Justin Carroll, a 37-year-old candidate for Town Justice in Clinton, New York, has become the target of homophobic flyers attacking him over his sexuality.
Carroll, who moved to Clinton with his husband Adam Lynch five years ago, finds the flyers both amusing and disturbing. “At first I thought the ad was just kind of laughable how amateurish it was, given the sophisticated nature of my campaign,” Carroll observed to Metro Weekly. “Second, it was disheartening, to think about that coming from this community where I’ve moved with my husband. We’ve been living here for almost five years. It’s our full-time residence, it’s our only residence. We moved up here to raise a family. It reminds us of the places where we grew up, in Connecticut and Oregon. We’ve had the most wonderful interactions with our neighbors over the past five years and are familiar with all the local establishments. I serve on the town planning board, and am involved in the local community. But obviously, when opponents don’t have things to talk about, they find things to manufacture.”
Related: WATCH: Bigoted politician sounds like a fool when trying to defend his antigay views
The flyers in question emphasize Carroll’s sexuality, and purport to be from a Democratic committee. They feature the word “Pride” in rainbow lettering, make reference to Carroll working with the YMCA and feature a shirtless picture of the candidate from 2005. A reported 4,300 voters received a copy of the flyer.
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Carroll says he “felt like it was trying to weaponize my coming out story and things that I’m proud of, but with these nefarious undertones of ‘these people are invading our town and maybe they shouldn’t be left around children. That’s a disgusting sentiment, and it has no place in our public discourse.” He also says he is undeterred by the smears. “This is not the first time in our area where an LGBTQ candidate has come under fire for being LGBTQ,” Carroll notes. “But I don’t think it’s a prevailing opinion. This isn’t something that comes up during conversations with voters. I’m focused on the issues important to our town. Anyone who’s supporting me is interested in those issues, and they don’t want to see neighbors attacking neighbors. That’s just not the kind of place we are up here.”
PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
Isn’t it kinda sorta late to try and out an out candidate?
Kieran
It’s not about outing him. It’s about fomenting fear and hatred towards him as a gay man.
RyanCampbell1246
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white-queer-african
@Queerty, i am gobsmacked that you still allow a troll, now he is @RyanCampbell1246, and fourteen hours later since posting, that changes names all the time, to advertise a money grabbing fake site on Queerty. You turning a blind eye? Disgusting to say the least. Or, as previously asked by me, are you involved in this site!
JorgeTurner1659
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Kieran
How would the police, community and media respond if these were flyers attacking a Jewish or Muslim candidate in New York?
GayNOTQueer
Why do you feel the need to pit minorities and targeted peoples against each other? You realize you are contributing to the schisms? When did one victimized group become more valid than another? Especially in the current landscape where anything that isn’t Christian and white is seen as an invader?
Bromancer7
In upstate NY? They would join in.
Josh447
Looks like this is more of a smear campaign than outing someone i.e. the children comment. Either way it’s cruel and divisive behavior. He’ll most likely win regardless.
Harley
Good thing it wasn’t a rent boy ad. He was and still is hot.
IanHunter
Yes he he’s definitely hot.
boymikefl
Gay bashing these days is either confronted or ignored by our allies. They bullies are looked at as pathetic trailer park trash.
Karrnal
so why can’t we see the flyer?
Harley
You can link to it with the Metro Weekly link above.
Brian
This isn’t all that different than what Melania Trump had to deal with. With so many people posting thirst pics online these days, I imagine this kind of stuff will become more and more common in future elections. I can’t imagine too many people will be scandalized by a shirtless pic.
PinkoOfTheGange
That sound? The point flying over the head of the dense.
James
WHO GIVES A CRAP ABOUT MELANOMA TRUMP.
DarkZephyr
This article wasn’t even about the Trumps. Jesus Christ, any excuse to rush to the aide of those who hate us.
Brian
Oh please. The NY Post published her nude pics, multiple times, trying to turn it into a scandal and there were no shortage of articles talking about people slut shaming her. This is the same thing on a much smaller scale. In her case, most people really didn’t care.
Just because it’s a Trump doesn’t make it an inaccurate comparison
DarkZephyr
And yet, this article is STILL not about the Trumps.
“Most people didn’t care” about Melania’s nudes because conservatives are usually hypocrites about such things and only care if its somebody they oppose, otherwise they make excuses or give “mulligans”. If we’re really gonna do comparisons, how about we talk about the reaction to Michelle Obama’s bare arms? Did “most people not care” about that as well? Also, did anyone imply that Melania Trump might be a pedophile as they did to Justin Carroll in this flyer? Its the old “gay men are pedophiles trope” and you think that’s no big deal, do ya?
Brian
I’m not sure why you’re not getting it, but the point is that this kind of stuff is not unprecedented. I’m sorry that the mention of a Trump gets you foaming at the mouth, but it’s still a valid comparison.
And no, nobody called Melania a pedophile. But plenty sure called her a prostitute. Sorry if that doesn’t win the contest you’ve set up in your mind.
DarkZephyr
So you just decided you had to throw out there “this is not unprecedented” because that was an important message to you, eh? You figured that a bunch of gay men had NO clue that such things have happened before?
Sure, Jan.
Heywood Jablowme
The NY Post is usually quite favorable to Trump, and even they couldn’t resist implying that Melania was a gold-digging wh0re. Ought to tell you something, Brian.
Kangol2
Melania Trump isn’t a pedophile, but she was introduced to Drumpf by a convicted one, Jeffrey Epstein!
truthseeker
@Kangol2
Where are you getting that information from? Sounds like you’re spreading fake news again
Donald and Melania have told the same story of how they met for years. They both have said they met in 1998 at a party at the Kit Kat Club in NYC. The party was thrown by Paolo Zampolli who founded the modeling agency which Melania worked at. Zampolli has said for years that he introduced the two.
Celtic
Once again, IGNORANCE PREVAILS. Bring up the topic of “children”, and immediately people want to put a hex on you. Historically, pedophiles are heterosexual. That fact makes me wonder about the person who originated these hate pamphlets.
Harley
Also historically pedophiles are men of the cloth as well.
Thad
New York geography is confusing. Just to clarify, Justin Carroll is running for justice of the Town of Clinton, in Dutchess County (near Poughkeepsie). This isn’t the village of Clinton (where mail addressed to Clinton, NY goes) near Utica, nor Clinton County on the Canadian border.
Heywood Jablowme
All named for Gov. DeWitt Clinton (of Erie Canal fame) or his uncle Gov. & Vice President George Clinton (not the guy from Funkadelic!) – and not for either Bill or Hillary.
aussiechef
I’m confused. He’s running for “town justice” – a judge? So you guys vote your judges in by popularity? How weird is that? You really do things differently in “Murcia dont ya?
Brian
It’s pretty dumb, isn’t it? I usually just pick one at random.
1898
I’m not sure why that’s any worse than having judges appointed by politicians, but it’s worth noting that many states and cities in America do not have elected judges. In the state where I live, all judges are appointed except for probate judges who are elected. The good thing about elected judges is that the bad ones can be voted out at the next election, whereas it’s much harder for the public to do anything about a bad appointed judge.
1898
@Brian why pick one at random? if you don’t know the candidates or don’t care about the position, why not just leave that portion of your ballot blank?
ClarkAlan
“the modeling agency which Melania worked at” — does not at all disprove the assertion that Melania was a prostitute. Is it possible the Metropolitan Modeling agency is a front for prostitution? Do you really think that Trump met and dated women in any sort of conventional way? As Bill Maher says “I don’t know it for a fact, I just know it’s true”. Don’t @ me. Lol.