N.C. Republican Pol Stands by Anti-Gay Remarks

For the second time in as many years, a GOP lawmaker of Mecklenburg County, N.C., has roiled his colleagues and constituents--and created a national furor--with comments about gays. As before, he shows little inclination to apologize.

Moreover, after having created a firestorm by stating his belief in an email that gays should not be allowed to serve in the Armed Forces because they are "sexual predators," the lawmaker has gone on to denounce calls to censure him by comparing gays to pedophiles and sex workers.

Mecklenburg County Commissioner Bill James created friction a year ago when he referred to the deceased son of fellow County commissioner Vilma Leake as a "homo" during a debate on benefits for same-sex life partners of the county's gay and lesbian employees. Leake's son, who had been gay, had died of AIDS in 1993.

Leake had just delivered an address in favor of the measure. In her speech, Leake had related the story of her son. The Charlotte Observer noted in a Dec. 17, 2009, article that after her speech James addressed Leake in low tones, asking her, "Your son was a homo, really?"

The current flap was also the result of a response to a fellow commissioner. The Chair of the County Commissioners, Jennifer Roberts, had suggested that members of the lawmaking body compose and send a letter to the area's members of Congress to offer thanks for the recent repeal of the anti-gay 1993 law that forbade openly gay patriots from serving in uniform. James reacted by writing a hotly worded email in which he declared, "Homosexuals are sexual predators."

James went on to declare, "Allowing homosexuals to serve in the US military with the endorsement of the Mecklenburg County Commission ignores a host of serious problems related to maintaining US military readiness and effectiveness not the least of which is the current Democrat plan to allow homosexuals (male and female) to share showers with those they are attracted to."

Referring to a recent news sensation generated by the right, James went on to say, "The US Government would not allow Hetero men and women to share showers and other personal facilities yet the leading homosexual in Congress (Barney Frank) thinks it is OK for homosexuals to do so allowing enlisted men and women to fall prey to higher ranking or more powerful homosexuals who ogle them (or worse)."

Frank had told an interviewer from anti-gay Christian news site CNS that keeping current gender-segregated facilities in place for military members was simply a matter of realistic practicality. "What do you think happens in gyms all over America?" Frank asked. "Of course people shower with homosexuals. What a silly issue.

As the story took off in the blogosphere and the mainstream media, James remained unapologetic for his claim that gays are "sexual predators," reported McClatchy on Dec. 31.

"People are entitled to their opinion, and that includes me," James told the media. "I don't expect people to agree with me. It's a political discussion and I wouldn't have raised it on my own, but Jennifer decided to wade in on it."

The article noted that the emailed remarks had become news on MSNBC as well as at the Huffington Post. Change.org has taken notice and begun a petition drive to punish the county lawmaker for his comments. The article also noted that Change.org editor Michael Jones declared that James has a "legacy" of anti-gay remarks.

Calling James' remarks "a repeat performance," Roberts told the media, "The challenge is everyone recognizes that it's inappropriate language."

Roberts told local newspaper the Charlotte Observer, "He's going to do what he's going to do. And he's shown in repeated instances that he doesn't mind what kind of language he uses. And, in his mind, he's just speaking the truth."

Though censure against James remains uncertain, the county's board of commissioners has initiated a push to counter future recurrences of such language, taking up a resolution that would officially decry "inflammatory" or "discriminatory" speech, the Charlotte Observer reported on Jan. 3. Democratic Commissioner Harold Cogdell sponsored the resolution.

"I felt that the image of our community was being impacted in a way that did not reflect the core values of what Charlotte-Mecklenburg is really about," Cogdell told the media. "And I think Commissioner James got a great deal of, frankly, press, and he's certainly entitled to his opinion, but I don't think his opinion reflects mainstream thinking in Mecklenburg County."

James courted further controversy in defending himself by comparing gays to pedophiles and prostitutes, and insinuating that the controversy was the work of gay activists and not a grassroots response.

"This isn't about, I don't think, some sort of consensus," James opined. "This is about the speech police and controlling an issue that they have gotten a lot of heat over, because you can't go around censuring people for having a different opinion, or for expressing it." The lawmaker went on to say, "It's like having a resolution saying we're going to be uber-sensitive to prostitutes and pedophiles because we don't want them to get mad."