The mayor of Salem, Mass. says she is fighting back against the legions of Glenn Beck fans who flooded her office with angry phone calls this week.
In a letter posted to her Facebook page on Wednesday, Salem Mayor Kimberley Driscoll said her office had received more than 50 calls that day from supporters of Beck and “right-leaning” blogs after the city decided to cut its ties with Gordon College, a Christian school.
The college had recently requested an exemption from President Obama’s LGBT anti-workplace-discrimination order, and because of that, the city ended a contract it had with the school.
Driscoll said the callers expressed “some patently offensive views regarding LGBT individuals.” So to fight back, she said she planned to donate $5 for every phone call to the North Shore Alliance of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Youth (nAGLY).
The city of Salem, Mass. recently severed its ties with Gordon College, the Christian school that recently requested exemption from an LGBT anti-workplace-discrimination executive order, and Glenn Beck followers are not happy about it.
The Mayor said her office was keeping a tally of all the calls and also encouraged the city’s social media followers to share her letter and make donations to the LGBT advocacy group.
“I hope these donations, made as a direct result of the persistence of those who would deny LGBT citizens their equal rights, will help you in growing and strengthening your organization,” Driscoll wrote, addressing nAGLY coordinators.
Driscoll made the decision to cut ties with Gordon College after the school’s president, along with other Christian leaders, sent a letter to the President in early July, maintaining their organizations’ religious beliefs should keep them from having to enforce policies that prevent workplace discrimination of LGBT individuals.
The Mayor said she terminated Salem’s contract with the Christian college because “the college’s exclusionary behavioral policy violated our recently adopted LGBT-inclusive non-discrimination ordinance.”
