“Homosexual conduct is illegal in NC (even after Lawrence V Texas). We arrest 250 homosexuals each year in Mecklenburg alone. Unlike prostitution, even suggesting homosexual sex is a criminal offense in NC”

SOUNDBITES — “Homosexual conduct is illegal in NC (even after Lawrence V Texas). We arrest 250 homosexuals each year in Mecklenburg alone for either a ‘crime against nature’ or ‘solicitation of a crime against nature’. Unlike prostitution (exchanging money), even suggesting homosexual sex is a criminal offense in NC. If we were all that ‘progressive’ would we be arresting 250 homosexuals a year? Setting up sting operations to de-infest areas where they congregate? Point is, if you want to delude yourself that homosexual conduct is ‘ok’ go ahead. The law, the police and the DA however have a different view.” —North Carolina city commissioner Bill James, who was caught on tape remarking “Your son was a homo?” to a colleague during a domestic partnerships debate, in an email written to a Charlotte resident. If you thought he’d opt to apologize for these comments, he won’t be:

“I think that if you’re someone who is homosexual and you believe that you are born that way and have every right to engage in that behavior, I think the offensive thing, I would surmise, is not the word ‘infest’ or ‘de-infest’ but the fact that the police are actually doing the sting operations,” he tells Q Notes when asked to explain his comments. “We can parse words — what phrase should I have used? But the central question for most people is not what particular term got used but whether the action was occurring. Was I accurate in saying there are these sting operations going on and those sting operations — whatever term you want to use — target homosexual men? That is why the county took and spent significant amounts of money to rework the park to take out certain landscaping things to prevent, once the sting operations cleared them out, prevent them from re-congregating — or re-infesting if you use my original term. … When someone trots out Lawrence v. Texas, I trot out the arrest statistics. I say if Lawrence v. Texas is the law of the land, why are there all these arrests? And that ends the discussion usually.”