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DMN - Collin County officials won't review gay Plano council candidate's job status
Collin County officials won't review gay Plano council candidate's job status
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
BY THEODORE KIM and ED HOUSEWRIGHT / The Dallas Morning News
The Collin County Commissioners Court has scrapped a plan to discuss the employment status of Justin Nichols, a Plano City Council candidate who said his job as coordinator of the county’s teen court is at risk because he is openly gay.
The change came a day after Mr. Nichols alleged that commissioner Jerry Hoagland had asked the panel to consider firing Mr. Nichols. Mr. Hoagland declined to comment on Tuesday, saying he planned to discuss the issue further with the county attorney.
Commissioners were tentatively slated to discuss Mr. Nichols’s job status in open session at their April 15 meeting. On Tuesday, Commissioner Joe Jaynes confirmed that it had been dropped.
But whether the matter has been put to rest is unclear.
2 comments
Years ago, when I was with KQUIPS, and
Justin Nichols was high school senior,
he challenged Alan Bird, the oldest and
most respected member of the PISD board. The The idea of a student on the board
was intriguing. I interviewed
him for KQUIPS. I found him hard right
on all issues, but open-minded on sex
education. He said that he was a born-
again Christian who had chosed abstin-
ence. I told him that KQUIPS did not
care about his personal choices, just
policies. He agreed with us that kids
needed facts, and protection. He spoke
well in the interview and at the KQUIPS
forum, where he was accompanied by a poised
young lady.
KQUIPS gave its endorsement to Alan
Bird, based on his long and excellent
record. But Nichols' combination of
teenage ultra-conservatism and open-
mindedness on kids' need for sex ed
left a lasting impression.
This is a young man who will go far.
It is sad that he was seduced by the
siren of the far right. He would have made
a pretty good libertarian.
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