(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . GOP House candidate defends bigoted posts by claiming he actually cares about 'the homosexuals' [1] ['Daily Kos Staff', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-01-18 “Benjamin has said that for over a decade he’s run a ‘ministry’ called Escape Hall, with ‘Hall’ standing for ‘homosexual and lesbian living,’” Media Matters reports. Clever, eyeroll. While the Facebook post claiming to cure LGBTQ people dates from more than a decade ago, Benjamin was promoting his terrible views as recently as last summer, the report said. During that right-wing speaking engagement, Benjamin claimed LGBTQ people can “get healed,” and I think suggested that LGBTQ people are somehow being possessed or tricked by demonic forces? Here I was thinking that what’s been bothering me, a noted homosexual, is just some acid reflux. “The devil lied to you and I. He told you that you can change your sex, but he is a liar,” Benjamin claimed during August 2022 remarks at a ReAwaken America rally. He urged gay people “to come out of homosexuality,” and said that “the weight of the Holy Ghost is more powerful than any demon.” Oh dear. Benjamin tried to defend his reprehensible beliefs during a recent interview with MSNBC’s Jonathan Capeheart, where he claimed that “the LGBTQ and the homosexuals” (oh dear again) are just as concerned about gas prices and inflation, and that he’s actually fighting for them too! “I think all of us are dealing with issues, and we shouldn’t marginalize them, and I think my compassion really shows strong enough,” he claimed. It’s great that you believe that, but you can shove your “compassion,” buddy. While this bigot can’t lose and disappear quickly enough, what we can’t so quickly forget is who’s lined up behind this candidate despite the fact it’s public knowledge that he’s headed for likely defeat (the district went for Biden 67-32 in 2020, Daily Kos Election said). He’s got the support of both the Republican Party of Virginia and Youngkin, who “endorsed Benjamin during his 2022 run and appeared at at least one event with him,” Media Matters said. Youngkin got a hell of a pass from the media during his own gubernatorial run, pushing this belief that he was some sort of moderate. He wore a red vest! What kind of extremist would don a vest, folks? But since winning, Mr. Moderate has pushed for a 15-week abortion ban in the commonwealth. Since then, “Democrat Aaron Rouse has won a special election for a state Senate seat in Virginia after his Republican opponent conceded in a race that was widely viewed as a proxy fight over abortion,” NBC News reported. Youngkin has also given clues that he’s likely to run for president in 2024 despite being in office for barely a year. Much like Florida’s Ron DeSantis, he doesn’t view his current role as his job, but rather as just a stepping stone to more power, specifically more power to squash anyone that doesn’t align or agree with their views. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/1/18/2147841/-Republican-House-candidate-who-runs-anti-LGBTQ-ministry-has-backing-of-Youngkin-Virginia-GOP Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/