North Carolina’s Lieutenant Governor’s Viral Remarks Decried as Discriminatory
Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson, currently the highest ranked Republican in the state of North Carolina, and second-highest ranked official in the state, behind Governor Roy Cooper, a Democrat. Source: News & Observer
In a viral video dated October 6, 2021, North Carolina’s Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson is seen making homophobic and transphobic comments at Asbury Baptist Church. He starts by pointing out the mandatory nature of education in America —“You have to send your children here to school,”— and then launches into a criticism of critical race theory: “Teach them a bunch of stuff about how to hate America. Teach them a bunch of stuff about why they’re racist.” These comments in isolation are similar to many sentiments shared by the Republican party against the teaching of anti-discriminatory curriculum in classrooms, which Robinson characterises as “flat out child abuse.”
Then, Robinson continues, saying, “Teach them a bunch of stuff about transgenderism, homosexuality...Those issues have no place in a school. There’s no reason anybody anywhere in America should be telling any child about transgenderism, homosexuality, any of that filth.” Robinson then doubles down on describing LGBTQ+ identities as filth: “If you don’t like it that I called it filth, come see me, and I’ll explain it to you.”
Robinson, a Republican, faced nationwide backlash for his comments, including condemnations from the White House, Governor Roy Cooper, Attorney General Josh Stein, state Senator Jeff Jackson, Human Rights Campaign, and even muted disagreement within his own party. However, the North Carolina Republican Party stood firmly behind Robinson, releasing a statement saying the party “resolutely defends parents' ultimate authority over their children’s education and opposes the inclusion of explicit and intrusive materials which have no place in North Carolina classrooms,” shifting their defensive rhetoric to addressing public school curriculum rather than the deeply discriminatory comments.
Robinson responded to the controversy by releasing a video on his Facebook page captioned, “I will not back down.” In it, he also claims the media, trying to silence the right, is trying to change the focus from education to the LGBTQ+ community and says he will fight for the rights of all citizens, including those in the LGBTQ+ community, to express themselves however they wish, citing his belief in the reduced role of the government. He claims his fight is against children being exposed to sexually explicit materials in the classroom, giving the examples of George, a children’s book about a transgender girl, Lawn Boy, a young-adult coming-of-age novel, and Gender Queer, a graphic novel memoir targeted for grades 10 and up. Robinson points out that George, a book the author wrote in hopes of helping transgender children feel less alone, involves discussion of sex-change surgery, that Lawn Boy involves depictions of bestiality, and that Gender Queer features a discussion of sex toys and cartoon images of gay sex.
Robinson had criticized the presence of George in North Carolina school libraries in August, and his other examples, Lawn Boy and Gender Queer, were recently removed from school libraries in Fairfax County, Virginia, amid controversy. LGBTQ+ students and allies in Fairfax County wrote in response that “LGBTQIA+ representation in literature is critical to fostering validation, acceptance, and self-affirmation for Queer students,” pointing to the heightened rates of depression, harassment, and bullying that students identifying as LGBTQ+ already face. They pointed out that discussions of heterosexual sex were present in much other required reading and books available in the library, all without controversy. They wrote, “secondary school libraries cannot isolate themselves from broader societal dialogues, including conversations about sexual relationships….”
Robinson claims his stance is strictly about sexual material in books available to schoolchildren, not his perspective on the LGBTQ+ community. But he has a history of making similar discriminatory comments: after the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting, in which 49 people were killed at a gay nightclub in Orlando, he called homosexuality an “abominable sin.” In December 2016, he called transgender people “sick, deranged, sexual degenerates” who promoted “demonic behavior.” In 2019 he claimed that transgender parents “mentally raped” their children. While the video that has recently gone viral features Robinson’s taped remarks from June, this October, he called homosexuality “garbage.” On his Facebook page, he promotes a petition with over 24,000 signatures in which he states he “believes that transgenderism and homosexuality are not topics that should be discussed in our public classrooms.”
Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson is currently the highest-ranked Republican in North Carolina, having burst onto the conservative scene in 2018 due to his passionate defense of gun rights, and has stated he is “95% certain” he plans to run for governor in 2024. North Carolina has experimented with transphobic legislation before and been badly burnt. Not only did the disastrous HB2 “bathroom bill” cost the state an estimated $3.76 billion in lost revenue, but it also indicated to LGBTQ+ North Carolinians they were unwanted, unaccepted, and promoted an atmosphere of discrimination and intolerance. If there is one thing that North Carolina cannot endure, it must be homophobic and transphobic hatred. The alternative—intolerance from the highest level, targeting some of the most vulnerable in the state—is simply, in the words of Robinson, “filth.”