UPDATE…first posted HERE and HERE!
The high school student suspended after wanting to bring a same-sex date to his high school’s dance has a new critic: an elected official.
Lance didn’t do anything wrong, and after being denied his request, he didn’t even attend the dance, but administrators in his private Memphis, Tennessee school suspended him anyway.
One local elected official took to Facebook to denounce Lance, and the entire LGBT community.
Clark Plunk, the Lakeland, Tennessee Commissioner, on his Facebook page, according to WMC Action News 5, dared Lance to sue the school, calling him a “little homo,” calling all gay people “vicious spiteful people,” and saying gay people are “a threat to our values, our Christian values,” and “mean, cruel spiteful people with an axe to grind.”
Below is Plunk’s full Facebook comment, exactly as reported by Towleroad:
It’s a Christian school so i you don’t like the rules don’t go there. As usual you have one person trying to change the rules just for himself. I’m told by the alumni the gay kid is looking for publicity. I hate the term gay. It makes them sound like they are happy and ‘Gay’ And they want to call people that criticize them homophobes to make them sound mean. As a whole, gays are mean, cruel spiteful people with an axe to grind.
The kids love the school a hate their school is in the limelight over a gay kid and his gay boyfriend….This is not about a homo and his rights it’s about a school that is loved by thousands and their memories and their right to keep their history and Christian values intact.
I would say let the little homo sue all he wants. The alumni of CBHS will meet him dollar for dollar and lawyer for lawyer. This is a threat to our values, our Christian values. Everyone shudders when the homosexuals say the word sue. They are vicious spiteful people.
Plunk told WREG, “I stand by what I said, maybe I didn’t say it the right way.”
On his own Facebook page, Lance took the high road.
“I have been shown a few intolerant comments that were made against myself and other LGBT people,” the teen writes. “I have nothing but forgiveness for the people who wrote or agree with these comments.”
“I recognize that we all have different beliefs and were taught from varying viewpoints. I hope that individuals and the community as a whole will use this as an opportunity to learn about other people’s beliefs. I know that through education and acceptance, we will move forward as a stronger community,” Lance added.
The Executive Director of the Memphis Gay and Lesbian Community Center spoke out against Commissioner Plunk’s attack.
“So it’s one thing to attack an 18-year-old high school student, Will Batts told WMC News. “That’s a problem in and of itself. But the comments themselves are talking about all of us. All of us in the LGBT community.”
Batts reminds the Commissioner that he “has people in his community that are LGBT. People that he serves, pay his salary, and he’s making these hurtful, just dangerous comments.”
He adds, “we know there are plenty of studies that show that this type of speech is what causes harm to young people.”
Plunk’s Facebook page contains this quote: “Be kind to each person you meet because each person is carrying their own special burden.”