An Oklahoma House candidate is under
fire for appearing to endorse the death penalty for gays and
lesbians.
Scott Esk, a Tea Party candidate, made
the controversial comments last year on Facebook in response to Pope
Francis asking “Who am I to judge?” gay priests.
Esk argued that Leviticus 20:13 gives
people the right to judge others.
“So just to be clear, you think we
should execute homosexuals (presumably by stoning),” a commenter
asked.
“I think we would be totally in the
right to do it,” Esk responded. “That goes against some parts of
Libertarianism, I realize, and I'm largely Libertarian, but ignoring
as a nation things that are worthy of death is very remiss.”
Esk was asked about the comments by
TheMooreDaily.com.
“What I will tell you right now is
that that was done in the Old Testament under a law that came
directly from God,” Esk said. “And in that time it was totally
just, it came directly from God. I have no plans to, you know,
reinstate that in Oklahoma law. I do have some very huge moral
misgivings about those types of sins.”
Tony Stevenson, executive director of
LGBT advocacy group Equality Network, said in a statement that Esk's
“rhetoric demonstrates that he is an ineffective leader and would
be a bad representation of Oklahoma values at the State Capitol.”
Esk did not return numerous calls
placed by Oklahoma City's NewsChannel
4. Oklahoma's Republican primary takes place June 24.