South Carolina Gay Couple Is Leaving Town
A South Carolina couple are yelling hate crime after a building of theirs was burned down.
Tim and Neil Griffin were sleeping when they realized that the 3,000-square-foot structure next to their Pageland, South Carolina home was burning down.
The structure, which was going to be used to host the Miss Pageland Pageant, a local beauty contest, awoke the couple around 2 am. By the time firefighters arrived, “the building was 80%, 90% gone,” Tim Griffin told WSOC-TV Channel 9. “It went down just like that.”
The men suspect foul play was at hand after being repeatedly targeted by hateful townsfolk.
Griffin posted a Facebook post and accused councilwoman Elaine Robertson and her family and friends, of “posting comments about harming us, shooting us, running us out of town—calling us fags, child molesters, child-porn distributors, threatening Neil’s job and on and on.” (The men say they’ve reported the threats to authorities, but “they did nothing.”)
More: Man And Girlfriend Tortured Her 8-Year-Old Son To Death Because They Thought He Was Gay
That said, on the other side of the argument is Tony Nolan, a local fundraising consultant and former head of the local chapter of commerce, who says that the two men are frauds.
In his own Facebook post, Nolan says that the Griffins “were ostracized and run out of Charlotte by their neighbors.”
“More than a dozen people have contacted me,” he wrote on Facebook, “about how disgusted they are that the two desperate, failed, lying charlatans have committed pity-me arson… AGAIN.”
What is officially known is that this fire doesn’t look like it was an accident. The unit didn’t have power yet, so that rules out any electrical wiring causing the fire.
Whatever caused the fire, it unfortunately came with a heavy cost as Tim Griffin notes.
“I think the part that has me in the most tears is the Miss Pageland history and memorabilia,” Griffin wrote on Facebook. “Over the past ten years we had collected so many items related to Miss Pageland. Pictures, sashes, gowns, oil paintings, programs, newspaper articles, personal letters and other irreplaceable items are all gone.”
In addition, it looks like this was the last straw for the Griffins and the town might get what they were looking for as Griffin said, “We can’t take it anymore, emotionally and physically,” he said. “We’ll go. We’re done.”
h/t: NewNowNext
