Can you spell hypocrite or bigot? We can.
Though the hypocrite label applies to too many, today it particularly fits West Virginia’s Republican Party chairwoman Melody Potter.
Yes, that’s the same GOP leader who just five months ago issued a statement publicly denouncing one legislator for anti-LGBTQ comments, then last weekend praised another one for such comments.
Of course, the bigot label also applies to too many, in this instance we refer to Sen. Mike Azinger, R-Wood, though we have not forgotten Delegate Eric Porterfield, R-Mercer.
Last weekend, a Parkersburg newspaper published an op-ed from Azinger that in a headline declares LGBTQ means perversion and a non-biblical view of sexuality.
As for Porterfield, he made clear his message of bigotry in February publicly, though he’s remained quiet since.
We’re not going to recount nor is it in our intention to comment here on the whirlwind of situations the state GOP finds itself in today. Leave it at this: The internal divisions that plague the state GOP are problems many don’t care about and the rest are glad it has them.
However, internal squabbling aside, we do care when the leader of the state GOP and legislators openly declare open season on the LGBTQ community, because that spells hate.
Call it intolerance or homophobia if you want, but when public officials and the head of the state’s Republican Party post and publish comments like this we won’t mince words.
Especially when they do so by attempting to normalize such hatred by insisting they speak for what is right and urge others to do the same.
We will respectfully decline to drag biblical principles through the mud in such arguments, but it’s apparent some believe they’re the last word on love and God.
Instead, we defer to Potter’s public statement in February following Porterfield’s hate speech, as best embodying our response to her and these lawmakers’ bigotry today.
She said then, “We may disagree on policy, politics, and the direction of our state, but we can disagree civilly and respectfully because intolerant and hateful views hold us back, divide us, and hurt our state.”
Apparently, she forgot she once believed in the virtue of such universal political and religious principles in respect to our differences.
That stands in stark contrast to her recent posts on her ;private Facebook page praising Azinger’s call for intolerance of the LGBTQ community.
As for Azinger’s op-ed and Porterfield’s remarks, no amount of putting lipstick on pigs is going to disguise the true nature of these lawmakers.
Especially when they insist on wallowing publicly in this messy hatred of their own making.
