Anti-LGBTQ North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson (R) allegedly wagged his finger in the face of a state lawmaker who made a speech about supporting LGBTQ people, yelling at her for “equating Black people with gay people.”
“It was a rant. He berated her, and he yelled as loudly as he could,” said state Sen. Natasha Marcus (D), who witnessed the confrontation.
State Sen. Julie Mayfield (D) gave a speech in the North Carolina Senate Monday, November 29, condemning anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and expressing the need for politicians to represent everyone, Raleigh’s News & Observer reported. She did no, however, mention Robinson explicitly.
“We have a responsibility to serve all of our constituents, not just those who look like us, or think like us, or who worship in the same church as us,” Mayfield said. “We are here to serve everyone… even if they love differently from us.”
“It is convenient fiction that we can say something in a particular forum and not expect to be held accountable for those words in another,” she said. That may have been a reference to Robinson, who has made most of his anti-LGBTQ comments in churches. “We are elected officials. And if we can’t respect our constituents rather than viciously attack some of them, then maybe we’re in the wrong job.”
She ended her speech saying, “I stand in solidarity with LGBTQ North Carolinians.”
Robinson – who has called LGBTQ people “filth,” compared gay people to cow dung, and repeatedly disparaged the trans community – approached Mayfield in the hallway after the speech.
Both Mayfield and Marcus, who was present for the confrontation, said Robinson started yelling at Mayfield and wagging his finger in her face.
“Sen. Mayfield’s remarks speak what’s in the hearts of most North Carolinians, and the fact that it set the lieutenant governor off that much is shocking to me,” Marcus said.
During the confrontation, Robinson reportedly told her he didn’t like her “equating Black people with gay people” since she opened her speech by talking about the ceremony for the victims of lynching.
Marcus only recorded the tail end of the conversation, which she posted to social media. In the video, Robinson says, “Next time, before you get ready to say something on that floor, come see me,” before turning around and storming off.
In the speech, Mayfield said that she attended a ceremony to honor three victims of lynching in the state, and she said that it reminded her that elected officials “have a responsibility to serve all of our constituents, not just those who look like us, or think like us, or who worship in the same church as us. We are here to serve everyone… even if they love differently from us.”
This article appears courtesy of our media partner LGBTQNation.com