North Carolina’s Republican Lt. Governor Mark Robinson lashed out at a Democratic state lawmaker after she delivered a speech urging elected leaders to try to understand and equally represent all their constituents, including people of color and LGBTQ people.
“Next time before you get ready to say something on that floor come see me,” Robinson barked at state Sen. Julie Mayfield after her speech, suggesting he had power over her and she needed his permission to speak about him, as video shot by Democratic state Senator Natasha Marcus shows:
Mayfield did not mention Robinson by name during her speech.
Robinson has been criticized for months over his repeated remarks attacking LGBTQ people, including calling them “filthy,” calling transgender people “pure lunacy” and “demonic,” and claiming they want to molest children, describing straight relationships as “superior” to gay ones – and saying even cow manure has more purpose than same-sex marriage. Robinson, who uses the church as a shield for his bigotry, last month appeared to “jokingly” threaten any IRS agents who might come to his home.
“Robinson ‘berated’ state Sen. Julie Mayfield,” The News & Observer reports, “and wagged his finger in front of her face, saying he didn’t appreciate her ‘equating Black people with gay people,’ according to Mayfield and another lawmaker who witnessed the encounter. Robinson’s comments were in response to a speech Mayfield gave,” in which she “highlighted deadly violence against Black people and discrimination against LGBTQ people.”
“It is convenient fiction that we can say something in a particular forum and not expect to be held accountable for those words in another,” Mayfield said, referring to several instances in which Robinson has made anti-LGBTQ comments and made national headlines. “We are elected officials. And if we can’t respect our constituents rather than viciously attack some of them, then maybe we’re in the wrong job.”
Sen. Marcus described Robinson’s attack on Mayfield as “a rant.”
“He berated her, and he yelled as loudly as he could,” Marcus added. “Sen. Mayfield’s remarks speak what’s in the hearts of most North Carolinians, and the fact that it set the lieutenant governor off that much is shocking to me.”