News, analysis and fact-checking of anti-gay rhetoric
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The FBI’s annual Hate Crime Statistics aren’t as complete as they ought to be, and their report for 2004 was no exception. In fact, their most recent report has quite a few glaring holes. Holes big enough for Daniel Fetty to fall through.Shirvell’s unhappy day
Timothy Kincaid
August 16th, 2012
Andrew Shirvell certainly can’t be very happy about the results of his trial. (Detroit News)
A federal court jury Thursday awarded $4.5 million to a gay former University of Michigan student body president who accused a former state attorney of stalking him, according to the lawyer.
Deborah Gordon said the jury came back with the verdict late Thursday afternoon. The civil case involved Andrew Shirvell, the former assistant attorney general fired in 2010 after he criticized Christopher Armstrong, an openly gay former University of Michigan student.
But I guess the upside is that unless Shirvell’s a trust fund baby, he has an excuse to keep in contact with Armstrong for the rest of his life. I have no idea as to Shirvell’s employment status, but I suspect that it would take him approximately 1,875 years to pay off that award.
Shirvell’s lawyer had a fool for a client
Timothy Kincaid
August 15th, 2012
Do you remember Andrew Shirvell? He was the Michigan assistant attorney general who became obsessed with Chris Armstrong, the University of Michigan’s student body president, and starting stalking him and ranting on a blog about him. Here’s a reminder from September 2010:
Of course eventually the Attorney General fired him and he was sued by Armstrong for inflicting intentional emotional harm.
Well finally Shirvell had his day in court.
And do you recall the old phrase about the lawyer who represents himself having a fool for a client? It turns out that it’s true.
Shirvell, who is representing himself, questioned himself on the witness stand for more than an hour this morning, trying to convince the jury he was upset by Armstrong’s push for gender-neutral housing at the school. Shirvell graduated from U-M in 2002.
“My blog was political speech,” Shirvell testified. “I viewed my blog as a movement to get Mr. Armstrong to resign. I personally felt Mr. Armstrong was too radical for the position.”
And though he rambled about Armstrong’s “radical homosexual agenda”, Mr. Armstrong’s attorney got Shirvell to admit that he hadn’t written about any of the others involved in pro-gay policies. Or lurked in their bushes. Or even complained to the school’s administration.
I think we all can surmise why it is that Shirvell focused his attentions on the rather handsome Armstrong. In fact, I think the only person who Shirvell has fooled is himself.
Shirvell fired
Timothy Kincaid
November 8th, 2010
Having finally been determined to be too much of an embarrassment to work for the Michigan Attorney General’s office as an assistant DA (something I knew immediately), Andrew Shirvell has been fired by his boss (and onetime defender) Mike Cox. (Ann Arbor)
Shirvell was fired for using state resources for his campaign against University of Michigan student body President Chris Armstrong and for lying to investigators during his disciplinary hearing, Attorney General Mike Cox said in a statement.
That and making a fool of himself on television repeatedly.
Michigan Assistant AG Takes Leave Of Absence Amid Cyber-Stalking Controversy
Jim Burroway
October 1st, 2010
Andrew Shirvell
Michigan Assistant Attorney General Andrew Shirvell has taken an indefinite personal leave of absence from his job amid national controversy over his cyber-stalking blog dedicated to attacking a University of Michigan student. A spokesman for Attorney General Mike Cox, who has defended Shirvell’s continued employment with the AG’s office, said that Shirvell will be subject to a disciplinary hearing after he returns to work.
Meanwhile, Shirvell’s blog, Chris Armstrong Watch, which cyber-stalks the openly gay president of University of Michigan’s student government, is now locked and is available by invitation only. Past posts however are still available on Google’s cache.
Several of Shirvell’s posts appear to indicate that his stalking activities go beyond cyber-stalking, and appear to take on aspects of actual physical stalking. Shirvell has been spotted “protesting” in front of Armstrong’s home, crashing a house party that Armstrong hosted, and following Armstrong’s friends around campus. UM’s campus police confirm that Shirvell has been banned from campus beginning Sept 14, and is being investigated for “harassing or stalking” Armstrong.
Armstrong is seeking a restraining order against Shirvell. That hearing will be held on October 4. In Armstrong’s application for a restraining order, he makes clear that he is now in fear for his safety: (PDF: 5 pages 3.3MB)
“The actions that Mr. Shirvell has taken against me over the past 4 months have been incredibly distressing. If it were University of Michigan students or administrators who were taking these actions it would be a very different conversation since my position is to serve the currently enrolled University of Michigan students. However, since he isn’t a student his actions are concerning and make me feel unsure about my own safety.”
