College Reddit User Turns Arkansas Governor’s Website Into LGBT Forum

A 21-year-old college student bought the expired website domain of Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson and re-configured it to open an LGBT chat and forum. And he's got his eye on the sites of other antigay elected officials, too.

Dylan Hailey studies information science and information systems management. He said he's had enough of the Republican governor's propagation of anti-LGBT bills.

"I'm just doing what anyone else should -- calling out an injustice and drawing attention to issues that sometimes go overlooked," Hailey told Vocativ.

"I redirected it to the LGBT forum so it could benefit some people that went there, over 400 new members have signed up there in the last day," he continued. "I'm not trying to get shock value, I'd rather the site help people."

In February, Hutchinson allowed the passage of a bill that forbids local governments in Arkansas from passing ordinances to protect LGBT people from discrimination. He has also stated that the revised "religious freedom" bill he signed into law in April is enough to protect gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people, and that he "[doesn't] see any urgent need" for laws explicitly protecting LGBT people in Arkansas. The state's current nondiscrimination law does not include protections for sexual orientation or gender identity.

This is not the first time Hailey has redirected an antigay Republican's website to something more LGBT-friendly. Last March, he turned the expired domain of Idaho state representative Paul Shepherd into a gateway to the same forum where Hutchinson's website now redirects, according to Motherboard. Hailey also told Vocativ that he already has the expired domain names for "over 27" politician's websites -- and he'll continue to expose their bigotry through their own websites.

"I try to make the websites call them out on issues where they try to hinder equality, not just for LGBT equality, but for any group of people that the politicians try to treat unfairly," Hailey told Vocativ. "I will be releasing a few more in the near future from politicians who are coming up for re-election."

Hutchinson's office has not released an official statement regarding Hailey's action yet, according to Vocativ. In the meantime, check out his revamped website here.