Steve King attacks Republican leaders for backing gay candidates
Rep. Steve King (R-IA) (Scott Olson/Getty)
Rep. Steve King has blasted the national Republican leadership for supporting gay candidates.
The Republican Party has zero out LGBT+ candidates running for federal office in the midterms, but Congressman Steve King of Iowa is furious with the party leadership for allowing some in minor races.
At a campaign event on Monday (November 5), King lashed out at the National Republican Congressional Committee for failing to prevent gay candidates from running as Republicans.
Rep. Steve King (R-IA) (Scott Olson/Getty)
He told supporters: “They sent money over to support a candidate in a primary in California who had a same-sex partner that they put all over glossy mailers. I don’t know if they were holding hands or whatever.
“Man, that’s hard to write a check to those guys when they do that.”
He did not specify which candidate he was referring to, though commentators suggested King could actually be referring to a race from several years ago.
Now @SteveKingIA is attacking the NRCC for backing a gay candidate:
“They sent money over to support a candidate in a primary in California who had a same-sex partner that they put all over glossy mailers…That’s hard to write a check to those guys when they do that.” #IA04 pic.twitter.com/TXrF67KIoE
— Andrew Bates (@AndrewBatesNC) November 6, 2018
Trying to figure this out, pretty sure he’s talking about a House race from 2014.
Yes, the NRCC supported a gay Republican candidate for the House four years ago — and Steve King is still ticked off about it. https://t.co/XfKEdsLKBL— Eric Kleefeld (@EricKleefeld) November 6, 2018
King backed a future “conservative leadership in the House.”
Elsewhere at the appearance in Hampton, Iowa, on Monday, King appeared to make an anti-gay joke about two Supreme Court justices.
King spoke about his hopes of Conservatives dominating the Supreme Court, joking that maybe liberal Obama appointees Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan would “elope to Cuba” together.
The GOP lawmaker is facing Democrat J.D. Scholten in his re-election battle on Tuesday (November 6), but he holds a strong lead in the seat despite his history of anti-LGBT extremism.
In July, King pushed a bill that would ban US embassies from flying rainbow flags in support of LGBT rights.
Rep. Steve King (MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty)
He was also behind an effort to ban trans people from using the toilets in the US Capitol Building, comparing gender surgery to the Ottoman practice of castrating slaves.
In 2015, King offered to marry gay people to his lawnmower.
He claimed: “I had a strong, Christian lawyer tell me that, under this [same-sex marriage] decision that he has read, what it brings about is: It only requires one human being in this relationship – that you could marry your lawnmower with this decision. I think he’s right.”
The lawmaker has also claimed evidence for gay parenting is “fake” like global warming research.
Asked in 2016 why he would deny benefits to LGBT families when research shows their children are just as healthy, he added: “I think I’d want to look a little further into that research. We got down the global warming argument and found out there’s another side to that equation too.
“I’m not looking at that research and I would want to look at it.
“I want to respect all human persons who are all gifts from God, but I want to encourage the natural family.
“That’s the best and most wholesome way to raise a child and that’s been the case throughout thousands of years of human history and we need to go with what works.”
