A judge in Ohio says he no longer holds the homophobic beliefs he used to spout in college.
Maumee Municipal Court Judge Dan Hazard issued an apology this week after several vile letters to the editor he wrote as a sophomore in college resurfaced.
The letters were published in Ohio State University’s student newspaper The Lantern in the early 1990s.
In one letter, published in December 1992, Hazard advocates for cutting AIDS funding because “95% of those inflicted with the deadly disease pretty much deserve it anyway.” Then he proudly declares himself a homophobe.
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“I am homophobic because I am afraid for the future of this nation,” he states.
He continues, “These people think they deserve equal treatment under the law. I challenge anyone to name any civilized nation that looks at queers as ‘normal’ human beings. There just aren’t any.”
In another, published in April 1993, Hazard calls gay people “savages,” “unethical,” and “immoral” and demands they “keep your AIDS to yourself.”
In a third letter, also published in April 1993, Hazard takes aim at Ohio State students who had recently attended the March on Washington for Lesbian, Gay and Bi Equal Rights and Liberation.
“With most of them gone this past weekend, it doesn’t matter if the 300,000 in Washington was a success or not, it was a success here on campus,” Hazard wrote.
He went on to say that their absence from classes allowed him to “see what this campus could be like with the removal of gays from our society.”
Copies of the first and second letter can be found in The Lantern’s online archives.
When editors at The Toledo Blade unearthed Hazard’s old letters and asked him for a comment, the judge issued a statement saying he no longer holds those beliefs and is, in fact, horrified by what he wrote nearly 30 years ago.
“I have zero excuse and could not attempt to justify it then or now,” he said. “It was hurtful to anyone that saw it in 1993 or today. I am sorry that it will hurt even more people today including my gay and transgender family and friends whom I love dearly.
Hazard went on to call his words as a young man “reprehensible” and “deplorable,” and to say that he has many gay friend and clients today, and that one of the very first weddings he officiated was for a same-sex couple.
“Every day I treat every litigant and attorney with that same respect no matter their background, experience or gender identity and will continue to do so,” he said. “I am glad that this allows me to clarify my views that have drastically changed over time. Respect is owed not only in the courtroom but in all of society.”
Hazard is a registered Republican, according to online voter records. Prior to being elected judge in 2017, he worked as a lawyer for 16 years.
Related: Homophobic judge forced to resign after telling lawyer to ‘suck’ Viggo Mortensen in court
Vince
That’s how a good man takes responsibility for being a shithead 30 years ago.
joelk57
Really?!?! Really you actually believe that????
Den
Given the completeness of his apology and his clear acceptance of fault at that point in his life (as opposed to the typical, and disingenuous tactic of being “sorry if anyone was offended”) it seems genuine to me.
Consider as well that a less forthright apology would garner more favor from the right than a heartfelt apology would. And not repudiating his past discriminatory comments might have been his ticket to a federal appointment.
niles
oh that’s so funny that you actually believe this “apology”. Oh god, the naivete and complete ignorance of what the republican party has planned for the “queers” is really off the chart. The only reason he “apologized” was that he was finally exposed for what he is: a heinous excuse for a so-called judge. And the ubiquitous “gay friends” BS is a nice touch.
dmar
why do these people wait till the dirt comes out to be horrified and remorseful? 30 years didn’t stop him from being apart of the party that actively tries to strip the rights of his dear friends and family
mikes6762
Why couldn’t he be remorseful before? Who or where would he have apologized to 10 or 20 years ago? He was being asked to explain now and responded.
russdog
Who said he waited until now? He clearly indicated he had grown over the years, had gay clients, officiated a same-sex wedding, and has LGBTQ family. He was relatively a nobody until recently, so he’s hardly expected to put out a press release declaring himself no longer a homophobe after waking one morning and deciding he can live with gays. He grew up. His views changed over time and his behavior towards gay people in his life and career reflected that.
This is what we want from people; to learn and grow and treat us better. If we always find a reason to refuse to allow them to become allies, they’ll have less motivation to. It’s in our best interests to get folks on our side.
bodie425
Mike, I was saying much the same thing while trolling the adult bookstores in my spare midnight moments. Should I never be taken seriously when I apologize for my past statements, or should you just remain perpetually incensed and unable to accept that people evolve and grow to be better?
mikes6762
Bodie, ….trolling books? Somethings are just unforgivable.
Cam
This is why Republicans appointed him.
Jared MacBride
He was elected, not appointed, but don’t let facts get in the way of your tiresome trolling.
ToledoLGBTQ
Maumee, Ohio is ruled by Republicans
Kenover
Apology accepted. We all did and said stupid stuff in college. I think he’s sincere in his remorse.
glennmcbride
He did the right thing now everyone should move on. A lot of people grow and change over the course of their lives. When they own up to something like this and say they are horrified and it doesn’t represent the person they are today, we should believe and forgive them.
Jenniferp412
Kenover, you are not a good liberal. YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO FORGIVE ANYONE! Unless they are a Democrat. Example. Bill Clinton raped several women but we can forgive him because he is a Democrat. Donald Trump slept with a porn star and a playboy model but he is a republican so you must hate him. Hope that helps.
joelk57
Your entire comment is pathetic and so out of context ….I can’t with you…..
