West Virginia legislator under fire for comparing gay activists to KKK
/ CBS News
Democrats and Republicans alike are condemning a series of anti-gay remarks by a West Virginia legislator. State Delegate Eric Porterfield, a Republican, was quoted by a local paper last week comparing LGBTQ activists to the Ku Klux Klan.
"The LGBTQ is a modern day version of the Ku Klux Klan, without wearing hoods with their antics of hate," Porterfield said told the Charleston Gazette Mail on Friday. He also called gay activists "terrorists" who were trying to "persecute" him for his beliefs.
Porterfield was responding to an earlier debate over a amendment that would strip protections away from LGBTQ people, in which he called gay activists "the most socialist group in this country."
"They do not protect gays," Porterfield added. "There are many gays they persecute if they do not line up with their social ideology."
According to the News and Sentinel, another local paper, Porterfield also argued that West Virginians "should have the freedom to fire or deny housing to someone based on sexual orientation if they disagree with it."
The West Virginia Democratic Party has since called for Porterfield's resignation on its Facebook page. The West Virginia GOP also denounced Porterfield's comments, saying "they have no place in America."
Porterfield, however, shows no signs of backing down. "The LGBTQ — not homosexuals, but the LGBTQ — is the closest thing to political terrorism in America," he told NBC News this week.
First published on February 13, 2019
© 2019 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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