Republican lieutenant governor says trans rights are the Antichrist’s work in another vile rant
North Carolina’s lieutenant governor Mark Robinson said the trans rights movement is “demonic” in a video at the Upper Room Church of God in Christ in August. (Twitter/@RightWingWatch)
North Carolina’s lieutenant governor Mark Robinson was caught on camera again ranting against the LGBT+ community, calling the trans rights movement “demonic” and “full of the spirit of Antichrist”.
Right Wing Watch published a video of the Republican lawmaker speaking at the Upper Room Church of God in Christ in Raleigh, North Carolina, in August. In the video, Robinson claimed there “ain’t but two genders”.
In a virulently transphobic rant, he said: “You can go to the doctor and get cut up, you can go down to the dress shop and get made up, you can go down there and get drugged up, but at the end of the day, you are just a drugged-up, dressed-up, made-up, cut-up man or woman.
“You ain’t changed what God put in you, that DNA.”
He described the “transgender movement in this country” as “demonic” and “full of the spirit of Antichrist” Robinson then condemned schools for teaching about LGBT+ identities, saying that they’re “dragging out kids down into the pit of Hell”.
North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson said in August that the transgender rights movement is "demonic" and "full of the Antichrist spirit," and that teaching about it in schools is "dragging our kids down into the pit of Hell." https://t.co/t2QAyqpUwp pic.twitter.com/63uU35vGbh
— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) October 12, 2021
“Two plus two don’t equal transgender; it equals four,” Robinson said. “We need to get back to teaching them how to reach instead of teaching them how to go to Hell.”
Later in the video, he claimed that people have the “right to do whatever you want to do” because Americans “don’t live in a theocracy”, before comparing being trans to “calling yourself a cocker spaniel”.
He said: “Go ahead. You can run around here and be a cocker spaniel all day long, but I ain’t got to follow you in your delusion.”
Mark Robinson has been facing backlash online and calls to resign after another video surfaced in which he criticised education about LGBT+ identities and likened gay and trans people to “filth”.
Governor Roy Cooper’s office described Robinson’s comments as “abhorrent… hateful rhetoric” that “hurts people and our state’s reputation”.
North Carolina senator Jeff Jackson called for Robinson to resign and said his statements amounted to “open discrimination”.
The White House even issued a statement criticising Robinson’s comments, saying his “words are repugnant and offensive”.
Andrew Bates, White House deputy press secretary, told ABC11: “The role of a leader is to bring people together and stand up for the dignity and rights of everyone; not to spread hate and undermine their own office.”
Faith and LGBT+ leaders in North Carolina held a news conference outside Robinson’s office on Monday (11 October) over his vile statements. Pastor Vance Haywood said his statements weren’t on a political issue but a human rights issue.
“You’re costing people their lives so this isn’t about blue states, red states, blue counties, red counties,” Haywood said. “This is about people having the right to live.”
Kori Hennessey, director of education and programs at the LGBT Center in Raleigh, told reported that it was “heartbreaking” to “see such hateful words come from somebody”.
“We have so many things we’ve had to fight for for such a long time and for something as simple as not being called ‘filth’ and not being called names in general – it’s just not something any of us will be quiet about,” Hennessey added.
Robinson has refused calls for his resignation and stuck by his comments. On Saturday (9 October), he released a response video on his Facebook page and said he wouldn’t “back down” from his statements.
He claimed the “media and those on the left” tried to “change the focus” from his stance on education “to the LGBTQ community, specifically, that I hate them”.
Mark Robinson said he would “fight for and protect the rights of all citizens” – including the LGBT+ community – “to express themselves however they want”. He then went on to use a derogatory term to describe transgender people.
“That is their right as Americans, and I don’t think the government has any role in telling them otherwise,” Robinson said. “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.”
“Transgenderism” is regarded as a derogatory term and has been adopted by anti-trans activists to “dehumanise transgender people and reduce who they are to ‘a condition’”.
In a press conference Tuesday (12 October), Robinson showed people images from the the comic-style memoir Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe, ABC11 reported. He described them as “child pornography”.
He also opposed two other books about LGBT+ subjects: George by Alex Gino and Law Boy by Jonathan Evison. Robinson described the LGBT+ literature as “filth”, but clarified that he isn’t “calling any person fifth”.
“We ‘re talking about inappropriate materials being presented to our children,” Robinson claimed.
The Upper Room Church of God in Christ – where Robinson made the statements in the most recent video on social media – is run by Bishop Patrick Wooden, who is no stranger to making anti-LGBT+ statements. Wooden made headlines in 2012 after he claimed gay men “have to wear a diaper or a butt plug just to be able to contain their bowels”.
He also previously claimed that being gay is a “wicked, perverse lifestyle that destroys people” and that Chaz Bono is acting under “the influence of the Devil, demon spirits—spirits of perversion”.
