Move over Mike Pence. The new poster child of the anti-gay movement is the corpulent Mark Robinson, Lt. Governor of North Carolina. Robinson made a lot of waves recently saying that school curricula should not contain any information about LGBT subject matter, because all that is “filth.” Not surprisingly, he’s been talking this way for some time. Here’s a clip from him in July, disparaging transgenders.
Speaking at a right-wing gathering in July, North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson suggested that those who fight for transgender rights or participate in Drag Queen Story Hour do so because they want to molest children. https://t.co/4ujkoRlJH6 pic.twitter.com/eRydQrEnYb
— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) October 13, 2021
It’s been pointed out that he’s doing this dirge in front of pictures of Sir Sic Crusader, which is an internet personality who is dedicated to anti-ignorance. Bit of irony there?
The bottom line here is simple: anybody who is “different” is bad, a pervert, and out to do evil. Gays have been portrayed as perverts since forever, it is scarcely surprising that this is being said now.
I used to do a bit of catering back in the 80’s and I had a friend who also catered and frequently we collaborated. My friend was gay. We were in his kitchen one day making Irish soda bread and baked corned beef and having one of our usual heart to heart talks about life in general. While I sauteed cabbage in butter and caraway seeds, Kit told me in no uncertain terms how he hated the fact that gay people were seen as detrimental to society, and depicted as child molesters, when the fact was that he was a hard working, tax paying, law abiding citizen, who wouldn’t dream of imposing on anybody, let alone assaulting them, let alone a child.
That was the absolute truth. Kit was one of the nicest people I ever knew or had the good fortune to be friends with. He contributed to charities, did volunteer work, was politically aware. He saw life in terms of community and helped people whenever he could. When I was injured in a car accident he was the first to rush to my aid. Despite a stellar track record of being a good guy in his 37 years on the planet, when he was returned to his small Wyoming town for burial the story his family gave was that he had died of cancer. He didn’t have a chance to be accepted and respected for who he was, a good gay American man, either in life or in death.
And now I’m listening to this clown in North Carolina talk about my friend’s culture using words like “filth” and “pervert.” This world may have gone around the sun some forty years since the 80’s but in some places it’s still the dark ages. Mark Robinson should be ashamed of himself but I know he doesn’t have the awareness to see it that way. I would say “Forgive him father, he knows not what he does,” but I don’t have that level of compassion for this bigoted buffoon.
Too many people severely condemn what they do not understand. Or, the converse could be true that he is a closeted individual and speaking of his self-loathing. Too much of what is wrong in our society comes from not understanding or even trying to understand.
I wish I had the words to say how volcanically angry all this makes me. My old man was the very definition of this jackass’ idea of a good citizen. He made my life hell and all the rest of his Christianist tribe looked the other goddamn way. I hate them all for that and have NEVER forgiven them.
Conversely, one of the best men I ever worked with, himself the son of a Baptist preacher, came out to me as gay. I laughed at first because it sounded like the setup of a good joke. Then I asked him if he was serious. He was. I shrugged and said, “Okay.” Been that way ever since. So yeah, I know who my tormentors are.
Oh and amusing quote aside, eff Christopher Hitchens. He was just a bigot of a slightly different stripe is all.
No, Robinson knows exactly what he does.
He’s a traditional minority bigot: it’s those non-heterosexuals who are to blame for everything. (Black and Latinos are more likely to buy this lie.)
How ironic for a black man to disparage someone over something they did not choose. The whole gender labeling exist as if that defines anything. I’ve been heterosexual my whole life, married & divorced several times, living with a black lady for a decade, but I was determined to not be afraid of anything & had several experiences with men long ago when I was pushing my own boundaries. Wasn’t to the degree of feeling attraction, but I participated. I answered that question for myself. I’ve had many gay friends, male & female, & I believe, because I wasn’t afraid of my own sexuality, I wasn’t afraid of theirs. I was lucky that my parents were open & honest with me about sex & both sat down with me as I entered puberty to give me ‘the talk’. I still hear body shaming daily all around as if looking at a person’s body tells you what kind of lover they would be. Lie. I’ve heard gay people even do it, promoting the lie that a big flaccid penis defines the man. Women are killing themselves over big tits & ass. Our culture promotes these lies, including the one that the darker you are, or the fatter you are, the more ignorant, lazy & stupid you are. I wonder when we, as a culture, will grow the fuck up. Any man who lives in fear of another person, for any reason, lives in a cage of their own design.