Although the United States and world continue to march forward, in an age when Donald Trump could rise to power few are truly safe. This past week, a West Virginia Republican state lawmaker compared LGBT people to the Ku Klux Klan, further digging out the rhetorical hole he put himself in via previously freely using the slur “faggot” as part of an angry diatribe in support of a provision that would have legalized discrimination against LGBT people, even in West Virginia cities that had expressly forbidden it.
Delegate Eric Porterfield ranted to a reporter on Friday:
‘The LGBTQ is a modern day version of the Ku Klux Klan, without wearing hoods with their antics of hate.’
He’d been discussing a story about his earlier comments in support of discrimination against LGBT people, which is not expressly forbidden in areas like housing and employment under West Virginia state law.
He’d asserted:
‘The LGBT is the most socialist group in this country. They do not protect gays. There are many gays they persecute if they do not line up with their social ideology.’
In other words, in this bumbling maniac’s fantasy world, “the LGBT” is some kind of militia group separate from the people who by virtue of their identities and the community’s name, you’d imagine were themselves “LGBT” — or something. It’s not as though Porterfield seems particularly fond of respecting gay people to begin with.
The state Republican Party has been mostly quiet on the controversy Porterfield has stirred up. House Speaker Roger Hanshaw said Friday that he’d have to talk to Porterfield before commenting extensively on what had transpired, while state Republican Party Chairwoman Melody Potter did not respond to an interview request from the Charleston Gazette-Mail.
For what it’s worth, at least a couple of West Virginia’s rank-and-file Republican state legislators condemned Porterfield’s behavior. Daniel Linville, for instance, asserted:
‘He’s wrong, very wrong. There’s just no excuse for some of the things that he said.’
John Mandt, meanwhile, offered a take that had at least as much to do with the effect of his comments on the state Republican Party’s standing as it had to do with the actual targets of Porterfield’s belligerence, asserting:
‘When we talk, and when we say things, we need to represent our caucus, instead of putting us, our caucus, out on a limb. He is a great guy, I just would prefer that we don’t put people down if they do something that you don’t personally believe in.’
Unsurprisingly, the state Democratic Party was much more forthcoming in their criticism of Porterfield.
State Democratic Party Chairwoman Belinda Biafore called for him to resign, asserting:
‘West Virginia has no room for someone who expresses such hate, let alone room for him to hold a public office where he is supposed to represent the people of West Virginia. His hate-filled remarks and actions speak volumes, and so does the Republican Party’s silence.’
You’d hope that at least somewhere along the chain of command inside the GOP, there’d be significant pushback against Porterfield — but that’s not exactly a looming possibility.
President Donald Trump himself has gone so far as to seek to ban transgender people from serving in the military on the basis of false assertions about the cost of providing them with relevant medical services.
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