HRC introduces the new ‘Faces of Inequality’ in the 114th Congress

WASHINGTON – Today, the Human Rights Campaign, (HRC) shined a bright spotlight on six of the new Members of the 114th Congress with some of the most shameful and extreme anti-equality rhetoric, record and positions on LGBT issues. Sworn in on January 6, these new members are some of the worst who have gone out of their way to stop equality, inspiring and propagating lies and hatred toward LGBT people across the country.

Representative Jody Hice (R-GA): Hice, a radio show host and Southern Baptist pastor, has no shame in his anti-equality rhetoric. Here are some of his most egregious statements and positions:

• Hice compared LGBT people to people with drug abuse issues and violent tendencies, saying that passing pro-equality laws will enslave and entrap people “in a lifestyle that they are really not.”

• Hice does not believe the U.S. constitution guarantees civil rights to LGBT people and thinks that “thousands and thousands of people have left the homosexual ‘lifestyle.’”

• Hice compared marriage equality to bestiality and incest, and said “The concept of ‘love’ is not the issue when it comes to marriage!”

• Hice believes children are being brainwashed into accepting LGBT people as “normal” through “tolerance.” Hice wrote, “Another horrible component of the homosexual agenda and its destructive influence on our nation is the way in which children are being preyed upon through active pro-gay indoctrination and recruitment.”

Representative Glenn Grothman (R-WI): This former Wisconsin State Senator doesn’t shy away from opportunities to spread his message of hate towards LGBT people.

• Grothman believes U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry upset God by trying to stop a barbaric Ugandan anti-LGBT bill.

• For processing same-sex marriage certificates, Grothman criticized the state of Wisconsin as “legitimizing illegal and immoral marriages.”

• Grothman said same-sex couples shouldn’t have the right to family and medical leave “any more than if you had a friend, a girlfriend, a college roommate or something.”

• Grothman said, “If people adhere to the tenets of Christianity, the acceptance of that sin [homosexuality] will not be the norm. How society deals with it is going to determine to a certain extent how much that lifestyle flourishes, and it should not flourish.”

• Grothman believes acknowledging different sexual orientations in schools was part of an “agenda” to convince students to become gay.

• Grothman promised to be “an outspoken” opponent of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) because it gives “preferences” to LGBT employees.

Representative Tom Emmer (R-MN): This former member of the Minnesota House of Representatives is headed to Washington, DC, to replace former Representative Michele Bachmann.

• Emmer donated to the ministry of the radical anti-LGBT Bradlee Dean who believes Muslim countries that execute LGBT people are “more moral than even the American Christians.”

• Emmer said he would not sign anti-bullying legislation to promote safe schools because “I don’t want the government doing that for us.”

• Emmer was named the Minnesota chairman for the anti-equality Faith and Freedom Coalition and headed up efforts in the state on a constitutional amendment banning marriage equality.

• Emmer compared marriage equality to incest and bestiality.

Representative Cresent Hardy (R-NV): Hardy, a former Nevada State Assemblyman, has a strong record of opposing equality.

• Hardy voted against Nevada’s non-discrimination bill including sexual orientation and gender identity.

• Hardy said he would oppose marriage equality, even if he didn’t think his religion told him to.

• Even though Hardy supposedly has friends who are gay, he doesn’t believe they should be able to marry or adopt children.

• On one hand, Hardy believes that “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” should be reinstated in the military, forcing openly lesbian, gay, and bisexual troops out. But illogically on the other hand, he believes the government should stay out of social issues.

• Hardy was one of only 13 who voted against Nevada’s bill banning housing and job discrimination against transgender people.

• Hardy believes that ENDA, a bill aimed at federal workplace protections against LGBT discrimination, was really just a “segregation” law.

Representative Mike Bost (R-IL): Previously a member of the Illinois House of Representatives, Bost loves to make up crazy and illogical excuses to oppose any forms of equality for LGBT people.

• Bost opposed a non-discrimination bill because it “opens [the] door for someone who was fired or evicted the opportunity to say, ‘they did that because I was gay.’”

• Bost opposed domestic partner benefits on “moral” grounds because “how can you verify that a couple is a homosexual couple in a same-sex relationship and justify a legal and legitimate partnership without the state recognizing same-sex marriage?”

• Bost flat out opposed any form of relationship recognition for same-sex couples, saying, “I didn’t vote for civil unions and I won’t be voting for gay marriages.”

• Bost opposed Southern Illinois University reimbursing health insurance costs for partners of gay employees and for state workers.

Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC): As the former speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives, Tillis championed denying marriage equality to LGBT North Carolinians.

• In the closing days of the primary election, Tillis sent out mailers and ran TV ads touting his anti-marriage equality position. Tillis said, “We need a Congress…that understands the sanctity of traditional marriage.”

• When asked to apologize to North Carolina LGBT families for putting the anti-marriage equality amendment on the ballot, Tillis refused, saying basically that he has no problem denying equal marriage rights to same-sex couples.

• Even after definitive court rulings striking down North Carolina’s marriage equality ban as unconstitutional, Tillis continued his fight against marriage equality, hiring a rabidly anti-LGBT activist attorney from the fanatical anti-equality National Organization for Marriage.