West Virginia State Lawmaker Tom Fast Argues Against LGBT Nondiscrimination Protections
Claiming that being LGBT is a “sexual practice,” Republican State Delegate Tom Fast of West Virginia on Friday argued against allowing a nondiscrimination amendment to pass in the House. He also claimed being LGBT is a choice, and warned it is “dangerous” and “harmful” to offer LGBT people protections.
Fast, an attorney with a degree from Regent University, argued that if “homosexual, bisexual and transgender behavior is elevated to a protected status, there is nothing to stop bigamy, pedophilia or any other sexual practice from receiving the same protection.”
Reading from prepared remarks during a session of the West Virginia House of Delegates, Fast told his fellow lawmakers that sexual orientation is “a changeable characteristic” that is a “moving target, one that can change from day to day.”Â
He warned against allowing sexual orientation to be a protected class, adding that “according sexual orientation special status will also create social division,” and called it “insanity” to giving sexual orientation “special civil rights protections.”
Del. Fast also claimed that if LGBT people are allowed civil rights protections, others will automatically “lose protection.”
“If sexual orientation laws become commonplace,” Fast went on to say, “then any person who speaks against sexual practice will be vilified. Their rights will be thwarted, and their freedom of religion of conscience will be crushed.”
The amendment itself would have mandated that companies like Uber “adopt a policy of nondiscrimination on the basis of destination, race, color, national origin, religious belief or affiliation, sex, disability, age, sexual orientation or gender identity with respect to passengers and potential passengers and notify transportation network drivers of the policy.”Â
It failed.
Â
Image via Facebook
Hat tip: Huffington Post
Video via WV House Democrats/Facebook