There are a number of candidates for local, statewide, and national offices that have said and done horrible things about LGBTQ+ people, and are threatening to target more of our rights in 2024. But one stands above the rest as anti-LGBTQ+ derogatory, and all-around misinformed: Lt. Gov Mark Robinson, leading GOP candidate for governor.
Lt. Gov Mark Robinson is one of the most virulently anti-LGBTQ+ elected officials in the country. He stoked the flames that allowed the passage of three anti-LGBTQ+ bills in North Carolina in 2023, and the passage of over 80 bills nationwide.
Some of the things he’s said about LGBTQ+ people include:
- Calling us “filth.”
- “God formed” him to fight LGBTQ+ visibility.
- We’re turning this country into a “hellhole.”
- Teachers can’t teach children how to read because “they’re trying to push homosexuality and transgenderism. That ain’t got no place in schools.”
- Trans people should “find a corner outside somewhere” to use the bathroom, and trans women should be “arrested” for using women’s restrooms.
- If “homosexuality is of god, what purpose does it serve? What does it make? What does it create? It creates nothing.” (See our economic benefits blog for the fact check)
- LGBTQ+ education on different gender identities are “lies from a pit of hell.”
He has ethics complaints like:
- $500,000 in misused funds related to his 2020 campaign, related to illegal cash donations, contributions in illegal amounts and from illegal donors, illegal cash withdrawals, illegal credit card charges and illegal expenses, and illegal disclosure of financial transactions. Many of these complaints are still unresolved. (NC Newsline)
He has a record of posting incendiary things on social media, such as:
- Criticisms of powerful women including Michelle Obama, Beyoncé, VP Kamala Harris, Megan Rapinoe, Hillary Clinton, Taylor Swift, Oprah Winfrey, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Jane Fonda, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Cardi B, and so many more. (Huffpost)
- Islamophobic rants, such as “Someone just asked me if I trust Muslims and respect Islam. I told them I’ll do both when I’m allowed to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ in Saudi Arabia and Saudi women are allowed to drive to my church to hear it.” (Huffpost)
- Antisemitic clickbait like “We often speak of the ‘appeasement’ of Hitler. But the biggest ‘appeasement’ of all time is how we turned a blind eye to the clear and present danger of MARXISM.” (Jewish Insider)
- Disapproval of Martin Luther King Jr., whom he referred to as an “ersatz pastor” and a “communist.” He also called the Civil Rights Movement “crap” and said it was really the “Communist Rise Movement.” (Huffpost)
If Lt. Gov. Robinson is elected as Governor of North Carolina, virulently homophobic commentary like this will be coming from the most powerful figure in the state, not to mention the damage he would do in discriminatory, anti-LGBTQ+ policies.
North Carolinians love LGBTQ+ people, and these hateful diatribes have no place in our state.
