Just before Christmas, I posted about Sam Killay, an atheist from Claremont, New Hampshire, who was troubled by a Nativity scene and menorah display in a public park. He was right to be troubled. Those are illegal, at least if no other displays are allowed in the same area.
Killay suggested the city council move the displays across the street, to a private church, but they didn’t do it. Then he said that if this was going to be a free-for-all, he wanted his own displays included in the area — maybe an inverted cross or a pentagram (though he’s not a Satanist).
The city council is currently working on a new policy, but a separate issue emerged during this discussion.
One of the city council members — a Donald Trump sycophant whose (now private) Facebook page is a non-stop parade of right-wing memes — began doxxing Killay and his wife.
Ward 3 Councilor Jonathan Stone initially shared a news story about this controversy, but his comments underneath that post went well beyond acceptable behavior. He posted screenshots of Killay’s wife, their Facebook pages, and their places of work… all while making an anti-trans joke and laughing it up with a white nationalist. (I’ve redacted some of the personal information.)
On Wednesday night, the Killays appeared at a city council meeting calling for Stone to resign over his inappropriate, irresponsible actions:
“This is about a city councilor supporting and engaging in the harassment of his own constituents,” said [Sam] Killay, who called Stone a “loose cannon” and a liability for the city.
…
“Mr. Stone is upset over someone’s opinion regarding the nativity scene,” [Trish] Killay continued. “What would Jesus do? I bet he wouldn’t harass someone for their opinion, harass their family, make fun of minorities, allow threatening behavior and engage in it and just be an overall nasty person.”
“Mr. Stone has no choice but to resign. Not only can he not represent all of his constituents effectively but he is tainting the names of all councilors and elected officials that stand before me,” Killay said.
Stone said nothing during the meeting,. He didn’t even apologize. The rest of the council members were more or less silent, too, though Mayor Charlene Lovett called for the city’s attorney to look into their code of conduct regarding social media — as if there needs to be a policy in place before elected officials do something about a colleague who’s mocking and doxxing his own constituents.
Stone should resign. The other councilors should at least make a public statement expressing their disgust with their ignorant MAGA-loving colleague. And then the city should approve a religious displays policy that doesn’t privilege Christianity and Judaism over all other beliefs.
This isn’t complicated, and it’s shameful that the members of this city council haven’t done more to help the Killays deal with the harassment coming from their side of the table.
(Image via Shutterstock. Thanks to Brian for the link. Portions of this article were published earlier)
It’s Moving Day for the Friendly ..."
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