Mark Robinson’s ‘filth’ is new, but the message to LGBTQ folks in NC isn’t
The final words of the North Carolina constitution are not about the beauty of the state, or the liberty of the people. Instead, it reads: “marriage between one man and one woman is the only domestic legal union that shall be valid or recognized in this State.”
Despite the fact that a federal judge overturned the same-sex marriage ban in 2014 and the Supreme Court legalized it nationwide in 2015, a homophobic clause approved in 2012 has yet to be repealed.
Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson recently reminded North Carolinians that some state politicians still don’t plan on supporting LGBTQ residents any time soon. A June video recently surfaced in which he said “there’s no reason anybody, anywhere in America should be telling children about transgenderism, homosexuality, any of that filth.”
He has doubled and tripled down on his comments, and says that his message has been changed from focusing on “education.” Despite these claims, the watchdog group that shared the first video recently posted a new one to social media from August, where he calls the trans rights movement “the spirit of Antichrist.”
Like with Amendment One in 2012, or HB2 in 2016, or the recent slew of transphobic bills filed in the General Assembly, the remarks should be treated as more than just political pandering; for gay and trans North Carolinians, these words from a man in power incite others in their community to say the same things, or act on their hate.
Three LGBT members of the state House of Representatives held a press conference Tuesday to offer reassurance to the people who will be most affected by Robinson’s remarks.
“We’re here today for the queer student who woke up on the first day of school terrified of leaving their home,” Representative Vernetta Alston (D-30) said, “or the LGBTQ elder who went back in the closet at their retirement community, or the 42 percent of transgender youth who have considered suicide.”
Robinson’s hate has not been condemned by any N.C. Republicans in office, and the three state representatives said none have reached out to them privately. Representative Allison Dahle (D-11) got choked up as she explained why the trio didn’t immediately make public statements.
“It took a lot of processing,” Dahle says. “When you live in a place where you’re pointed out as something not good, it’s really hard to process that.”
North Carolina has not banned sexuality and gender-based discrimination statewide, nor has it banned conversion therapy. North Carolina doesn’t require public school sex education to include any information on same-sex relationships, and the state requires reproductive health and safety instruction to include that “a mutually faithful monogamous heterosexual relationship in the context of marriage is the best lifelong means of avoiding sexually transmitted diseases.”
Concessions have been made (municipalities can enact anti-discrimination clauses, and public funds can’t be spent on conversion therapy) but nothing has created blanket protection for the 319,000 LGBTQ adults in North Carolina.
These beliefs are harmful. Policies like the amendment to the state constitution are harmful. Robinson’s words are harmful. But what’s most harmful is how they lead North Carolina’s LGBTQ community to live in fear, especially if allies do not act.
