Fox News pundit says LGBT people should ‘expect’ to be attacked in bars
A Fox News pundit has said that LGBT people hold “responsibility” for getting attacked in bars because they “go around making people uncomfortable”.
The claim comes after Republican Congressman Mike Enzi told a group of school children that “men in dresses” are “asking for” homophobic assaults.
Enzi, who has a strongly anti-LGBT record in Congress, attempted to apologise for his comments, claiming he “regrets a poor choice of words”.
But his apology didn’t stop Fox News pundit Erick Erickson from writing a blog claiming people in the “BLT&GQ community… go around making people uncomfortable”.
Writing on his blog The Resurgent, regular Fox contributor Mr Erickson wrote: “I’m really damn tired of all the people running around making other people extremely uncomfortable then screaming about their rights and privileges when called out.
“If you want to go around making people uncomfortable, you’ve got the problem, not the rest of us.”
He added: “[It’s] a simple fact. If a guy walks into a bar in Wyoming, he’s probably going to get punched. Enzi said the person would deserve it, which he apologized for, and the guy would not deserve it.
“But it is probably going to happen and yes, the dude wearing the tutu shoulders some of the responsibility. He should have known better.”
Referring to a gay man who was killed in one of the most notorious homophobic murders in US history, Erickson added: “Spare me the tirade about Matthew Shepherd”.
He added: “I know liberals in their coastal bubbles of homogenized whiteness and skinny jeans think everyone else has to think like them — not does, but has to — but the reality is we don’t.
“We are a culturally heterogeneous nation with diverse cultural norms. If a guy walks into a bar in Wyoming wearing make up and a tutu, he’s probably going to be asked to leave, if not picked on or punched.
“If you don’t like that, don’t go to a bar in Wyoming wearing a tutu. It really is that simple.
“This is not a justification of violence, but let’s not kid ourselves that there won’t be an expectation of violence, however unjustified.”
Erickson continues to be employed as a regular contributor on Fox News despite a string of deeply concerning comments.
In 2015 he previously blamed society’s acceptance of transgender people for the deaths of nine people in a mass shooting.
He also compared gay rights to mass-murdering terrorists Islamic State, writing: “The divide between Islamic extremists and gay rights extremists is at death. They meet on the line at destruction.”
Erickson’s website also carried a column claiming that gay NFL player Michael Sam and his fiancé should go to Iraq and confront ISIS instead of demanding equal rights.
