Gay-bashing Michigan assistant attorney general Andrew Shirvell is fired

Andrew Shirvell, a Michigan assistant attorney general who became internationally known after
 anappearance on CNN's Anderson Cooper 360 where he defended his attacks on a University of Michigan gay student government leader, has been fired.

In a statement this afternoon, Attorney General Mike Cox said Shirvell was not being fired for exercising his First Amendment rights, but for lying to investigators during a disciplinary hearing and for posting attacks online during work hours.

The Detroit Free Press quotes Shirvell's attorney as saying his client was fired after he showed up at a hearing to look into the allegations.

University of Michigan alumnus and assistant attorney general Andrew
Shirvell speaks about the University of Michigan's student assembly president
Chris Armstrong at a Michigan Student Assembly meeting in Ann Arbor.

"They said essentially that as a result of Andrew's conduct, it's become impossible for him to carry out his duties as an attorney general," Freep.com reports attorney Philip Thomas, as saying.

In a September video interview with CNN's Anderson Cooper, Shirvell defended as free speech blogs he posted online attacking Chris Armstrong, the president of the Michigan Student Assembly, as a "radical homosexual." Shirvell also referred to Armstrong as a Nazi and Satan's representative on the assembly.

"I'm a Christian citizen exercising my First Amendment rights," Shirvell told Cooper.

Later, Mike Cox, who lost a GOP primary bid for governor in August, that Shirvell's behavior was offensive but he would not be fired because of it.

In today's statement, Cox cited a number of reasons for his latest decision, saying Shirvell:

• Showed up at the home of a private citizen three separate times, including once at 1:30 a.m. That incident is especially telling because it clearly was about harassing Mr. Armstrong, not engaging in free speech;

• Further engaged in behavior that, while not perhaps sufficient to charge criminal stalking, was harassing, uninvited and showed a pattern that was in the everyday sense, stalking.

This included:

• Harassing Armstrong's friends as they were socializing in Ann Arbor;

• Numerous calls to Speaker Pelosi's office, Armstrong's employer, in an attempt to slander Armstrong - and ultimately attempting to cause Pelosi to fire Armstrong;

• Attempting to "out" Armstrong's friends as homosexual,- several of whom were not gay.

E-mail Jeff Cranson: jcranson@grpress.com and follow him on Twitter attwitter.com/jdcranson