The Collin County Observer

News, Analysis & Opinion for Collin County

Gay bashing - shame in Collin County

06/26/08

Permalink 12:20:39 am, by bill Email , 377 words,   English (US)
Categories: Observer Opinions, Politics, Discrimination - equality

Gay bashing - shame in Collin County

"Whereas, Employee has been Teen Court Coordinator for Collin County; And

"Whereas, the County and Employee agree that it is in the best interests of the Parties that the Employee's employment relationship be severed ...."

With the signing yesterday of the "Severance Agreement And Release", Teen Court Coordinator Justin Nichols sold his right to work for the county for $24,500.

Some commissioners are probably breathing sighs of relief that they were finally able to rid themselves of "that gay guy", at whatever the price. Those commissioners did not want to be portrayed as pro-gay in future elections.

In the primary run-off this spring, Commissioner Phyllis Cole lost her re-election bid partially because of an email attack, that was waged in the closing hours of the campaign, accusing her of hiring and supporting a gay man to supervise the teen court.

I hope this isn't the last we've heard of this issue, or of the issues it raises.

Collin County, long regarded as a bastion of conservatism, is now becoming known not for its accomplishments, but for its intolerance - and I'll say it out loud, for its bigotry.

As soon as the news hit the Collin County Courthouse that its young Republican Teen Coordinator was gay, the county's white sheets and hoods were donned, and Nichol's days as a county employee were numbered.

We the voters and taxpayers of Collin County share in the shame and blame this incident has engendered.

We've become used to elected commissioners attacking immigrants, poor people and now gays. We've sat silent when "Equal Employment" protection was denied our county employees. We've allowed a commissioner to get away with refusing to approve hiring bi-lingual health care employees. We've excused the denying of basic health care to children because of the immigration status of their parents. We've waved off charges that the county's hiring practices are discriminatory.

The shame is ours, and we've got what we deserved.

Bill

The "Severance Agreement And Release" between Justin Nichols and Collin County is here

Media Coverage:

Dallas Morning News, Collin County teen court official's severance package calls for money, silence

McKinney Courier-Gazette, Coordinator, county part ways

Dallas Morning News Editorial Blog, County accidentally agrees to $26 million payoff for gay employee

Dallas Morning News Editorial Blog, Teen court now gay-free!

PermalinkPermalink 5 comments

Comments, Pingbacks:

Comment from: Victor Manuel [Visitor] Email · http://www.victor4collincounty.com
Unbelievable!

Justin is an upright and dedicated man who I am proud to know. His work on the Teen Court inspired thousands of students over the years to stand up for their rights and respect our legal system. It is a shame that the selfsame Commissioners who commended Justin for his work this time last year have seen fit to remove him purely out of bigotry. If we cannot have justice for the Court Coordinator, can there really be justice in our Teen Court?

Justin’s accomplishments in the Teen Court have been exemplary. He worked with Mothers Against Drunk Driving to create a pair of scholarships for the students who worked on Teen Court. His leadership helped them win the North Texas Teen Court Competition this year. His leadership and dedication will be sorely missed in Collin County. And I see it as yet another reason why we need change on the Commissioner’s Court this November.

Victor Manuel,
Candidate for Collin County Commissioner

PermalinkPermalink 06/26/08 @ 11:38
Comment from: Jeanne Rubin [Visitor] Email
Justin Nichols, recently applauded in the Dallas Morning News for his work on the Teen Court, was a shining example of home grown Collin County pride. At 23 years old, mature beyond his years and running a very successful County Court program touted by parents and teens alike most Counties would be encouraging of such an employee. But because he is gay, and the Commissioners Court officials are bigoted, a shameful witch hunt has driven Justin out of his job.
If our Commissioner’s were the thoughtful, informed officials we pay them to be they would know that over 80% of pedophiles are heterosexual men and so statistically speaking our teens were better off with Justin than any one of them. And in this writer’s opinion, not only statistically speaking!
A recent article in the Advocate, a national magazine, named Plano Texas as one of the top 5 emerging cities for gays and lesbians based on comparing 2000-2006 census data of same-sex couples. It is time for the Commissioner’s Court to wake and realize that Collin County does not look like it did 10 years ago and that their narrow thinking no longer represents the majority. In other words, not only are Gay Lesbian Bisexual and Transgender people everywhere, we are here in Collin County. More importantly there are many more fair-minded citizens who are tired of this type of discrimination.
However futile, many of us are committed to continuing our attempts at educating the members of the commissioners court regarding our community and upon seeing no progress working to replace them with officials who truly represent us.
PermalinkPermalink 06/26/08 @ 14:50
Comment from: anon [Visitor]
Heterosexual pediphiles are roughly equally female and male. How could they be 80% heterosexual male?
PermalinkPermalink 06/26/08 @ 16:40
Comment from: Tom Daley [Visitor] Email · http://www.daleyfound.org
I have only known Mr. Nichols for a short period of time but during that time he has impressed me as effective in his job and dedicated to public service.

I post these positive remarks on his professionalism and dedication with the knowledge that, two years ago, he worked on the re-election campaign of my opponent in this fall's general election. Not known as a progressive thinker or social liberal, my opponent nonetheless found that Mr. Nichols's performance outweighed irrelevant considerations appurtenant only to his non-professional life.

But who can be shocked by bigotry from our Commissioner's Court? This is the same organization, infused with Commissioner Hoagland's venom and sick hatred of all people, that lets infants go without health care because the commissioners are scared to death that a spare aspirin might find its way into the hands of a mother who is not in our country legally.

The same commissioner's court who finds indigent health care to be someone else's problem, who lack the moral authority and leadership to tackle the county's most pressing problems, and are leading us to an every expanding tangle of toll roads, private boondoggles, and unaudited financial systems.

It's not shocking--just another disappointment.

Victor Manuel will be a minority on the commissioner's court, not through ethnic identity alone, but also as a source of cogent thought representing the better angels of our spirits here in Collin County.
PermalinkPermalink 06/26/08 @ 17:49
Comment from: Numbers Matter [Visitor]
Anon and Jeanne: Do either of you have citations for your pedaphile profile statistics? Anon, your assertion of a 50:50 split between men and women particularly suspicious, unless you assert further that victim's of female pedaphiles vastly under-report vs. victim's of male pedaphiles. If you make that further assertion, please provide a cite.
PermalinkPermalink 06/27/08 @ 18:09

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