Facing Calls to Resign, NC Lt. Gov. Doubles Down on Anti-LGBTQ Comments

A North Carolina state senator is calling for the resignation of Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson after he was exposed for making bigoted comments about LGBTQ people during a speech made over the summer.

Robinson, a Republican who was elected separately from the state’s Democratic governor, got on people’s radar a couple of weeks ago when, at a religious conference, he promoted Christian Nationalism, trashed trans people, and claimed forced religion in public schools could prevent mass shootings.

That led Kyle Mantyla at Right Wing Watch to look through any past speeches Robinson had made; he soon uncovered a speech Robinson delivered over the summer to Asbury Baptist Church, in which he said “There’s no reason anybody, anywhere in America, should be telling any child about transgenderism, homosexuality, any of that filth.”

While Mantyla is hardly the first person to pick up on Robinson’s hate speech, it was that clip that broke through a lot of other noise and got the attention of politicians like State Senator Jeff Jackson:

“There’s no debate here,” said Sen. Jeff Jackson, a Mecklenburg County Democrat. “This is open discrimination. It is completely unacceptable… Mark Robinson should resign.”

Even the governor’s office weighed in:

“North Carolina is a welcoming state where we value public education and the diversity of our people,” said Jordan Monaghan, spokesman for Gov. Roy Cooper. “It’s abhorrent to hear anyone, and especially an elected official, use hateful rhetoric that hurts people and our state’s reputation.”

The Raleigh News & Observer has a larger roundup of what other elected officials are saying in response to Robinson’s comments. But, notably, there’s mostly silence from Republican officials, who have no problem whatsoever with a Christian bigot like Robinson. That’s what you’d expect from a party full of moral monsters who use faith as a shield against legitimate criticism.

For his part, Robinson predictably doubled down on his faith-based hate, saying he wouldn’t resign and that he wasn’t ashamed of the language he used… even though he curiously chose not to say the word “filth.”

“We will not be intimidated. We will not back down. We will not change our language,” Robinson said. “The language I used, I am not ashamed of it. I will use it in the future because, again, it is time for parents in this state to take a strong stand for their children.“

It takes a True Republican to say he’ll keep making shitty statements in the future on behalf of children everywhere.

Here’s the scary thing: Robinson was a bigot before he got elected. His older statements were no less troubling, and none of that made a difference. If he runs for even higher office in the future, there’s no reason to think Republican voters would hold those comments against him — because, again, this is what their party stands for: hate, discrimination, bigotry, etc. Unless more Republicans speak out against this — and they won’t because decent people left the GOP a long time ago — Robinson won’t face any real consequences for his comments.

(Portions of this article were published earlier)