Duke College Republicans chairman claims he was ousted because he is gay

After all, how BIG a "big tent" do you want? ANY LGBT/T person who votes Republican -- EVER -- is a self-hating fool. Did he really think he would be the exception? Esp. in college, where "purity" is so damn important. He should just CHOOSE to be straight ----- snort, snort, snark, snark.



Duke College Republicans chairman claims he was ousted because he is gay
Was impeached last week

Duke University junior Justin Robinette claims his sexual orientation was the reason for his impeachment Wednesday as chairman of Duke’s College Republicans.

But his official impeachment article and members of the organization’s executive board said the impeachment and request for resignation was because of “conduct unbecoming of a person in a position of leadership” among other reasons.

“Comments were made directly to me and my executive board before and after the meeting concerning my sexual orientation, calling me a supporter of the faggot center, calling me ironic, calling me disgusting,” said Robinette, who is gay.

Timeline of events
March 16: Robinette re-elected as chairman of Duke College Republicans.

March 27: Robinette elected co-chairman of N.C. Federation of College Republicans.

April 13: N.C. Republican candidates’ forum at UNC organized by the UNC College Republicans. Robinette was supposed to coordinate with UNC’s chapter, but Duke College Republicans say he failed to do so.

April 14: The executive board amends the impeachment process. Robinette impeached.

Carter Boyle, the new chairman of the chapter, said Robinette disrespected members of the board, deliberately ignored members of UNC’s College Republicans, did not attend events and used the organization’s funds for personal use.

Robinette described the reasons held against him as “petty” and said most had occurred prior to his re-election as chairman on March 16.

“There’s a defense to mostly all of them,” he said. “Those were mostly dummy reasons.”

He ran unopposed in the elections last month and was unanimously approved to continue serving as chairman next year by the same board that would impeach a month later.

Robinette said the organization’s constitution was amended Wednesday just prior to his impeachment so that a two-thirds vote of the executive board would be sufficient for impeachment rather than the whole body.

Following his impeachment, Robinette was asked to resign by 7 p.m. Thursday.

“I walked into a contrived meeting at 9 p.m. Sneaky amendments were passed, my comments were cut short and motions were made to move the impeachment forward,” he said.

But members of the executive board said Robinette himself voted in favor of the amendment that changed the procedure for impeachment.

Cliff Satell, former vice-chairman of the university’s College Republicans and president of the Duke Conservative Union, said he attended the meeting as a neutral observer. He said both sides were at fault, but he was appalled at the way the impeachment was carried out.

“There was no debate, no opportunity for rebuttal,” Satell said. “It was clear back room deal-making had been done.”

Although several members of the organization’s executive board knew Robinette was gay, executive director Samuel Tasher found out only the weekend before the meeting took place, Satell and Robinette said.

“The fact that it went from a few people knowing to a lot of people knowing was a catalyst to his impeachment,” Satell said. “If he wasn’t gay, he would still be chairman.”

Boyle, the new chairman, said Robinette’s sexuality wasn’t linked to the impeachment.

Boyle said Robinette used the chapter’s funds to buy Polo shirts and wrote them off as incidental purchases in February.

“He threatened to eliminate us from the board,” Boyle said. “He treated us like second-class people.”

Robinette was also elected last month to serve as co-chairman of the N.C. Federation of College Republicans alongside UNC junior John Eick.

Satell said the board only took action when they learned of Robinette’s sexuality and not when the events in question occurred.

“The timeline does not make sense for them to all of a sudden be bitching about it,” he said.