Maryland's
Republican governor, Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., has
fired his appointee to the Washington, D.C., area's Metro
transit authority board for saying that gay people are
"persons of sexual deviancy." Robert J. Smith made the
remark while appearing on a local cable television
political show last weekend, The Washington
Post reports.
On the show, 21 This Week, broadcast on a
Montgomery County, Md., cable channel, Smith was responding
to another panelist's comment that Mary Cheney, the
vice president's daughter, would not want the
government interfering in her personal life. "That's
fine, that's fine," Smith said, according to the
Post. "But that doesn't mean that government
should proffer a special place of entitlement within the
laws of the United States for persons of sexual deviancy."
Smith, a Gaithersburg architect, had appeared
regularly on the show as a "Republican activist,"
according to the Post. He was appointed in 2004 to a
three-year term on the Metro board, which governs the
area's subway and bus system and includes members from
Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia.
"Robert Smith's comments were highly
inappropriate, insensitive, and unacceptable," Ehrlich
said in a statement. "They are in direct conflict to
my administration's commitment to inclusiveness, tolerance,
and opportunity."
The controversy began at a Metro board meeting
earlier this week when openly gay member Jim Graham,
who represents D.C. and also serves on its city
council, criticized Smith for making the remark and calling
on him to disavow it or be removed from the board. "As
someone who cares deeply about human rights, and as an
openly gay elected official...I cannot remain silent
in the face of these comments," Graham said at the
meeting, reports the Post.
Graham has since complimented Ehrlich for
removing Smith, telling the Post, "The governor
appreciated the seriousness of this problem." (The
Advocate)
