(Weekly Column)
Michigan Assistant Attorney General, Andrew Shirvell, was finally fired on Monday and it’s about damn time. Prior to his dismissal, the sicko had spent the last year relentlessly stalking and harassing openly gay University of Michigan student body president Chris Armstrong. That’s right, a 30-year old man representing the state government was acting out a peculiar obsession (or fantasy) with a 21-year old college student. It is shameful that it took so long to can this creep and the state’s tardiness clearly placed the mental health and physical well-being of Armstrong in jeopardy.
On Friday, Armstrong’s attorney, Deborah Gordon, also filed a complaint with the Michigan Attorney Grievance Commission against Shirvell. The five key allegations against Shirvell were:
• Putting a swastika across a photo of Armstrong’s face and publishing the picture online.
• Calling Armstrong “Satan’s representative”
• Repeatedly harassing and heckling Armstrong outside his home and at other locations in and around the University of Michigan campus.
• Falsely accusing Armstrong of binge drinking and improper conduct at churches and on school grounds.
• Trying to get Armstrong removed from a summer internship in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office in Washington.
Attorney General Mike Cox, Shirvell’s boss, said he took action after a state investigation found that Shirvell “repeatedly violated office policies, engaged in borderline stalking behavior and inappropriately used state resources.”
“To be clear, I refuse to fire anyone for exercising their First Amendment rights, regardless of how popular or unpopular their positions might be,” Cox said in a statement. Cox concluded, however, that Shirvell’s conduct exceeded his claim of free speech when he appeared three separate times outside Armstrong’s Ann Arbor residence, including one creepy cameo at 1:30 a.m.
“That incident is especially telling because it clearly was about harassing Mr. Armstrong, not engaging in free speech,” Cox said. “The cumulative effects of his use of state resources, harassing conduct that is not protected by the First Amendment and his lies during the disciplinary conference all demonstrate adequate evidence of conduct unbecoming a state employee.”
In a September CNN interview, Shirvell used religion and the constitution to defend his bullying. “I’m a Christian citizen exercising my First Amendment rights,” he told Anderson Cooper. “I have no problem with the fact that Chris is a homosexual. I have a problem with the fact that he’s advancing a radical homosexual agenda.”
Is there any doubt that some nutty fundamentalist organizations will use this incident to falsely claim that the goal of the LGBT movement is to persecute Christians and criminalize Christianity? I suppose such claims would be true if one defines Christianity as the right for grown men to pursue college students at their home and haunt them at ungodly hours.
But, let’s get real for a minute. If it were a gay activist stalking a Christian at 1:30 AM under the guise of the First Amendment, our loving opponents would likely be advocating, to quote failed Nevada Senate nominee Sharron Angle, Second Amendment solutions.
I have no idea if Shirvell is a self-loathing gay man. But, if I were on a reality show called “Pick the Closeted Homosexual” he’d get my vote. The man comes across as gayer than Liberace in a pink wig and leopard skin hot pants.
For a moment I am going to play amateur shrink. From an outside perspective it appears that Shirvell intensely hates Armstrong because he has a crush on him and deeply resents that he is living the open, successful life he feels he can never lead. Armstrong represents the man he so desperately wants to have, as well as the complete human being he will never be as long as he is captive to an intolerant strain of Christianity. Only such a combustible combination would explain Shirvell’s psychotic obsession and extreme behavior that would take him outside Armstrong’s window at a time when a “good Christian” would otherwise be in bed sleeping.
But, let’s be clear: Shirvell is not a martyr, but a menace to society.
Beyond losing his job, he should be disbarred and if he continues his bizarre behavior he should be locked in a padded cell until he comes to his senses. Shirvell seems like a walking time bomb and Michigan officials should temporarily keep surveillance on this lunatic and provide adequate security until Armstrong is safe and secure.
While Shirvell finally paid a price for his fanaticism, similar bullying, particularly of LGBT youth, often goes unnoticed. Christians who are serious about their religion should pledge to stop such harassment by refusing to allow zealots like Shirvell to use religion as cover to justify their crazy crusades.
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I’d like to take a spirituo-psychological jab at this one too.
Past life. Gay lovers. Armstrong left Shirvell for the woman Shirvell was going to marry to cover his gay a*s. Cox had a midlife natural shift and his sexuality switched. Shirvell was emotionally destroyed and ended up in a funny farm / strate jacket.
FF to present time.
Shirvell is now going to get his payback best he can. But he’s blowing it cuz he’s too angry to function well. He’s living in a past life looney bin hangover and can’t shake it.
