Public Defenders union calls for resignation of DEI director over “degradation of women” Facebook post.
by Kevin Rennie
Leaders of the Connecticut Public Defender Attorneys Union, represented by AFSCME Local 381, are disappointed by our Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Mr. Daryl McGraw’s, degradation of women through a public Facebook post.
We do not condone demeaning actions or communications towards any marginalized groups. It is unacceptable for anyone, and especially someone with Mr. McGraw’s title, to say things that perpetuate any of these victimizations.
The union supports a DEI program. We understand that the Division of Public Defender Services must work to eradicate such behavior within our own agency. However, we cannot accept the head of the DEI program, the person who is supposed to guide us through this process, engaging in such behavior himself.
We demand his immediate resignation.
Leaders of the Connecticut Public Defender Attorneys Union called for the resignation of Daryl McGraw, the Division of Public Defender Services Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, for a misogynist post he put on his Facebook page. Union leaders condemned the post’s “degradation of women.”
Daily Ructions broke the story Wednesday morning. Before noon, McGraw sent a response by email to agency colleagues. It ignited a storm of replies. McGraw wrote, in part, “I became aware that the post, initially shared on my personal page, had an unintended impact within our division, leading to some people being upset. I deeply regret any discomfort this may have caused, especially to those who felt affected.”
Public defenders and others in the agency wondered what impact other than alarm and dismay McGraw thought his post would have on others who saw it.
McGraw’s graphic on his post declared that “Grown women want to…get bent over the balconies,” holding out the prospect of stepping up one’s game. The controversy adds to the tumult that has racked the agency this year under the leadership of Chief Public Defender TaShun Bowden Lewis.
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