Gay-Baiting politics in Texas, as usual

PLANO — An openly gay City Council candidate is being used like a pawn in an effort by right-wing conservatives to seize control of the Collin County Commission.

This is according to County Commissioner Phyllis Cole, who faces an April 8 runoff against Matt Shaheen for the Precinct 2 seat she’s occupied for the last 17 years.

An anonymous e-mail reportedly was sent out last week attacking Cole for her support of Collin County Teen Court coordinator Justin Nichols, 23. The e-mail stated,“Look who Phyllis appointed to work with your kids,” and contained a link to a March 14 Dallas Voice article about Nichols, who’s vying to become the first-ever openly gay member of the City Council in the May 10 municipal election.

“I’m very disturbed about the whole thing, because I like what Justin does, I like Justin,” Cole said. “I don’t want to be a commissioner anymore if this is what’s going to be involved, taking a nice young man like Justin and hanging him out to dry.”Both Cole and Nichols said they were unsure how many people received the e-mail. Cole suggested that her opponent, Shaheen, was responsible for the attack, but he denied that. “Neither my campaign nor I are behind any such e-mail,” Shaheen said in a written statement. Shaheen didn’t respond to a request for further comment.

“This was the whole game plan,” Cole said. “They’re going to be running busloads of people from Prestonwood Bible study to vote.”

“We’re going to lose the whole damn thing on top of losing this election,” she said. Nichol said he’s been involved with Teen Court since he was a freshman in high school, when he served as a juror in a pilot version of the program. Nichols, who came out as gay when he was 16, became coordinator in October 2006 after the commission unanimously voted to fund Teen Court countywide. Teen Court allows people 18 and under charged with class-C misdemeanors to avoid having convictions go on their records. Cases are prosecuted, defended and adjudicated by fellow teens. Juveniles prosecuted in Teen Court are far less likely to reoffend, according to Nichols, and have contributed more than 5,000 volunteer hours in the form of community service.

“For all I know, it was some fringe radicals who are resorting to childish tactics,” Nichols said. “It was sent from an anonymous address, which is cowardly to say the least.”

“These small-minded people are going to do what they do, and we just need to stand strong,” said CCGLA President Morris Garcia, a Plano resident who supports Nichols.

Scientific studies show gays are no more likely than straight people, and in fact may be less likely, to commit child sexual abuse. “Activists and politicians who say otherwise are simply appealing to ignorance and fear to mobilize anti-gay bias for political gain,” the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force said in a recent paper on the subject.

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