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Topic: Gay rights group wants apology from councilman

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Steve Myers
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statewide gay rights organization is calling on Flint City Council President Johnnie Coleman to apologize for anti-gay remarks he made in a television news report that aired last week.

The Triangle Foundation issued a news release Tuesday asking for the apology after WSMH (Channel 66) showed Coleman on camera calling news anchor Jim Kiertzner a "faggot" and referring to persons apparently at City Hall as "faggots."

The comments came during a report about a conflict of interest lawsuit recently filed against Coleman over serving as a council member and working for the city-owned Hurley Medical Center.


"It's offensive and insulting for an elected leader to use such language," said Sean Kosofsky, policy director for the foundation. "It's an embarrassment to the city of Flint when someone does something like this."

Coleman, who is running for re-election this November, referred comment Tuesday to attorney Loyst Fletcher, who said he needed to review the tape and transcript before advising his client.

"Sometimes people in anger say something they should not," Fletcher said. "If he said something that would offend some segments of the population, I would recommend that he would apologize. " It all depends on the context."

The remarks came during a series of hallway exchanges at City Hall between WSMH reporters and Coleman about his reaction to getting served with the lawsuit by its filer, Flint resident Adam Gerics.

Coleman, according to a WSMH transcript of the videotaped comments, invited Gerics and a friend who brought the paperwork to perform a sex act.

When queried by Kiertzner, Coleman denied making the remark, but Kiertzner asked again after reviewing the tape, calling Coleman a liar. This time, Coleman instead spoke to another person in the hallway who asked "What's up Cole?"

Coleman told the person: "I don't know, we got a bunch of faggots, ex-cons and everything else up here man."

Asked again for clarification by a different reporter about his remarks, Coleman responded: "Jim is a faggot, and I did not say the other thing."

Kiertzner declined to comment Tuesday about Coleman's remarks, but station officials are exploring a possible defamation suit.

The Journal could not reach Gerics for comment Tuesday. He wore a T-shirt quoting Coleman's vulgar response at Monday's council meeting.

Kosofsky said his organization, which received a complaint last week, unsuccessfully tried to contact Coleman on Tuesday after reviewing a tape, but received no response. The foundation also sent out an e-mail action alert Tuesday, asking its supporters to write Coleman to demand an apology.

Coleman has made similar anti-gay remarks before. In 2004, Coleman called Flint Journal columnist Andrew Heller a punk who probably likes to watch "fag porn" after Heller criticized the council for spending time on an ordinance to ban porn from in-car DVDs.

Full Story:
http://www.mlive.com/news/fljournal/index.ssf?/base/news-32/1127921032113930.xml&coll=5
Post Fri Sep 30, 2005 2:01 am 
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