Dear GOP Congressman Denying You Said Firing Gays Is ‘One Of The Freedoms We Enjoy’: It’s On Tape

Republican Congresman Robert Pittenger told a reporter that he thinks being able to fire someone who’s gay is among the “freedoms we enjoy.” Now he’s denying it. But it’s on tape. Listen, right here.

Recently, GOP Congressman Robert Pittenger was asked by Think Progress reporter Alice Ollstein about the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. Being a conservative Republican Congressman, from the state of North Carolina, he clearly came out against ENDA. 

Rep. Pittenger was asked, “Do you think businesses should be able to fire someone if they are gay or lesbian?”

“You need to respect the autonomy of somebody running their business,” Rep. Pittenger told Think Progress‘ Ollstein. “It’s like smoking bans. Do you ban smoking or do people have the right to private property? I think people have the right to private property. In public spaces, absolutely, we can have smoking bans. But we don’t want to micromanage people’s lives and businesses. If you have a business, do you want the government to come in and tell you you need to hire somebody? Why should government be there to impose on the freedoms we enjoy?”

But now, Rep. Pittenger is claiming he never said that, and that a blogger just “ran with” the story.

MSNBC last week reported that Pittenger’s communications director denied “that Pittenger discussed ‘firing gay individuals,'” despite the fact that the question specified “gay or lesbian” people.

“After the event, a blogger asked for an interview and then asked about [the Employment Non-Discrimination Act]. His opposition to ENDA was ‘translated’ into ‘firing gays’ by that blogger,” the director, Jamie Bowers, wrote in an email to msnbc on Friday.

Ollstein today writes that “after local and national human rights groups began organizing around the comments and protesting at Pittenger’s office in Charlotte, he stood by them no longer.”

Local channel WSOC-TV reported: “The congressman’s office insists he never made the divisive statement…Pittinger told [ThinkProgress] he does not support the employment non-discrimination act and the blogger ran with it.”

Here’s the unedited audio, via Think Progress:

 

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