A West Virginia lawmaker opposed to
LGBT rights has described LGBT rights advocates as “brutal
monsters” and the modern Ku Klux Klan.
Delegate Eric Porterfield, a Republican
from Mercer County, first criticized the groups during a House
committee meeting working on an amendment that sought to prohibit
cities and municipalities from enacting ordinances that prohibit
discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
The groups, he said, “represent a
socialist agenda” and are “opponents of freedom” and “brutal
monsters.” He said that business owners should be allowed to
decide if a “lifestyle” is unacceptable to them.
After making his comments, Porterfield,
who is blind and cannot fully open his eyes, received calls to resign
and several threats, including a text that referred to him as
“slits-for-eyes.”
“I am terrified of these people,”
he told The
Register-Herald. “I feel like the LGBTQ … would be the
Ku Klux Klan in the modern era without the hoods.”
He claimed that criticism of his
remarks by Democrats on the House floor had incited a hate crime
against him.
While he insisted that he does not
“persecute” gay people, Porterfield, who was wearing a Make
America Great Again hat last week, reiterated that business owners
should be allowed to not “serve a particular lifestyle.”