An Andrew Shirvell Discussion Without Any Gay Sex Jokes

When the Andrew Shirvell scandal first made national headlines in September -- Shirvell being the Michigan assistant attorney general who lost his mind when the University of Michigan elected an openly gay man named Chris Armstrong to be student-body president -- I wrote a blog post which simultaneously discussed the issue and answered the age-old Zen riddle "What is the sound of one hand blogging?"

Now, a month and change later, Shirvell has finally been fired from his job, and I wrote a sober and joke-free analysis of the matter for the Guardian. It is a sincere and serious discussion of legal authority and free-speech issues, completely devoid of commentary like "Andrew Shirvell is a homosexual so far in the closet, he's conquered Narnia and is slouching towards Calormen." I also resisted the urge to make the obvious joke about why a blazing homophobe probably shouldn't work for a boss named "Mike Cox." And, although my Guardian piece does include the phrase "homosexual agenda," it appears only as a straightforward quote from Shirvell's blog, rather than in a sentence like "Andrew Shirvell wishes Chris Armstrong would spray his white hot homosexual agenda all over Shirvell's lower back." Because I am not fourteen years old anymore.