...), you get fired and death threat Tweets
Yet, when someone belonging to these same segregated groups,commits an an actual physical crime, far worse than anything verbal, they get a free pass?

Originally posted by Lonewulph

I find it actually a bit 'creepy' that so many little back wood, stuck in time, little towns like this still exist.

Regardless, if you're supposedly smart enough to be elected Mayor, then you should have already been through the school of political correctness and cultural diversity.

A small town still exists which has a mayor who hasn't "been through the school of political correctness"! The inhumanity.

While it is wrong for an employee to suffer verbal abuse at the hands of his employer, it is also wrong for the political correctness industry to dictate to people what they can say and think.

The way I look at it, it's not just a matter of name calling here.
More importantly, It's also about a person holding the office of Mayor that should be held to a higher professional standard, one that is not only failing to set a proper example in front of her police and communications departments, but is also guilty of discrimination because she said she didn't want a 'queer' working in her town.

Imagine what attitude her police and fire departments will take with them to the streets.
That is exactly how local corruption breeds.

NVM missed a very important part of the article.

Originally posted by Lonewulph
I find it actually a bit 'creepy' that so many little back wood, stuck in time, little towns like this still exist.
When I drove from the California Northwest back to Florida I saw some places that simply left me dumbfounded, a Twilight Zone moment like Children of the Corn or something.

Welcome your highness....now step of that high-horse and stop thinking like your poop don't stink. I know it must have been hard to hold your nose so high driving through those "back-water" towns....with...*gasp* a possibility of having to stop in one.

Jesus you are smug.

That out of the way...yep the mayor said the wrong thing but it isn't confined to your view of small town Hickville America that you so paint above.

reply to post by ownbestenemy


Yeah, guess I should get out more often.
I'm done.

Originally posted by Lonewulph
reply to post by ownbestenemy

 

Yeah, guess I should get out more often.
I'm done.

I think you bring up a good thread, I really do. Politicians, from the lowest form of Government to the highest, should be called out when they act idiotically; that much I believe we can agree upon.

What went against my grain was your inclusion of backward towns and how you can't believe people like this exist; sorry not just people, but towns. As if you had some superiority complex on how the human race should act.

If your thread wants to focus on this mayor, lets do that but keep your editorializing to a minimum in my opinion.

reply to post by Lonewulph


Yeah, the creepiness of small towns stuck in time is ever so culturally sensitive. But my guess is McAgnus finds homosexuality creepy & made no bones about publicizing her belief.

If only there were a politically incorrect term for heterosexuals! It's just not fair!

FYI: I'm a heterosexual from a small, stuck-in-time town.

Think progress!

I'm not sure what kind of general working environment she created, and perhaps she was being dismissive and homophobic.

However, she could have a solid defense in that the term "queer" has been appropriated by certain streams of academia and radical gender activism.

"Queer theory" is now accepted in many mainstream publications.

Some gender activists actually prefer the term "queer" to gay and lesbian, since the latter terms retain the violent mark of gender segregation.
en.wikipedia.org...

In fact, in a few decades I wouldn't be surprised if the haphazard "LGTBI" terminology is simply replaced by the "queer community".

Having read the article the following can be stated:

There are many questions that are not being answered, and ultimately until they are answered, it is only supposition. From what is reported, the facts are that a Mayor is having to resign for creating a hostile work environment. That is the main point.

But get beyond that, the first question that should be asked is this officer, the one that the mayor allegedly mentioned, is he or is he not? That is at the heart of the matter, if it was known at the time that he is, then yes this could be construed as being an act of hostile work environment on the part of the mayor. However, if the officer is not, and she if she did indeed call him that name several times infront of others, not only is it a hostile work environment, but also a case of slander on her part.

Was there Witnesses? If there were, then there really is no court that is going to rule against the officer, especially if those witnesses take the stand and state that yes she did.

In either case, this is a lose/lose situation. The officer looses, cause now it will put the local law enforcement on an edge of walking a fine line around him, the town loses a mayor, and ultimately the officer looses, cause chances are that the local police department or even the local city council will not want to keep him around, rather wanting this mess to simply disappear and be forgotten as fast as possible.

Apart from the academic reworking of the term "queer", I'm sure others have used it with little intentional harm.

It is certainly no longer as powerful in meaning as "faggot".

That depends on the context however.
If my boss called me that while quivering like a jelly whilst foaming at the mouth with hatred, and included other expletives and blasphemies in the sentence, I'd probably think it is meant to be homophobic.

But the word itself these days?

I think Ron Paul used it in the movie Bruno after Sasha Baron Cohen's character tried to seduce him in an interview.

In that awkward scenario I wouldn't immediately shout "Homophobia"!

The gay community has appropriated certain slurs like "queer" (or "moffie" in SA) and some people can really get confused when to use it and when not.

Some people perhaps heard it to screams of laughter the night before at the disco, but when they try using it at work the next day they could face a very frosty reception.
So therefore I also think us gay people should grow a thicker skin, and people do make mistakes.
I'd prefer a personal chat over a hasty reaction to clarify any intentions.