WV Lawmaker Likens Gays to the KKK, to Outrage

Republican Delegate Eric Porterfield's remarks have been denounced by both sides
By Kate Seamons,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 13, 2019 9:35 AM CST
WV Lawmaker Likens Gays to the KKK, to Outrage
The House of Delegates chambers in Charleston, W. Va., are shown on Monday.   (AP Photo/John Raby)

Virginia isn't the only state where a lawmaker is being called upon to resign. There's a brouhaha within West Virginia's House of Delegates over anti-LGBT comments Republican Eric Porterfield has repeatedly made over the last week. CNN reports things started last Wednesday during a hearing about an ultimately unsuccessful amendment to an anti-LGBT-discrimination bill; it would have permitted cities to allow the discrimination of LGBT people. "The LGBT is the most socialist group in this country," Porterfield said. "They do not protect gays. There are many gays they persecute if they do not line up with their social ideology." On Friday, the West Virginia Democratic Party called for the 44-year-old's resignation. Instead, he phoned the Charleston Gazette-Mail and went all in.

"The LGBTQ is a modern-day version of the Ku Klux Klan, without wearing hoods, with their antics of hate," the paper quoted him as saying. He also reportedly branded gays a "terrorist group." His third set of comments were more inscrutable: In an interview with WVVA, he was asked how he would respond if his young children ended up being gay. His answer: "Well, I will address my daughter first. I would take her for a pedicure, I'd take her to get her nails done, and see if she could swim. If it was my son, I would probably take him hunting, I would take him fishing, then I'd see if he could swim." In an extremely critical editorial, the Gazette saw it as a "reference to drowning his children if they were gay." On Monday, the West Virginia GOP expressed its own displeasure, denouncing his comments and calling them "unacceptable." (More West Virginia stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X