Moral of the story;
Past life resentment’s a b***h.
Redress – Cox = Armstrong
How did this nutcase get his “Law Degree” and a job in the Attorney General’s office anyway? Internet degree mill? No Ave Maria “Law School.”
He graduates from that “Law School” in May 2007 and immediately lands a cushy job with the Attorney General. THAT is something worth investigating – both the Law School ‘graduates’ and the unseemly relationship with the Michigan Attorney General
From Shirvell’s Twitter page: B.A. Ave Maria School of Law, J.D. Admitted to practice law May 2007. Appointed Assistant Attorney General May 2007
I don’t appreciate the words used in the headline of this story..anti gay nutjob. i find it totally inappropriate and it totally defeats the purpose or purposes of the writer to put it that way. gays don’t like to be called names-so why call anti gays names.
@Kerry…Perhaps the use of the “nutjob” stems from Mr. Shirvell’s behavior. Appreciate it or not, the fact of the matter is that this state employee acted completely out of the realm of “acceptable”. Talk about missing the point! I’m sooo tired of anti-gay individuals attempting to redirect attention for the, frankly, insane behavior of some of their ilk. Bottom line, the behavior of Mr. Shirvell reveals extreme disturbance on a very personal level. Like it or not, he’s behaving like someone with psychological issues and he’s been called out on it. Keep your eye on the ball, Kerry.
Kerry:
You could not be more wrong. The headline was chosen because it is accurate. In this specific case it works. A different, softer headline would have been inaccurate and thus inappropriate to the context of the story.
A headline should be commensurate with the actions of the subjects or you lose the meaning of language. So-called name calling can be crucial in that it is used to describe and summarize information. As long as the “name” being called is accurate it is fine.
What you are essentially asking me to do is downplay the actions of Shirvell and “rise above” it. But, I think it does a disservice to the essence of the story. Instead of rising, I want to take people right there, on the ground at 1:30 AM, where this man is standing outside this boys home. In such a real context, one, if they are honest, can only conclude that Shirvell is a nutjob. To say anything else, given the circumstances is pretentious and not an accurate description of the scene. Sometimes a nut really is a nut. Language should reflect observation.
After reading your psychological evaluation of Shirvell, which is probably quite accurate, I had this vision of Shirvell’s mother’s skeleton sitting in a rocking chair in his home with a shawl wrapped around her and telling Andrew (in his own voice of course), that ‘homosexuals are disgusting abominations booooyyyyy, and I refuse to discuss disgusting things, because they disgust me’.
That last part is a paraphrase from memory of what Norman Bates mother said to him before he sliced and diced Janet Leigh in the shower.
Be wary if Shirvell gets a new job as proprietor of a Bed and Breakfast in P-town.
I agree with Rainjob. This graduating from ‘Ave Maria’ Law school and immediately becoming an assistant attorney general for the state of Michigan looks mighty suspicious. Very similar to the Bush administration “Justice” Department employing so many Liberty U and similar grads who were completely politicized and frankly inept.
So many people say that he trips their gaydar but I didn’t get any impression from him that he was gay. Now Joseph Nicolosi, there’s a man that trips my gaydar.
I like the comment that the police and University security need to be extra vigilant over the next while. This guy is unstable!~
“Unstable, nutjob” – after watching him in interview I would add the word dangerous. He has an aura of serial killer wierdness to be closely watched particularly now having been internationally humiliated through being media-fired. On top of this, there is almost a sense of emotional pedophilia, a diddling of young men, that also seeps into the portrait. He doesn’t seem to emit one shred of good. He looks like the type that just doesn’t get it and could bust out in ways that could do severe permanent harm far beyond the current list of applicable grievances. Him wearing mother’s shawl alone at night rather sums it up.
I can only hope this is the last we hear from what looks like PeeWee Herman’s psychotically twisted sibling seemingly journeying towards full on melt down.
Glad to see this man fired, FINALLY. Sure took the State of Michigan long enough. He is dangerous to be sure. If I were Chris Armstrong, I would see about some protection. Seriously. I wouldn’t put it past this mental case to try to harm him or kill him.
Shame on you Mike Cox, Michigan Attorney General for not taking a stand. But then again Mike Cox was against Gay Marriage and Domestic Partnerships and fought for the Sanctity of Marriage as one man , one women….and them he got caught cheating on his wife.
Whats truly sad is that like any good stalker he was able to get what he really wanted, Chris Armstrongs undivided attention.
Yes, Shirvell was fired. But as soon as the religious right picks up on this douchebag’s story, I would not be surprised if they groom him to be the next Peter LaBarbara.