North Carolina Commissioner Bill James
has shrugged off a move by the Mecklenburg County board of
commissioners chiding his anti-gay remarks, North
Carolina gay weekly Qnotes
reported.
The Republican, in fact, joined in
voting in favor of the resolution, which was approved unanimously.
James said the measure didn't have
anything to do with him and was “immaterial.”
Democratic Commissioner Harold
Cogdell's resolution did not directly name James or his remarks.
The board “stands united in firm
opposition to inflammatory speech that may cause bullying,
intimidation, harassment, persecution or discriminatory treatment of
any individual because of their race, color, sex, religion or creed,
national origin, ancestry, age, sexual orientation, veteran status or
disability,” the resolution read in part.
James courted controversy when he
blasted County Commission Chair Jennifer Roberts, a Democrat, for
raising the issue of thanking members of North Carolina's
Congressional delegation for supporting repeal of “Don't Ask, Don't
Tell,” the law that bans gay and bisexual troops from serving
openly.
“Homosexuals are sexual predators,”
James wrote in an email. “Allowing homosexuals to serve in the US
military with the endorsement of the Mecklenburg County Commission
ignores a host of serious problems related to maintaining U.S.
military readiness and effectiveness not the least of which is the
current Democrat plan to allow homosexuals (male and female) to share
showers with those they are attracted to.”
In defending himself, James went on to
liken gay people to “pedophiles.”
“This isn't about, I don't think,
some sort of consensus,” he told the Charlotte Observer on
Sunday. “This is about the speech police and controlling an issue
that they have gotten a lot of heat over, because you can't go around
censuring people for having a different opinion, or for expressing
it.”
“It's like having a resolution saying
we're going to be uber-sensitive to prostitutes and pedophiles
because we don't want them to get mad,” he added.