GREENSBORO, N.C. — Peter Boykin, head of the Gays for Trump group, has filed to run as a Republican in House District 58, against Democratic incumbent Amos Quick.
Quick is a former Guilford County School Board member in his first term, who also serves as pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in High Point. Kate Flippen, a Democrat from the healthcare field, will also challenge him for the seat.
“I’ve been telling people that in order to make change in the GOP and make sure we are making America great again we have to get involved,” Boykin told Triad City Beat. “It’s important that we get involved in midterms when voting is so low.”
Boykin has organized two March 4 Trump rallies in Washington, D.C., and this past summer acted as the emcee at the Raleigh March Against Sharia, one of a number of rallies organized nationwide by Act for America. The Southern Poverty Law Center has deemed Act for America a hate group for their anti-Muslim views.
His husband, David Smith, made headlines when he attacked an anti-Trump protester, Derek Dunham, when he held up an American flag in the distress position and was spotted by Trump from the stage and denounced. It was one of numerous instances of violence, often encouraged by Trump, during the 2016 campaign.
Smith high-fived other Trump supporters as he was led out of the event by police. Boykin would tweet out a picture of the confrontation a year later, showing no signs of embarrassment or remorse.
“I want to ensure people of all walks of life are treated with dignity and respect so long as they also return the favor,” Boykin claims in a press release, promoting his upcoming announcement that he will run, set for Nov. 8. “Equality is treating everyone with equal respect regardless of race, sex, sexual orientation, religion, political party, or opinions.”
Boykin has appeared on InfoWars with conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, where he said he enjoys trolling people who tell him, “[Vice President Mike] Pence is gonna electrocute you.’ I’ll send ’em back a picture of Pence zapping people. It’s stupid. It’s silly. It’s nuts. I make fun of it.”
Jones has gotten himself into trouble lately, losing advertisers and on the verge of losing is YouTube account, over his insistence on pushing the conspiracy theory that the victims of the Florida school shooting are so-called “crisis actors,” and that the entire event was staged in order for Democrats to pass stricter gun laws.
Boykin’s release says he supports the controversial plan of arming teachers, as well as having armed guards at churches, “to ensure our children and our family’s feel secure and safe when attending school, church, or public events knowing trained individuals are present to safeguard their lives and they will all make it home each and every day.”
He has also said he is for Trump’s ban on transgender soldiers in the military, and has said he thinks the LGBT and T should be separated.
“I prefer ‘Gays, lesbians, bisexuals and allies,’” he said. “They have their own agenda. We can support it, but we can’t let them interfere with what we have accomplished.”
Lightpurple- that”s very true, a new name may be inserted in the list as Pence”s new Vice President, for example, if things happen slowly enough. I wonder if it all will happen too fast, though. What if Trump and Pence are both shown to be entangled in conspiracies at the same time? Then we have President Paul Ryan, who has been salivating to trash Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid for years. And of course who would Pence name as VP anyway? We got lucky when Nixon pushed for Gerald Ford to replace Agnew. Ford wasn”t the brightest bulb on the tree (I had lived in his district years before in Michigan), but he seemed reasonably honest and not extreme. Not sure we would be so lucky with Pence”s choice. This assumes all this goes down before November 2018, of course, but if steps aren”t taken to secure the accuracy of the vote counts – the Republicans may very well remain in control no matter how the real vote goes. We”ve had problems with the vote counts since those machines became widely installed after the 2000 election.