Do you all remember the bizarre campaign of stalking undertaken by former Michigan Assistant Attorney General Andrew Shirvell, against the gay student body president at the University of Michigan? For his obsessive ways and generally unhinged way of handling himself in public, Andrew Shirvell was removed from his job as a public official. The student in question, Chris Armstrong, is suing Shirvell, so of course Andrew Shirvell has decided to embarrass himself some more:
Andrew Shirvell, the former Michigan Assistant Attorney General who was booted for harassing the student body president of the University of Michigan, Chris Armstrong, for being gay, is arguing that Armstrong’s “course of conduct” and lawsuit against him are “politically motivated and intended to make an example out of [Shirvell] in order to deter others from criticizing [Armstrong]‘s homosexual activist agenda.”
Armstrong filed a lawsuit in April asking for more than $25,000 in damages for “defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, abuse of process, invasion of privacy, and stalking,” after Shirvell wrote a series of blog posts that attacked Armstrong for being gay. Among other things, Shirvell repeatedly described him as “a radical homosexual activist,” and photoshopped a picture of Armstrong next to a rainbow flag with a swastika in the middle. Shirvell would also show up at school events and parties to picket, based on information gleaned from Armstrong’s Facebook activities.
On Friday, Shirvell, who is representing himself…
Haha, we’ll just stop right there, because that’s a funny line to stop on. Anyway, Shirvell has filed a bunch of frivolous counter claims, and we’re sure that will go quite well for him.
If you’ll remember, the thing the Michigan Attorney General’s office is best known for is Andrew Shirvell, the assistant AG who embarked on a completely creepy stalking campaign against a gay student at the University of Michigan, claiming that the student’s involvement in campus government was somehow a “family values” issue. Shirvell, as so many gay-obsessed Religious Right figures so often do, came off as a stalker with a prurient interest in this young gay man.
Now the Michigan Attorney General’s office is failing again, in deciding to back Julea Ward, the former counseling student from Eastern Michigan University who wanted an exception to be made in counseling standards, just for her, so that she could give poor, second-rate, bigoted care to gay patients:
Attorney General Bill Schuette filed a brief Friday on behalf of Julea Ward, who is appealing a federal district court’s ruling on behalf of the university. Ward was dismissed from a graduate counseling program after she refused to provide counseling to a homosexual who wanted help with relationship issues, the Detroit Free Press reported.
The university says Ward failed to abide by the guidelines and ethical rules of the American Counseling Association. In legal papers, it suggests Ward, who wanted to be a school counselor, would have to set aside her own belief that homosexuality is morally wrong.
[...]
Schuette, in his brief, said EMU did not follow its own written standards in Ward’s case. A spokesman, John Sellek, said the attorney general also believes the university violated her constitutional right to religious freedom.
Note that they’re not saying that she has to “change” her beliefs. She merely has to learn to be a professional if she wants to be considered qualified in that field. If an oncologist personally believes that prayer has healing powers, but is nonetheless willing to provide exemplary medical care to cancer patients, then no one will care about the physician’s belief in prayer. If instead the physician advocates a course of prayer over a regimen of chemotherapy, then there will be a problem!
Likewise, if Julea Ward is willing to treat all her patients as human, and is able to refrain from sharing her (personal, unprovable) belief that homosexuality is immoral, she could make a fine counselor. But if she and other fundamentalists like her are not willing to live up to the standards and practices of their chosen fields because of their religious beliefs, they should perhaps choose other fields where reality won’t get in the way of their religious faith.
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.
A Michigan assistant attorney general who started a blog against the University of Michigan’s openly gay student body president has been fired, the state attorney general’s office said Monday.
Michigan Assistant Attorney General Andrew Shirvell had taken a voluntary leave of absence earlier this fall after his blog garnered national media attention. Shirvell, a graduate of the university, took issue with what he called the student body president’s “radical homosexual agenda.”
Single tear. If you’ve somehow missed the story of Andrew Shirvell, click here.
