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News and commentary about the anti-gay lobbyNovember 15th, 2012
In the weeks running up to Maryland’s Question Six, one could hardly go a day without some headline blaring the tragic tale of the diversity officer who opposed equality for gay deaf students. They demanded that the world stand in solidarity of Gallaudet’s Angela McCaskill and her right to oppose the rights of those she was hired to defend. They trumpeted her as an example of the calamity that would befall supporters of “traditional marriage” if those uppity gays were allowed to marry.
But now that Question Six has passed, there’s nothing but silence. Not a word. Narry a peep.
I wonder if McCaskill is now discovering that her ardent supporters were only interested in her employment situation so far as it allowed them to play her as a martyr for their own cause.
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Bose in St. Peter MN
November 15th, 2012
I’ve poked around, wondering the same thing.
It struck me from the beginning that the simple administrative side of this seemed to run off the rails, with public requests from the school for private face-to-face discussion and her very public threats about expecting to be paid damages.
Hopefully progress is being made behind closed doors, for everybody’s sake.
No doubt, NOM would happily add her story to the top of their “defamation” project. I can’t imagine that helping her resume her career at Gallaudet or anywhere else, though, particularly in diversity-related work.
Markanthony
November 15th, 2012
My understanding is that she was never actually fired, just put on paid administrative leave and only for a few days. It would be hard to make a big story of injustice when the physical harms don’t exist. Additionally, she publicly requested for anti-SSM groups to remove her likeness from ads, so it seems unlikely that she will acquiesce to be a new Damian Goddard.
Ultimately, She got want she wanted. She doesn’t need them anymore.
Mike
November 15th, 2012
Well McCaskill did issue a public statement telling anti-marriage groups to stop using her story in their political fight. In essence, she is trying to leverage a settlement out of the university for emotional distress and it’s not terribly helpful for her to have these groups interpreting her positions for her.
Secret Advocate
November 15th, 2012
Actually, Dr. McCaskill did not appear to have much interest in being a martyr. As Markanthony and Mike indicated, her attorney said before the vote that, if his client had her “druthers,” the Maryland Marriage Alliance would pull its ad that featured her situation.
http://www.wjla.com/articles/2012/10/angela-mccaskill-featured-in-new-political-ad-81132.html
Therefore, it’s not surprising that the NOM has little use for her now.
Markanthony
November 15th, 2012
Any lawyers here who could comment on emotional distress for a few days of paid leave? Seems alike a difficult case to make.
Hunter
November 15th, 2012
Markanthony — I suspect the damages would be for emotional distress caused by the damage to her reputation and career, although since she arguably caused most of the damage herself, that would make for a shaky case.
Markanthony
November 15th, 2012
@Hunter
Agreed. She signed a public document on a political issue. At worst, the school merely highlighted that fact.
Gene in L.A.
November 15th, 2012
Her 15 minutes are over.
Soren456
November 15th, 2012
The more serious legal issue is that she destroyed her credibility as an important witness FOR the school, should the school ever be sued for discrimination.
For that reason, the school had not just a right, but an obligation to suspend her, to fact-find and then to remove her from any role in the administration of non-discrimination policy.
She’s entitled to her private beliefs and private actions, but when those actions (particularly) might be used to impeach her testimony as an officer of the school, the school has a duty to protect itself.
Smith
November 19th, 2012
I think Ms. McCaskill has joined Ledyard, NY clerk Rose Belforti in the storage room where the Christian Right keeps the people that it temporarily exploits. I can’t find a single update on Belforti since 2011.
Now, there’s a second room where the anti-gay side keeps all the imaginary people that it exploits. Like all the public school students in Iowa and Vermont and New Hampshire who were supposed to be deep into their homosexual marriage indoctrination sessions by now. Or the victims of the “flood” of lawsuits that were supposed to have engulfed Washington DC. Or all the victims of the new totalitarian state of NY, which we were told would be like North Korea as the result of marriage equality.
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