A Tennessee official on Monday ranted
against Democratic presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg, the openly
gay mayor of South Bend, Indiana.
During the meeting, Sevier County
commissioners discussed, and ultimately passed, a resolution making
the county a “gun sanctuary.”
Commissioner Warren Hurst veered off
course in his remarks, attacking Buttigieg, the nation's first openly
gay and married presidential candidate, without mentioning his name,
WVLT
News reported.
“It's time we wake up people. It's
time. It's past time,” Hurst told the crowd. “We got a queer
running for president if that ain't about as ugly as you can get.
Look what we got running for president in the Democratic Party. We
can go over here to [Sheriff] Hoss' Jail and get better people out of
there than those running for Democratic [sic] to be president of the
United States.”
“I'm not prejudice [sic], a white
male in this county has very few rights and they're getting took
every day,” he added.
While one woman stormed out – “This
is not professional. This is bullshit,” she said – many in the
audience applauded Hurst's statement.
Hurst later told reporters that he's
not a racist and that some of his best friends are African-American.