Gay Rights Group Cancels Protest After Meeting with Troy Mayor

The group that for her outside Troy City Hall before the Dec. 5 has canceled today's scheduled protest after meeting with the mayor last week, according to a post on the event page on Facebook.

Four members of the (GSA), including senior Skye Curtis, met with Daniels on Thursday to discuss the recent controversy surrounding the mayor. Although Daniels refused to attend a Troy High GSA meeting, Curtis said, she did agree to speak at an anti-bullying event in January.

"She repeatedly refused to attend a GSA meeting, but invited the club to 'her community center' at a time convenient for herself," Zach Kilgore, a Troy High School senior and member of the GSA, wrote on the Facebook event page for the protest. "We came to a compromise of sorts and decided to hold an event featuring her as a speaker."

"We’re going to host some kind of ant-bullying conference where we’re focusing on how her words have hurt others, and how others’ words have hurt her,” Curtis said. “We’re trying to pull something positive out of all of this."

The group canceled tonight's protest as a compromise, Curtis said, though she and other members of the GSA are still bothered by Daniels' words and actions.

"It bothers me so much that she keeps trying to be the victim," Curtis said. "I do understand that she’s been very hurt by this and that it’s gone too far, but she won’t acknowledge the fact that this has really hurt a lot of people.”

Instead of protesting, the group is now encouraging people to meet at the 's Cup and Chaucer cafe today starting at 4:30 p.m. "There, we can talk about our ideas of what to do next," Kilgore wrote.

“We're giving people a chance to air their grievances," Curtis added.

Daniels said she was impressed to see how politically active the students are at Troy High School, and added that she is excited about the upcoming event in January and hopes that something good can come out of the controversy.

"It should be interesting," she said.

Daniels is expected to be present for , which begins at 7:30 p.m. at Troy City Hall.