Blogging, Gay

Michigan Assistant Attorney General's Personal War Against A Gay Dude at the University of Michigan

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Andrew Shirvell is an assistant attorney general in Michigan, and he’s got a bone to pick with Chris Armstrong, president of the University of Michigan student body.

In other reports, Armstrong is referred to as “the gay president” of the Michigan student body. But on Andrew Shirvell’s blog devoted to Chris Armstrong, Shirvell refers to Armstrong as: “a viciously militant homosexual activist who is (currently) the president of the Michigan Student Assembly (MSA).”

You know what they say about vicious militants, Mr. Shirvell: it takes one to know one. Shirvell — who, once again, is an Assistant Attorney General — is using his blog to conduct the worst kind of “smear the queer” campaign, and it’s all directed against a college student. You’d call Shirvell a homophobe, but that would be insulting to the many bigots out there who merely try to suppress a civil liberty or two.

Andy Shirvell is well beyond your average gay-basher…

The Advocate neatly summarizes Shirvell’s blog:

Shirvell has described Armstrong as a “Nazi-like” recruiter for “the cult that is homosexuality.” He also claims Armstrong aims “to promote the radical homosexual agenda at the University of Michigan and to use his position to promote that cause.” He has also featured a photo of Armstrong with a swastika added to his face, calling him “Satan’s representative on the Student Assembly.”

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I read as much of Shirvell’s blog as I could before I ran out of food to vomit back up. I stopped when I got to this post, in which Shirvell tries to get parents of Michigan students to take up pitchforks and defend the heterosexuality of their children from an attack of “the gay”:

Parents of University of Michigan freshmen beware: the University’s first openly “gay” student body president, Chris Armstrong, is actively recruiting your sons and daughters to join the homosexual “lifestyle.”…

It is clear that Armstrong’s remarks constituted nothing more than a thinly veiled attempt to cause sexually confused, and perhaps some impressionable, 17-and-18-year-olds to experiment sexually with members of their own gender.

Sexually confused. Impressionable. Hmm, Shirvell sure seems to know a lot about how potentially gay men struggle with defining their sexuality at a young age. I’m reminded of an article written by David Lat when he was a young college student. Now a wiser man, perhaps Lat can tell Shirvell how to channel these anti-gay feelings into more… satisfying pursuits.

In any event, let’s get back to the fact that Shirvell has a job, and how that job has nothing to do with the sexual orientation of a Michigan student body president. WXYZ-Michigan has some statements from Shirvell’s boss, Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox (I swear to God I didn’t make these names up):

Attorney General Mike Cox refused our repeated requests for an on-camera interview. Instead, issuing a two-line statement which reads, in part: “I don’t agree with Mr. Shirvell’s tactics, his judgment, or his word choice but nonetheless I recognize his non-work related blog is protected by our Constitution.”

Then, late tonight amidst growing scrutiny, Cox issued a second statement, saying, “…Mr. Shirvell’s immaturity and lack of judgment outside the office are clear.”

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You know what’s really funny? As AG, Cox has taken up the cause of getting tough with cyber-bullies and keeping the public safe from internet predators.

I hope Chris Armstrong goes to law school, and one day becomes an Assistant Attorney General for the state of Michigan. I’ll take the so-called “homosexual agenda” any day over the program of hate and stupidity suggested by Shirvell.

UPDATE: Shirvell was interviewed by Anderson Cooper on CNN. We post a link and discuss the appearance over here.

State Official Bullies College Student [The Advocate]
Asst. attorney general targets openly gay college student [WXYZ-Micigan]

Earlier: State Official Bullies College Student

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