Michigan AG Defends Employee’s Cyber-bullying
Jim Burroway
September 30th, 2010
Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox says state Assistant AG Andrew Shirvell is only expressing his opinions, which has nothing to do with his job defending crime victims — including, presumably, victims of cyber-bullying:
Campus Pride has re-issued its 2010 survey of American college students, which found that 33% of gay and 30% of transgender students, faculty, and staff have seriously considered leaving their institution due to the challenging anti-LGBT climate. Thirteen percent of gay students, faculty and staff and 43% of transgender students, faculty and staff fear for their own physical safety. A 2006 poll by Harris Interactive found that 43% of all teens regardless of sexual orientation have experienced cyber-bullying over the prior year. An Iowa State University study found that LGBT youth are hit especially hard by cyber-bullying.
But AG Cox sees nothing wrong with cyber-bullying this particular college student. After all, what could possibly go wrong?
Oh, by the way — Shirvell served as Cox’s campaign manager back in 2006.
Michigan Assistant DA Andrew Shirvell: raging homophobe, stalker, dumb as a box of rocks
Timothy Kincaid
September 29th, 2010
When Thomas Monaghan, the founder of the Dominos Pizza Chain, sold his business for $1 billion in 1998, he decided to dedicate the rest of his life to advancing his faith.
Unfortunately his faith is Catholicism of the Papa Ratzi / Mel Gibson variety, strong on bronze age moralism and devoted to making you follow the rules that Monaghan is sure that God wants you to follow. He is passionate about abortion issues and believes that one of the best ways to achieve a nation that obeys the Church is to create an army of lawyers who will fight for the views of the Church.
So Monaghan founded the Thomas More Law Center, an anti-gay, anti-abortion activist organization. He also funded the Ave Maria School of Law, a Catholic law school with teachings that are “in fidelity to the Catholic Faith as expressed through Sacred Tradition, Sacred Scripture, and the teaching authority of the Church” and which would send out graduates “equipped for leading positions in law firms, corporate legal offices, the judiciary, and national, state, and local government.”
As Ave Maria is fairly young and is among what is generously referred to as “second tier law schools”, I haven’t learned that much about them. While I knew that they included as friends and supporters Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas, I’ve not yet had much opportunity to see what caliber of person they are unleashing on the nation. Until now.
The public has recently been introduced to what must be among Ave Maria’s highest profile alumni, Michigan Assistant Attorney General Andrew Shirvell. Now how Shirvell came to be qualified for his position can be debated, but as Attorney General Mike Cox is also a conservative Republican Catholic, I suspect that Shirvell’s hard-core extremist Catholic ideology did not count as a liability.
And Shirvell has made his mark, though for work performed outside of his job qualification. And quite a mark it is.
You see, Andrew Shirvell has been, in his off time, writing a blog. And this blog is dedicated to one subject: exposing the “radical homosexual agenda” of the University of Michigan student body president Chris Armstrong. And let me tell ya, it’s quite the blog.
Welcome to “Chris Armstrong Watch.” This is a site for concerned University of Michigan alumni, students, and others who oppose the recent election of Chris Armstrong – a RADICAL HOMOSEXUAL ACTIVIST, RACIST, ELITIST, & LIAR – as the new head of student government.
Prior to Armstrong’s March, 2010, election as president of the Michigan Student Assembly (MSA), Armstrong served as chairman of MSA’s LGBT commission – a commission that solely focused on utilizing the student government to promote the radical homosexual agenda, including gay “marriage” and adoption “rights.” As chair, Armstrong also succeeded in lobbying for the annual Midwest LGBT College Conference to take place at U of M in 2011. This conference has a notorious reputation for promoting decadence, including illegal drug use and public sex acts.
Andrew Shirvell is like Peter LaBarbera, but with a real job. A very powerful job. And one that his boss, Mike Cox, seems to have no interest in rethinking. (Detroit Free Press)
“All state employees have a right to free speech outside working hours,” Cox said in a statement today. “But Mr. Shirvell’s immaturity and lack of judgment outside the office are clear.”
But this goes beyond “lack of judgment”. It is obsessive, abusive, and perhaps illegal – though when you work for the state Attorney General, “illegal” is a subjective term.
But while Cox’s lack of judgment in hiring an extremist wackadoodle is disconcerting, it is also troubling that he hired – with taxpayer funds – a bumbling fool. Now having been exposed to just what kind of lawyer that Monaghan is making, we can see that his business model hasn’t changed: put out the lowest quality in town.
I mean, if Shirvell was a pizza, there would be no detectable meat-product in his pepperoni. I’m talking cheese so processed that Shirvell was willing to go on Anderson Cooper’s 360 and show the world just what kind of sauceless crust he is:
Well I guess the good news is that we have less to fear from an army of idiots.