I thought we all could use something funny, for laughing purposes. Jason Jones of The Daily Show sat down to talk to “cyber-bullying victim” Andrew Shirvell, who launched a weird campaign, reeking of closet case paranoia, against Chris Armstrong, the student body president at the University of Michigan, seemingly only because Armstrong is gay.
As is so often the case, some of the best journalism comes from this little comedy show.
During the utterly creepy time when Michigan Assistant Attorney General was stalking openly gay University of Michigan student Chris Armstrong, Armstrong understandably petitioned for a restraining order against him, and the university followed suit by banning Shirvell from the campus.
Now that University of Michigan student Chris Armstrong has dropped his restraining order request against Michigan Assistant Attorney General Andrew Shirvell, Shirvell’s attorney has threatened to sue the school if it does not lift Shirvell’s ban from campus.
The University of Michigan had banned Shirvell after he repeatedly harassed Armstrong on campus and on his blog for being gay. Shirvell wrote on his blog that Armstrong, who is student body president, has a “radical homosexual agenda.”
[...]
Juliana Keeping of AnnArbor.com reports that Shirvell’s attorney Philip Thomas says that now that the request has been dropped the school’s ban should be as well: “In the matter concerning the appeal of the trespass, we want that withdrawn. He should be able to go onto that campus for whatever reason. It’s legal as long as what he’s doing is legal, and he’s not threatening in any way.”
Chris Armstrong talks with Anderson Cooper about being stalked and bullied online by Michigan’s deranged assistant attorney general Andrew Shirvell and his lawless boss, attorney general Mike Cox.
Michigan Assistant Attorney General Andrew Shirvell has taken a voluntary leave of absence after generating national attention over a controversial blog that ridicules and denounces the University of Michigan’s student body president.
Joy Yearout, a spokeswoman for Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox, said this morning that media reports saying Cox suspended Shirvell were inaccurate.
Just a day after telling Anderson Cooper that Andrew Shirvell’s job was safe, Mike Cox has suspended Andrew Shirvell, according to the Detroit News:
Attorney General Mike Cox changed his stance Thursday, suspending Andrew Shirvell after the assistant attorney general attracted national attention for a controversial blog that ridicules and denounces a University of Michigan student leader for his gay advocacy, religious beliefs and character.
The suspension came a day after Cox told CNN he didn’t intend to fire Shirvell, citing civil service rules that protect government employees from being “fired willy-nilly” for exercising their rights of free speech.
Cox said he hadn’t earlier read all of Shirvell’s blog, “Chris Armstrong Watch,” that dogs Armstrong, the 21-year-old, openly gay president of U-M’s student government and accuses him of “anti-Christian behavior,” “mocking God,” promoting homosexuality and trying “to recruit your sons and daughters” into the gay lifestyle.
“I’m at fault here,” Cox said. “I’ve been saying for weeks that (Shirvell’s) been acting like a bully, that his behavior is immature, but it’s after-hours and protected by the First Amendment.”
Yesterday I wrote about the creepy, creepy story of Michigan Assistant Attorney General Andrew Shirvell, who has embarked on what amounts to a disturbing stalking campaign against Ryan Armstrong, student body president at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor. He claims it’s about Armstrong’s “radical homosexual agenda,” but really, it looks more like a creepy psychosexual obsession to everybody else. If you haven’t watched Shirvell’s interview on Anderson Cooper 360, click the above clicky.
Well, now Mike Cox, Shirvell’s boss, has also gone to talk to Anderson Cooper, and basically defends his employee the entire way through:
SO WEIRD.
Gabe at Videogum has the best reaction I’ve seen to this whole scenario, where a state prosecutor, in his off hours, is very publicly stalking a young college student:
[H]ow come the rest of us are nervous about our bosses CATCHING US PLAYING MINESWEEPER, and you’re willing to go on national television and make up a bunch of bullshit about why you’re not going to take any kind of action whatsoever (at least not publicly, and certainly if there was ever a reason for public action, it is probably a well-publicized and unapologetic hate crime committed by a state employee who needs medicine) against someone working in your office whose ostensible function is the day to day protection of laws and people’s rights. Perfect. “Oh, he’s a bully. But what can I say? HE IS MY HUSBAND.” Unacceptable!
