Alabama Mayor Who Called For 'Killing' LGBTQ People Won't Resign
The mayor of a rural Alabama town who came under national scrutiny in the US for a Facebook post advocating the “killing” of LGBTQ people has refused to resign, despite calls from some local leaders.
Three of the six members of the Carbon Hill city council have demanded that Mayor Mark Chambers step down in the wake of his inflammatory remarks, The Daily Mountain Eagle reported on Thursday. A pastor at a local Baptist church has also urged the mayor to resign.
Chambers told the paper in an earlier interview that he was sorry for his comments ― which he insisted had been taken out of context ― but he “did not intend” to relinquish his post.
At least two city council members expressed support for the mayor in spite of his homophobic comments, Birmingham TV station WBRC reported. Council member Clarence Colbert told the station that Chambers said he was willing to quit to make amends for his remarks, but that he’d urged the mayor to stay.
“He’s apologised profusely and said he was sorry, and he would do whatever it takes, even if it meant stepping down. I told him, ‘please don’t step down’ because his leadership has brought the city as far as it has,” Colbert said, noting that Chambers had hired the town’s first black police chief.
In a now-deleted Facebook post, Chambers ranted about “a society where homosexuals lecture us on morals, transvestites lecture us on human biology, baby killers lecture us on human rights and socialists lecture us on economics.”
A friend of Chambers’ responded: “I hate to think of the country my grandkids will live in unless somehow we change and I think that will take a revolution.”
To that remark, the mayor replied: “The only way to change it would be to kill the problem out. I know it’s bad to say but with out killing them out there’s no way to fix it.”
Chambers’ comments were posted on Friday ― one day before the start of Pride Month. Sen. Doug Jones (D-Ala.) later denounced the mayor’s remarks, saying they did not “represent Alabama.”
Chambers initially denied penning the Facebook posts, which were first reported by WBRC, but later admitted tthe words were his.
He said that the comments had been taken out of context and that he’d meant that “if it comes to a revolution in this country both sides of these people will be killed out.”
Chambers later posted an apology on Facebook, saying it was “wrong to say anybody should be kill,” [sic]. The Mountain Eagle said Chambers’ Facebook account has since been deleted.