RALEIGH, N.C. — The North Carolina General Assembly on Wednesday confirmed six appointments to the state Board of Education, despite an objection raised by Democrats who said one nominee had offended gays with a vote on a bullying measure.
Rep. Paul Luebke (D-Durham), tried to pull Kernersville attorney A.L. “Buddy” Collins from consideration, but his effort was squashed by a motion in the GOP-dominated House.
Collins has served on the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Board of Education for more than 15 years. Luebke said his opposition came because of Collins’ 2002 vote against the inclusion of language in an anti-harassment policy specifically outlawing bullying based on sexual orientation.
“His feelings as expressed toward gay and lesbian citizens of our state are offensive to me, I think, to many people in this chamber, and to many people in this state,” Luebke said.
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Collins has said the policy already prohibited bullying against any student, and his personal views against homosexual lifestyles didn’t influence his vote.
Rep. Tim Moore (R-Cleveland), and House Rules Committee chairman, opposed Luebke’s amendment, noting appointments from a governor typically pass without partisan discord.
The House confirmed the appointments by a vote of 80-33 after Moore used a parliamentary maneuver to quash Luebke’s amendment without voting on its content. The Senate approved the appointments 42-5.
According to Equality North Carolina, a statewide LGBT advocacy group, Collins has a history of antagonizing LGBT rights advocates in Forsyth County.
Collins has, on numerous occasions, clashed with the Gay Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) of Winston-Salem over LGBT-supportive issues, and once said of the group, “Their opinions are of no value to me.”
In an editorial in the Winston Salem-Journal in 2002, Collins described same-sex unions as an effect of the “disintegration of the American family.”