Ark. School Board Official Clint McCance to Resign After Making Anti-Gay Comments

Promises resignation after outcry from human rights and Facebook groups.

ByABC News
October 28, 2010, 2:07 PM

Oct. 28, 2010— -- Clint McCance, vice-president of the Midland School District in Arkansas, said tonight he will resign after posting an anti-gay diatribe on his personal Facebook page.

"I'm sorry I've hurt people with my comments," McCance told CNN's Anderson Cooper on Thursday night. "I'm sorry I made those ignorant comments and hurt people on a broad spectrum."

Last Wednesday, as millions of Facebook users took part in a "Spirit Day" campaign to support lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender teens, McCance apparently wrote a series of posts expressing the opposite position.

As first reported by The Advocate, a leading gay and lesbian newspaper, McCance used the words "queer" and "fag" several times on his page and said he enjoys "the fact that they often give each other aids [sic] and die."

He added, "I would disown my kids they were gay. They will not be welcome at my home or in my vicinity. "

Responding to the Spirit Day call for supporters to wear purple, he wrote, "Seriously they want me to wear purple because five queers killed themselves. The only way im wearin it for them is if they all commit suicide."

ABCNews.com could not reach McCance for comment and the posts have been removed from Facebook.

Human Rights Campaign said it first learned of the posts from R. Anthony Turner, a 1998 graduate of Midland High School.

On a page calling for McCance's resignation, HRC has posted a link to a PDF of McCance's Facebook posts.

The posts not only have attracted the attention of human rights groups, they have drawn condemnation from school officials across the state of Arkansas.