Bet you didn’t know North Carolina had a sexual orientation.
According to Republican State Sen. Buck Newton, the state is straight and it needs to stay that way.
During a rally yesterday, April 25, the first day of the General Assembly’s short session, Newton told supporters of anti-LGBT HB2 to spread the word.
“Go home, tell your friends and family who had to work today what this is all about and how hard we must fight to keep our state straight,” Newton said to applause.
Earlier in his speech he went after the Charlotte City Council for expanding their non-discrimination ordinance to include LGBT protections.
“I didn’t seek to see a bill called House Bill 2 be filed in the House or the Senate,” Newton said. “A bunch of crazy people on the city council of Charlotte decided that they were going to turn the world upside down and that what they thought should be imposed on the rest of us.”
Newton claimed the bill was needed to keep sexual predators out of bathrooms, in spite of the fact that laws are already in place to deal with such offenses and cities with similar legislation have not shown an increase in those crimes. Transgender individuals are actually the ones who need protecting in public bathrooms, as opponents of the bill keep pointing out.
“(We should not) expose our wives, and our sisters and our children to the sexual predators in the bathrooms. We must say no. We must say no. This is too far. This is too much,” Newton said. “We cannot allow this to happen.”
He also described transgender people as “having a difficult time,” like those struggling with drug addiction or a troubled marriage.
Newton has long held anti-LGBT views. In 2011, Newton argued in favor of Amendment One, the constitutional amendment that defined marriage as between one man and one woman.
In 2013, his legislative assistant, Carol Wilson, said she did not see LGBT equality as a civil rights issue.
Newton is running for Attorney General, to fill the spot left by Roy Cooper, who is himself running against Gov. Pat McCrory in the gubernatorial race.
Newton will face Democratic opponent Josh Stein in the upcoming election.
“My opponent in the race for Attorney General calls this Buck’s bill. He wants to make me the poster child of this bill,” Newton said at the pro-HB2 rally. “And you know what? I say, bring it on. Bring it on. Bring it on.”
He went on to state that he was not concerned with how he is judged by “some people at another rally,” referring to the one being held that same day by those opposing HB2.
“I am worried about how I am judged by the man upstairs,” Newton proclaimed. “And if I can’t win this election because I ran HB2, then so be it. Bring it on.”
Equality NC, who are suing over HB2, along with the ACLU and Lambda Legal, went ahead and took the liberty of finishing Newton’s sentence for him.
.@Buck_Newton We took the liberty of finishing your speech for you ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ #straightTowardsRepeal #repealHB2 pic.twitter.com/lzUhNsPMLA
— Equality NC (@equalitync) April 26, 2016
Jesus does a face-palm every time this guy opens his mouth. The message is vote for Josh Stein for AG.