Monroe school board candidate holds anti-LGBT bias

Published 1:30 am Wednesday, September 4, 2019

Since the 2016 election Americans have witnessed the politics of fear. Such politics create a climate of division, disruption and distrust, pitting Americans against one another in the name of ideology. Rather than unifying Americans, building American civil society by leveraging the strengths of our diversity, bonding Americans by a common sense of citizenship, the politics of fear has fractured our society into a nation of “others.” We are witnessing the rise of hate-based nationalist organizations, cruelty against those who are different and increased violence justified by the language of isolationism and hate.

The politics of fear is not just national, it is local. We see this exemplified in the upcoming school board election for Monroe School District, director position No 2. Chuck Whitfield is running for that school board position. In a Herald article from March 24, 2012, titled “Gay marriage opponents not afraid to gather signatures,” Mr. Whitfield describes his bias against LGBT people seeking marriage rights: “Personally, I do not believe it’s good for society to have same-sex marriage,” said Whitfield, who describes himself as a conservative Christian. “Our society is based on that premise. It’s for procreation. It’s the basic structure to society, to pass our values and beliefs on to other generations — and it’s under attack.”

Since the passage of marriage equality, both statewide and nationwide, we now understand the extension of marriage rights to all Americans did not undermine the institution of marriage, but was, in fact, the moral thing to do. As a Christian myself, I’m concerned Mr. Whitfield identifies LGBT people as the “other,” somehow less American than himself. It would be a mistake to bring such bias to the school board in Monroe.

Katherine Eckhardt

Everett