Kleinschmidt receives threats
Supporters counter with donations
By: Max Rose, Assistant City Editor
Issue date: 1/9/08 Section: City
When openly gay Chapel Hill Town Council member Mark Kleinschmidt posted a link to a neo-Nazi site on his blog, he didn't expect to hear back.
But in the weeks following, anti-gay activists posted thinly veiled threats on his blog.
"We're watching you, queer boy," a user identified as Bill White wrote.
When the Vanguard News Network posted his home address and phone number online, Kleinschmidt contacted Chapel Hill police as a precaution.
Kleinschmidt posted the link in response to a VNN post that listed contact information of openly gay and lesbian public officials and suggested "direct action" against them.
"I believe that we shouldn't allow the rhetoric that they use to just stay hidden from view and allow them to think that they are insulated from public scrutiny," he said.
VNN is the second-largest neo-Nazi forum in the country, said Mark Potok, director of the Intelligence Project, a division of the Southern Poverty Law Center that tracks hate groups.
It is edited by Alex Linder of Kirksville, Mo.
Several attempts to contact Linder were unsuccessful.
Potok said the forum does not have a physical presence and has not attacked anyone. Kleinschmidt said no one from the group called or mailed him.
Orange County has shown a tendency to look past sexual orientation at election time.
Lydia Lavelle became the first openly lesbian public official in Carrboro when she was elected to the Carrboro Board of Aldermen last year. Lavelle's name was not included on the VNN list.
The lists are unlikely to be illegal, Potok said, but there is precedent allowing authorities to remove them to prevent violence.
Kleinschmidt said that people in Chapel Hill do not put much relevance on sexual orientation but that making people aware is important.
"We counter their speech with our speech; we don't counter their speech with government crackdown," he said. "It's the only way that we'll ever be able to eliminate it."
The hate speech on his blog is now vastly outnumbered by statements of support.
Ruby Sinreich, chief blogger of orangepolitics.org, pledged to donate $5 per comment to Equality NC, a gay rights group. After about $200 was raised, Sinreich said the comments stopped.
"I tried to think about 'What would they least like to see happen?'" Sinreich said.
"If they wanted to suppress the voice of gay people, our response was that every time they commented, they were amplifying the voice of gay people."
Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
But in the weeks following, anti-gay activists posted thinly veiled threats on his blog.
"We're watching you, queer boy," a user identified as Bill White wrote.
When the Vanguard News Network posted his home address and phone number online, Kleinschmidt contacted Chapel Hill police as a precaution.
Kleinschmidt posted the link in response to a VNN post that listed contact information of openly gay and lesbian public officials and suggested "direct action" against them.
"I believe that we shouldn't allow the rhetoric that they use to just stay hidden from view and allow them to think that they are insulated from public scrutiny," he said.
VNN is the second-largest neo-Nazi forum in the country, said Mark Potok, director of the Intelligence Project, a division of the Southern Poverty Law Center that tracks hate groups.
It is edited by Alex Linder of Kirksville, Mo.
Several attempts to contact Linder were unsuccessful.
Potok said the forum does not have a physical presence and has not attacked anyone. Kleinschmidt said no one from the group called or mailed him.
Orange County has shown a tendency to look past sexual orientation at election time.
Lydia Lavelle became the first openly lesbian public official in Carrboro when she was elected to the Carrboro Board of Aldermen last year. Lavelle's name was not included on the VNN list.
The lists are unlikely to be illegal, Potok said, but there is precedent allowing authorities to remove them to prevent violence.
Kleinschmidt said that people in Chapel Hill do not put much relevance on sexual orientation but that making people aware is important.
"We counter their speech with our speech; we don't counter their speech with government crackdown," he said. "It's the only way that we'll ever be able to eliminate it."
The hate speech on his blog is now vastly outnumbered by statements of support.
Ruby Sinreich, chief blogger of orangepolitics.org, pledged to donate $5 per comment to Equality NC, a gay rights group. After about $200 was raised, Sinreich said the comments stopped.
"I tried to think about 'What would they least like to see happen?'" Sinreich said.
"If they wanted to suppress the voice of gay people, our response was that every time they commented, they were amplifying the voice of gay people."
Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
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