A man addressed the Conway, Arkansas school board Tuesday night, launching into a Christian Bible-based diatribe that included his claim that LGBTQ people “deserve death.” There were LGBTQ people, including students, in the audience. There were also police officers.
No one, not the school board member, not the police, interrupted him, told him his remarks were inappropriate, violent, or even asked him to stop speaking.
And it appears no one stood up for the LGBTQ students forced to hear a man with a microphone saying they “deserve death.”
In fact, as the video below shows, the school board president thanked him when he was done.
“God gave them over to a depraved mind so that they do what they should not be doing,” the unidentified man can be heard saying. “They invent ways of doing evil. But let me remind you that those who do such things deserve death.”
“The LGBT community, not only continues to do these very things, but also approves of those who practice them,” he adds.
On social media a woman who says she filmed the man’s biblical call for death writes, “I was actually the one videoing. There were cops in all areas of the room ready to remove anyone. The person who spoke after this man was a 10th grade student who is transgender. Many of us wanted to cause a scene but felt our presence was needed for the upcoming speakers.”
Dr. Anne J. Goldberg, a professor, posted video (below) showing the man who said LGBTQ people “deserve death.” In her video he also says God loves everyone “even” LGBTQ people.
“Tonight,” she writes, “I watched my school board ban two books about trans kids (against a committee recommendation) and enact two discriminatory policies against trans kids. I heard a member of my community say that LGBTQ folks ‘deserved death’ for their actions. No one on the board objected.”
“Ultimately,” The Arkansas Times reports, “the board did exactly what everyone expected: It unanimously approved a bathroom ban that could effectively out transgender students, and then voted to remove two books — both about transgender youths — from a school library, despite a committee’s recommendation otherwise.”
The Daily Beast adds that Arkansas GOP state Sen. Jason Rapert “made an appearance and spoke in favor of the bans.”
Rapert has compared LGBTQ activists to “Nazis.”
Watch the videos above or at this link.
Image via Shutterstock