Republican governor thinks anti-LGBTQ+ hate will win party the 2024 election

Oklahoma’s Republican governor, Kevin Stitt, has argued that his party could win the 2024 elections if it continues its anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric.

The governor said during a televised interview on Monday (8 May) that he believes Americans think that Democratic representatives have “gone too far” in protecting the LGBTQ+ community.

He claimed that if Republicans continued to dismantle queer rights, the party would be sure to “win” when Americans go to the polls in November 2024’s presidential, congressional and gubernatorial elections.

Speaking to Fox News, Stitt said: “I believe it’s going to be more and more important because the left has gone too far. They have gone way too radical.

“We have an obligation to protect our children and protect sports and protect free competition and fair competition in Oklahoma. To us, it’s common sense.

“I hope it’s an issue in the general election in 2024, because I think we win on that.”

Stitt’s comments come just a few weeks after a poll conducted by Fox News found that, in fact, US voters see politicians attacking the transgender community as a “major problem”.

A survey published in April revealed that 83 per cent of those who responded thought that attacks against trans children were either a minor or major concern.

Meanwhile, just one per cent saw “wokeness” as a problem.

Since assuming office in 2019, Stitt has signed a number of anti-LGBTQ+ bills into law, including bans on gender-affirming healthcare and laws preventing trans youth from using the correct bathrooms.

He has also threatened to cut funding to Oklahoma’s Public Broadcasting System (PBS) and the Oklahoma Educational Television Authority (OETA), accusing the networks of sharing family-friendly drag content.

“When you go through all of the programming and the indoctrination and over-sexualisation of our children, it’s really problematic,” he claimed.

“OETA, to us, is an outdated system,” he said. “You know, the big, big question is why are we spending taxpayer dollars to prop up or compete with the private sector and run television stations?

The move has been criticised by several groups, including some fellow Republicans, who argued that his decision to cut funds could have significant ramifications for the state.

“Our broadcast towers are how we inform a lot of rural Oklahoma about disasters like tornadoes and thunderstorms,” OETA board member Kenneth Busby said.

In addition, Nicole McAfee, the executive director of Freedom Oklahoma – a not-for-profit organisation – told MSNBC: “It’s hard to even imagine Oklahoma without an OETA. Not only is it a centre for so much news in terms of alerts and things about weather, but for a lot of people, including a lot of young people who maybe don’t have… cable access but can look up OETA, it’s a source of legislative and policy news.

“It’s a place to plug in and get some real-time information and it would be a huge loss for so many of us to not have that.”