A fired police chief from Lowell, Michigan insists he’s not a bigot because he has a gay brother and his stepson has a friend who is multiracial.
Steven Bukala was forced to resign from his job as the Lowell Police Department’s police chief after threatening protestors on Facebook last week.
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Bukala shared a picture of four white men holding guns who said they would be patrolling the streets should any violent Black Lives Matter protesters show up in their town of 4,150 people.
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“The Lowell Police Department supports the Second Amendment and the armed citizen,” Bukala wrote.
After being accused by city officials of “conduct unbecoming of a police officer” for letting his personal feelings interfere with his job as a public servant, Bukala tendered his resignation.
Now, he says doesn’t regret the post, even if it cost him his job.
“We are sworn to uphold the constitution of the United States and the State of Michigan,” Bukala tells local media. “Politics aside, we support the entire constitution. The city manager and the city council all swear to the same oath that I did.”
As for accusations that he’s a bigot for supporting white counter-protestors, Bukala calls them “laughable.”
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“Anybody that knows my family dynamics, this is laughable,” he says. “I have a brother who is homosexual. My stepson is dating a Hispanic girl… and my stepson’s best friend is half black, half white.”
“For someone to actually even insinuate that I am a racist is laughable.”
He continues, “I lost my career for standing up for the First and Second amendment rights. The character attacks on me are nothing more than trying to silence what the one true issue is.”
Bukala, who first joined the Lowell Police Department in 1995, adds that he has absolutely no desire to return to his career in law enforcement, saying this whole situation has left him with a “bad taste.”
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Cam
Interesting how he claims he stood up for first amendment rights, when one of his ideas was about attacking people using their 1st amendment rights.
And how many people who have friends that are other races, ALSO, have parents who are racists or bigots a lot. His stepson having a friend, whose race this guy apparently is VERY aware of doesn’t mean he isn’t a racist, but it DOES show that he pays really close attention to the fact that one of his kids friends isn’t totally white.
woodroad34
You’re correct…associations don’t belie bigotry. I have immediate relations who don’t want me around their kids because I’m gay–even though they profess to stand up for me.
msfrost
Back in the 1960’s, they said, “I can’t be a bigot, because I have Jewish friends.” It didn’t work then and will not work now!!!!!
Kangol2
Also, would he be supporting the Second Amendment as heartily if armed Black citizens of that town paraded around with their guns on display? Gov. Ronald Reagan, the FBI and the GOP sure in the hell changed their tune in the late 1960s on gun-toting when the Black Panther Party vanguard showed up in Sacramento armed to the teeth with legally acquired and permitted guns!
Wolfwalk
Yeah, right. I’m gay and my little brother is a racist and a homophobe and (surprise) a die hard Trump cultist and claims to love me and my husband and be a Christian and says he’s totally not racist, too. He’s family, but in the end, he’s just another bigoted hypocrite.
TwinPeaker
People who refer to us as “homosexual” are usually homophobic
Flamingo Falls
I was born and raised not far from Lowell, and we have family that live nearby. One need not scratch to far below the surface to find a bunch of gun-toting, homophobic racists who are nice to your face. In my partner’s hometown, there was an old man who regularly flew the Confederate flag. Michigan was never part of the Confederacy, and the old man was born and raised in Michigan, so the flag was simply a way for him to express his racism.
Yooper
He was fired, fortunately, because he’s not fit to be Police Chief, end of story.
joeboyle49
YES PEOPLE WHO SAY THEY ACCEPT HOMOSEXUALS END UP BEING HOMOPHOBIC. I HAVE FAMILY WHO SAYS THEY ACCEPTED ME AND BEHIND MY BACK THEY TALK ABOUT ME NEEDING TO ACCEPT GOD AND I NEED TO CHANGE! SO BE WARE OF THOSE THAT PRETEND TO BE ACCEPTING YOU.
GayEGO
Another homophobic. I knew one who had a gay partner and he hated himself so he set his house on fire and burned himself up in it.