Den
Your saint Trump has been accused of rape by more people than Clinton has, child. So they’re even there. Trump, however cheated on his wife with that porn star not long after his wife had given birth, and, more importantly, Trump used his association with teen beauty pageants to waltz into dressing room as ogle teenage girls, as well as widely publicizing images of himself in highly sexualized poses with his teenage daughter (and tastelessly talked about how hot she was, and how he’d love to be able to date her, on air with Howard Stern!).
You really are pathetic as noted here so many times), and unable to think clearly!
RickHeathen
I believe him. I appreciate that he’s grown up.
niles
lol
joelk57
Once again here is a person who waited until caught to “Say” they were wrong and what they said was deplorable. What he really means is he’s sorry he got outed for his shit behavior.
If he really meant what he’s saying now it shouldn’t have taken 30 years to come clean about it.
PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
I usually am not on the forgive and forget bandwagon after a vile noxious smcubag is found out. Their apologies are usually a pathetic attempt at damage control.
However if he truly did officiate a Gay ceremony, I may be thinking he is sincere in his apologies and has changed his abhorrent repugnant views
niles
lol 2
Mack
He must be up for Federal Judgeship.
Den
Were that the case, he never would have stressed the extent to which he has changed. He would have simply said “sorry if you were offended,” and not bothered to repudiate anything he had said or at most implied his private views stay outside the courtroom. That would get him more support from the right than what he actually said.
ToledoLGBTQ
It wouldn’t matter and actually he would be elected for his comments because Ohio does NOT have LGBTQ equality in our anti-discrimination ordinances
Dick Mayhem
Appreciate the apology. My questions would be around his record as a lawyer and as a judge. How affirming were his actions?
Italtopcop
Forgiveness. It doesn’t help him, it helps you.
niles
lol 3
t
A registered republican. SURPRISE!
neohmike81
This reminds me of being in college in 2004 early in the gay marriage debates there were OP’eds in the college paper. I read a bunch and was very upset by what today would obviously be seen as hateful and beyond the scope of debate. So I responded with my own, and it was super dramatic and outed me and I just never felt like it left me. It’s good to remember we lived though this because it’s very easy to forget and the younger generations really have no idea, which may be good too I guess.
chi eg
Are we really so desperate to feel good about ourselves that we’re attacking people for what they believed 30 years ago? His apology is totally on point. He takes responsibility for the vileness of his letters and even acknowledges that his words will cause hurt today. If he’s found to support anti-LGBTQ ideas or laws today, then yes, attack. But the fact that he’s a registered Republican is not enough proof to attack (yet). There are many Republicans who deplore the current president and the racist, misogynist homophobes in their party.
niles
oh name 1
scotty
clearly, the appeals court is going to busy reviewing that asswipes rulings.
ToledoLGBTQ
He CAN get away with it as we do not have LGBTQ equality in Maumee and other Toledo suburbs, let alone the state itself which was never mentioned in the article
ToledoLGBTQ
EVERYONE is failing on this issue as MAUMEE DOES NOT HAVE LGBTQ PROTECTIONS and he can get away with his comments ! 99% of all Toledo’s suburbs do NOT have LGBTQ equality and I’m pissed The Blade didn’t add that to their story ~
The state of Ohio does NOT have sexual orientation nor gender identity in it’s anti-discrimination ordinances !
ToledoLGBTQ
Here’s proof the city of Maumee can discriminate us as sexual orientation and gender identity is NOT included even in their city hiring practices: “Applicants are considered for all positions without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, marital or veteran status or the presence
of a non-job-related medical condition or disability. You may exclude from this application any responses which indicate race, color, religion, sex,
national origin, disability, age or ancestry.”
ToledoLGBTQ
Judge Hazard currently attends a church that protests abortion and against LGBTQ rights, so, I believe he only said that as political correctness ~
sivcpzNick
Judge Hazard was wrong in college.
Anyone who persists as to some supernatural source of HIV/AIDS is categorically incorrect.
The program which produced HIV from SIVcpz also invented a number of cancer-causing hybrid pathogens, most originating in animals. It had 3 names over its lifespan from 1961 – 1978:
The Special Virus Leukemia Program
The Special Virus Cancer Program
The Virus Cancer Program
The Nixon / Kissinger administration poured funding into the work as did several Congressional and Senate subcommittees. The patents, policies and progress reports are all in the Library of Congress, effectively obscured by the distribution and compartmentalization of data.
There’s no smoking-gun document confessing, “We’re going to make a bioweapon to kill the gays!”
However, what does exist are thousands of pages of scientific evidence that the program focused on transferring Type-C viral particles from primates into humans. It also documents combining immune suppression together with disease causing pathogens of many varieties. Finally, several of the key entities & scientists intersect in their work between bioweapons development and the US Hepatitis B vaccine campaigns.
Keywords: Dr. Saul Krugman; Dr. Alfred Prince; Dr. Sol Spiegelman; Dr. Maurice Hilleman; Dr. Robert Gallo; Nixon Library homosexual; Reagan Library AIDS; Special Virus Cancer Program; type c viral RNA; RNA transfer; Dr. Bill Hamilton; Dr. Robert Strecker
fingertrouble
Funny how my comment is still in moderation after nearly 24 hours but the AIDS = Manmade conspiracy n*t above I was responding to is still happily there.
Sad, Queerty. Sad. Can we have some decent moderation here? For a start don’t allow people to p*ss on the memory of those who died of AIDS…
fingertrouble
As regards this bloke, it’s rather sad, he’d be a big hit in the bear demo, he’s cute.
But I don’t date bigots…even ones who later apologise.
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