Elected officials and advocacy groups are calling on North Carolina Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson to resign over remarks about educating children on LGBTQ topics, referring to it as "filth," the Associated Press reported.
"There's no reason anybody anywhere in America should be telling any child about transgenderism, homosexuality, any of that filth," Robinson said while speaking at the Asbury Baptist Church in Seagrove.
The outcry over his comments added to existing public criticism for the politician's efforts to alter how public schools can talk about racism. The White House, Human Rights Campaign, Equality North Carolina and top Democratic lawmakers are among those who have decried Robinson's remarks, AP reported.
Human Rights Campaign Interim President Joni Madison called on the Republican lawmaker to resign in a statement, warning that he could see a similar fate as former Governor Pat McCrory, who lost the 2016 election months after signing a bill requiring state residents to use restrooms consistent with the gender they were assigned at birth.
"If Lt. Governor Robinson still doesn't understand how anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric is received in North Carolina, he should ask former Governor Pat McCrory," Madison said.
For more reporting from the Associated Press, see below.
The White House called Robinson's comments "repugnant and offensive." The state Republican Party and North Carolina's two most powerful state lawmakers, House Speaker Tim Moore and Senate leader Phil Berger, have declined to comment.
State Senator Jeff Jackson of Mecklenburg County, campaigning to be the Democrats' 2022 U.S. Senate nominee, tweeted that Robinson's comments revealed "real hatred."
"Of course he should step down," Jackson wrote. "This isn't hard, folks. Basic decency is all we should need to agree on to see that."
Democratic Governor Roy Cooper's office has called Robinson's June remarks "abhorrent," but it did not respond when asked if the governor himself has anything to say on the matter, or if Cooper believes the independently elected lieutenant governor should resign. Among many largely bureaucratic activities, Robinson could preside as North Carolina's top officeholder if Cooper chose to travel outside the state.
Robinson's office did not respond to a request for comment. But in a video posted on his Facebook page Saturday night, Robinson narrated over images depicting gay sex that were taken from "Gender Queer." Robinson claimed the illustrated book "is currently in North Carolina schools," though it wasn't mentioned a single time in the 831-page report he released in August highlighting cases of alleged "indoctrination." That report was designed to support a Republican bill that would have limited teaching about race if not for Cooper's veto.
"The media and those on the left have tried to change the focus from education to the LGBT community, specifically, that I hate them," Robinson said in the video. "Let me be clear: I will fight for and protect the rights of all citizens, including those in the LGBTQ community to express themselves however they want. That is their right as Americans, and I don't think the government has any role in telling them otherwise. However, the idea that our children should be taught about concepts of transgenderism and be exposed to sexually explicit materials in the classrooms is abhorrent."
Robinson's critics say these remarks are only the latest examples of the discriminatory views he has espoused over the years.
After the 2016 shooting at Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando, Robinson wrote on Facebook, "I pray for the souls of all those killed, healing for all those wounded, and comfort for the family members of the terrorist shooting in Orlando. However, homosexuality is STILL an abominable sin and I WILL NOT join in 'celebrating gay pride' nor will I fly their sacrilegious flag on my page."
In December 2016, Robinson criticized a National Geographic magazine cover titled "Gender Revolution" that displayed a 9-year-old transgender child. Robinson wrote, "The sick, deranged, sexual degenerates who promote this type of demonic behavior are the ones who will take the next step in our continuing moral decline toward total depravity. Free love, then homosexuality."
In 2017, Robinson wrote, "You CAN NOT love God and support the homosexual agenda."
Two years later, he chastised gender reassignment surgeries and accused parents of having "mentally raped" their transgender children. He also wrote in 2019 that "the same people who claim the new Rambo movie is (too) 'manly' are the same people who think it's okay for the homecoming queen to BE a man."
"This is not the first time Robinson has shared his discriminatory views, but it should be the last time he gets away with it as an elected leader," Madison wrote. "North Carolinians deserve better than these dehumanizing comments."
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Zoe Strozewski is a Newsweek reporter based in New Jersey. Her focus is reporting on U.S. and global politics. Zoe ... Read more
