(Photo via Mark Kauzlarich/Reuters)
Everybody’s favorite Republican mistake of 2015 so far – and we’re including Donald Trump, here (while pouring acid onto our keyboards) – Ben Carson has already made it clear that he knows nothing about anything of substance, but he certainly has a lot to say about the wind drifting between his ears and eventually puffing in a softened manner out of his meditative mouth. Carson’s already taken severe flack for his affiliation/non-affiliation with a snake-oil supplement from Mannatech that was (not) proven to cure cancer (it’s that easy!). He’s also gone all Biblical by rebuking the accepted knowledge of the purpose of the Egyptian pyramids, which he suggests were utilitarian grain silos built by Joseph and not tombs for the pharoahs (it’s like meta-fiction!). Now, on the heels of the Houston nightmare ordinance-refusal that flew in our faces this week, a move which, among other things, says that transgender Texans cannot have bathroom passes to the places where they ought to be able to relieve their most basic of needs, Carson’s leaking gibberish again. Guess what! Ben Carson doesn’t like LGBT people.
Today, the Human Rights Campaign released its response to Carson’s latest missive on toilet politics, a position which is likely boiling the roaches up from the conservative bases to push Carson to the top of the polling heap. How is this happening? Don’t ask us. Here’s the latest as released in an email from HRC. Read, weep.
HRC Condemns Ben Carson’s Latest Attack on Transgender People
Leading GOP presidential candidate despicably calls for creation of separate “transgender bathrooms”
WASHINGTON – Today, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) civil rights organization, responded to the latest attack on the LGBT community by leading GOP candidate for president Ben Carson, who suggested in an interview that transgender people be required to use separate bathrooms.
“Ben Carson’s hateful comments are out of touch and all candidates should immediately make clear that they disavow his dangerously transphobic views,” said HRC President Chad Griffin.
“Ben Carson can’t go a week without invoking reckless and irresponsible stereotypes about the LGBT community, and his suggestion that transgender people be required to use segregated bathrooms echoes an ugly past our country should never revisit.”
In that same interview, Carson again showed a fundamental misunderstanding of existing non-discrimination laws, saying he opposed “extra rights” for LGBT people. In reality, there are no explicit federal non-discrimination protections for LGBT people, and a majority of states also lack non-discrimination protections.
HRC’s polling this year found that 63 percent of LGBT people have experienced discrimination. The Equality Act would guarantee explicit federal discrimination protections based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
Carson has a long history of anti-LGBT rhetoric. Earlier this year Carson suggested that “prison” proves that being LGBT is a choice. He walked those comments back after HRC demanded he apologize.
After that, Carson said he would “no longer” talk about LGBT issues because he was being taken out of context.
Since his self-imposed ban on LGBT issues, Cason has suggested that LGBT families are not of “equal value” and that same-sex marriage would lead to “polygamy.”
For more on Carson’s anti-LGBT rhetoric, visit http://www.hrc.org/2016RepublicanFacts/ben-carson.
