Panel Wants Coroner To Resign Human Rights Commission Questions Judgment Of Amend After Anti-Gay Comments

County Coroner Dexter Amend should resign because his blatant prejudice against homosexuals clouds his judgment, members of the Spokane Human Rights Commission said Thursday.

The 10-member panel met at City Hall Thursday to publicly call for Amend’s resignation from the $46,883-a-year job.

“Dr. Amend’s made some very serious comments about gays and lesbians that we feel promote violence,” said panel member Sabino Cabildo. “He’s really bigoted against homosexuals.”

Amend, 76, was unfazed by the request and said his comments on homosexuality were taken out of context by reporters.

“My words have been warped so badly by the media that I dare say nothing more,” the coroner said. “Whatever the commission thinks is their opinion.”

Amend came under attack earlier this week when he announced that autopsy results on a 9-year-old murder victim showed she had been sodomized for years.

In a KXLY-TV story that aired Monday night and again Tuesday during an interview with The Spokesman-Review, Amend said homosexuals should be condemned for destroying lives.

The coroner declared gays as “abnormal” and “animalistic.” He said he hoped people would realize that a homosexual lifestyle is “not OK.”

On Thursday, Amend at first denied ever talking with The Spokesman-Review and accused the reporter of making the story up.

Later, after being reminded of the 30-minute interview, Amend said he had been talking only about his concern over the spread of AIDS.

“What I said doesn’t have anything to do with people, it has to do with disease,” Amend said. “AIDS is a disease that comes from anal intercourse and homosexuals have anal intercourse. As a physician, my job is to try to control disease.”

In fact, Amend never mentioned AIDS in either interview.

He said he never meant to imply a homosexual killed Rachel Carver, who was found beaten to death near the Spokane River on June 15. The girl died from a blow to the head and no physical evidence suggested she had been sexually assaulted just before the killing.

But the fact that she’d been sodomized in the past “drove me up the wall,” Amend said, adding that he felt compelled to speak out.

Commission chairwoman Janet Stevenson said the coroner’s words sparked dozens of calls from the community expressing outrage and concern. Many believed Amend was using his public office to further a private agenda, she said.

“It’s important people know that we will advocate for them in situations like this,” Stevenson said.

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