That is EXACTLY what this is like. “I’m so sorry my husband is stalking this young boy, but he is my husband and I will stand by him!”
I’ve seen this story percolating here and there, and all I can say is that these are the actions of a very disturbed, bizarre, and very possibly closeted man:
(CNN) — For nearly six months, Andrew Shirvell, an assistant attorney general for the state of Michigan, has waged an internet campaign against college student Chris Armstrong, the openly gay student assembly president at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.
Using the online moniker “Concerned Michigan Alumnus,” Shirvell launched his blog in late April.
“Welcome to ‘Chris Armstrong Watch,’” Shirvell wrote in his inaugural blog post. “This is a site for concerned University of Michigan alumni, students, and others who oppose the recent election of Chris Armstrong — a RADICAL HOMOSEXUAL ACTIVIST, RACIST, ELITIST, & LIAR — as the new head of student government.”
Among other things, Shirvell has published blog posts that accuse Armstrong of going back on a campaign promise he made to minority students; engaging in “flagrant sexual promiscuity” with another male member of the student government; sexually seducing and influencing “a previously conservative [male] student” so much so that the student, according to Shirvell, “morphed into a proponent of the radical homosexual agenda;” hosting a gay orgy in his dorm room in October 2009; and trying to recruit incoming first year students “to join the homosexual ‘lifestyle.’ “
What a creep. That’s the kind of man our parents warned us about, I think. Stranger danger! It gets even weirder:
Shirvell acknowledged protesting outside of Armstrong’s house and calling him “Satan’s representative on the student assembly.”
“I’m a Christian citizen exercising my First Amendment rights,” Shirvell told CNN’s 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.”
It gets even creepier when you watch this interview Shirvell did with Anderson Cooper [Interview starts around 2:55, but the background beforehand is helpful in grasping what's going on]:
Dude gives me the heebie-jeebies. Anyone else feel like they suddenly need a second shower? And I ask you sincerely: What happened to YOUR gaydar when you watched that video? Because I know what happened to mine.
This is not healthy behavior. PZ Myers suggests what could be motivating Andrew Shirvell, at heart:
Of course Shirvell is a Christian fanatic. He’s also dishonest: browse his blog and you can tell he is just freaking out over the fact that Armstrong is gay…it’s all he talks about. He’s a militant radical gay activist who hates God, Christians, the unborn, and wants to have gay sex with everyone but Andrew Shirvell.
His commenters are even more blunt.
As for Chris Armstrong, here’s where he stands on the matter:
Michigan Student Assembly President Chris Armstrong publicly responded to verbal and cyber attacks levied against him for the first time at last night’s MSA meeting.
“I will not back down. I will not flinch. I will not falter. I will not succumb to any unwarranted attacks. What I will do is I will carry on with the utmost pride and vindication,” Armstrong read aloud to the assembly from a written statement. “I, along with the rest of this assembly, were elected to this body to represent the University. And nothing said about us, or regarding our personal merits, will waive our commitment to serve the student body.”
[...]
Armstrong said in an interview after last night’s meeting that he wanted to speak to the assembly to confirm his resolution to disregard these types of criticisms levied against him.
“I think it was important for me to say what I said to the assembly this evening, because I think it’s important for them to figure what my mental state is and what I’m going forward with,” Armstrong said.
Obviously Chris Armstrong is the only adult in this equation.
Unfortunately, I’m guessing this is the not the last we’ll be hearing on Andrew Shirvell, so we’ll stay on the story.
Do you all remember the bizarre campaign of stalking undertaken by former Michigan Assistant Attorney General Andrew Shirvell, against the gay student body president at the University of Michigan? For his obsessive ways and generally unhinged way of handling himself in public, Andrew Shirvell was removed from his job as a public official. The student in question, Chris Armstrong, is suing Shirvell, so of course Andrew Shirvell has decided to embarrass himself some more:
During the 
