I received this from Mark  McLaurin this morning: "As an advocate and activist with a fifteen year history of working for equality in the LGBT community, I know that words not only matter, but they are powerful.  Last week, I carelessly used a pejorative phrase in an online argument that is insulting and hurtful.  While my intent was not to refer to Transgender people, as a community, that way, I now recognize that what I intended is not important- what matters is… Read more.

From SEIU Local 500 Executive Director David Rodich: "It has come to our attention that SEIU Local 500 Political Director Mark McLaurin made what we believe to be insensitive and inappropriate statements regarding members of the transgender community in a semipublic online forum recently. We wish to make clear that Mr. McLaurin was not speaking on behalf of SEIU Local 500 or its members. We do not support any statements that are meant either implicitly or explicitly to denigrate any… Read more.