McCance Resigns, Arkansas Apologizes

Clint McCance, vice-president of the Midland School Board in Independence County, Arkansas, whose horrific anti-gay death rant last week provoked outrage around the world, submitted his resignation this morning, which was duly approved by the school board in a formal vote.

In yesterday's Little Rock Arkansas News, columnist John Brummett wrote:

Today’s column begins with a memorandum I presume to send to the world in behalf of Arkansas.

Dear World:

You need to understand that we in Arkansas remain mostly a sparsely populated rural culture. While there are lifestyle advantages to that, we also confront certain stagnant pressures that are matters of politics and heritage. One result is that we maintain too many school districts of small size.

This situation dissipates our already limited talent pool of people to run for and get elected to all these little local school boards.

But be assured that we have a court ruling that says the education of our children is ultimately the state government’s responsibility.

So, speaking as the state, we are sorry about those ghastly and evil ravings of that person who tragically sat on the board of one of our small rural districts. But please understand three things:

(1) He got duly elected by the local patrons, which means the rest of us in the state had nothing to do with that.

(2) He did not actually run anything and was but one vote on that little local board.

(3) But if you get right down to it, he was, and is, the entire state’s responsibility and problem, and we want you to know that, as a state, we do not hate homosexual children, nor do we want homosexual children dead, and we will do what it takes to make sure that these unspeakably ignorant and hate-filled pronouncements are forever condemned, isolated and discredited.

Sincerely in our regret,

Arkansas

Update:  Honk to Joe.My.God. for posting a link to McCance's resignation letter (pdf).