Ohio state Representative Candice
Keller, a Republican, has blamed two mass shootings over the weekend
on LGBT rights advocates.
Thirty-one people died in the shootings
in El Paso and Dayton and dozens were injured.
Keller, who is running for the Ohio
Senate in 2020, made her comments in a Facebook post which has since
been deleted.
“After every mass shooting, the
liberals start the blame game,” Keller wrote on Sunday. “Why not
place the blame where it belongs?”
Among those at fault, according to
Keller, are the “breakdown of the traditional American family,”
which she blamed on LGBT activists, immigrants, whom she described as
criminals, and disrespect of our veterans, for which she thanked
former President Barack Obama. Not mentioned in her screed were guns,
the actual murderers, or the rhetoric they used to justify their
actions.
“The breakdown of the traditional
American family (thank you, transgender, homosexual marriage, and
drag queen advocates); fatherlessness, a subject no one discusses or
believes is relevant; the ignoring of violent video games; the
relaxing of laws against criminals (open borders); the acceptance of
recreational marijuana; failed school policies (hello, parents who
defend misbehaving students); disrespect of our veterans (thank you,
Obama); hatred of our veterans (thank you, professional athletes who
hate our flag and National Anthem); the Dem Congress, many members
whom are openly anti-Semitic; the culture, which totally ignores the
importance of God and the church (until they elect a President);
state officeholders, who have no interest whatsoever in learning
about our Constitution and the Second Amendment; and snowflakes, who
can't accept a duly-elected President,” she wrote.
On Monday, Ohio GOP Party leader Jane
Timken called on Keller, who represents Butler County, to resign.
“While our nation was in utter shock
over the acts of violence in El Paso and Dayton, Republican State
Representative Candice Keller took to social media to state why she
thought these acts were happening," Timken said in a statement.
"Candice Keller’s Facebook post was shocking and utterly
unjustifiable. Our nation is reeling from these senseless acts of
violence and public servants should be working to bring our
communities together, not promoting divisiveness.”