During a school board meeting in Arkansas on Tuesday night where many anti-LGBTQ policies were adopted, a man was caught on camera declaring LGBTQ people “deserve death. A district spokesperson identified the speaker as Cal Paulson, who is referred to as a local preacher in an article by the Log Cabin Democrat newspaper of Conway, the city in which the school district is located. Paulson claims, “God gave them over to a depraved mind so that they do what they should not be doing.” A meeting attendee filmed the video, which NBC News later confirmed.”
Video Receives Hostile Response From the People
He continues, “They devise ways of committing evil, but let me tell you that such persons deserve death.” On TikTok, the video received thousands of views and received quick online criticism. A spokesman for Conway Public Schools named Heather Kendrick stated by email that the district, which employs around 10,000 people, does not support the man’s remarks.
CONWAY, Arkansas When a member of the audience stood up during public comments and insisted that LGBTQ people deserved a “biblical” fate of death, the already tense and contentious Conway School District board meeting on Tuesday, which was scheduled to discuss new policies banning transgender students from restrooms and accommodations on overnight field/sport team trips aligning with their gender identity, erupted.
In a video clip captured by a meeting participant, the gray-haired man claims, “God delivered them up to a wicked mind so that they do what they shouldn’t be doing.” “They create new nasty methods. The gray-haired guy read from his notes, “But let me remind you that those who do such things deserve death. He continued, “The LGBT community not only continues to practice these very activities but also supports others who do so.”
New Changes Evolves
Others in the crowd who supported the LGBTQ students booed and made nasty sounds in response to the speaker, while those who supported the speaker’s opinions applauded and clapped. Most people are criticizing the educational institution for allowing someone to spew hate speech towards the LGBTQ community in a meeting.
According to various news channels, the board decided to apply the bathroom limitations and same-gender guidelines for overnight hotel room assignments based on a student’s sex designated at birth following the contentious public discussion and remarks.
Conway is the county capital of Faulkner County, and Republican State Senator Jason Rapert covers this area. He told, “For the first time in my entire tenure in the Arkansas Senate have I ever felt driven to attend and speak at a school board meeting. I’m proud of the members of the school board, he remarked.
The gathering felt like “a Trump rally or a 1950s Pentecostal sermon on hellfire and damnation,” according to Debra Hale-Shelton for the Arkansas Times, in addition to the toilet and field/sports team trip restrictions. Hale-Shelton noted that Conway is probably going to get sued because no other school district in Arkansas has as strong anti-trans regulations.
At the meeting, the school board banned two books with LGBTQ themes and enacted a policy that discriminates against transgender students. Every school in the district is required by one of the anti-transgender rules to designate single- or double-occupancy bathrooms and changing rooms for the “exclusive use” of male or female pupils, respectively, based on the sex specified on their birth certificates
Linda Tyler, a mother and citizen of Conway, said, “It makes me feel terrible because I personally know many transgender young ladies and young men, and I know the difficulty of their path.” “I believe that enacting laws like these places restrictions on openness and diversity.”
