Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN) said on Tuesday that homosexuality doesn’t belong in the United States.
“Homosexuality has no place in America,” he posted on X. “Happy Nuclear Family Month.”
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Ogles has a history of making inflammatory statements regarding the LGBT community and introducing anti-LGBT legislation, including a bill that sought to ban federally funded gender transitions before President Donald Trump took office again and banned transgender-related medical services for minors via an executive order.
Ogles also called upon the Federal Communications Commission to investigate the most recent Super Bowl halftime show, comparing Bad Bunny’s performance to “gay pornography” on prime-time television.
The Washington Examiner contacted Ogles’s office for comment on whether the congressman’s “homosexuality” comment foreshadowed a specific anti-LGBT policy he wants to push or whether it was in response to a news development. The statement was made on the second day of Pride Month.
One of Ogles’s colleagues in the House called the statement “idiotic.”
“Homosexuality exists,” Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) responded to Ogles’s post. “In America. In fact Andy, you have family, friends, neighbors, colleagues and constituents who are gay and lesbian. It doesn’t make them less than or somehow unworthy of being an American. What an absolutely idiotic statement to make.
Earlier this year, Ogles spearheaded a bill to ban immigration from predominantly Muslim-majority nations and foreign adversaries by amending the Immigration and Nationality Act. The announcement of the legislation coincided with his anti-Muslim social media posts.
“Muslims don’t belong in American society,” he wrote on March 9. “Pluralism is a lie.”
At the time, the controversial statement was made in response to a bombing attempt committed by two alleged ISIS sympathizers at dueling protests in New York City. The suspects were apprehended and subsequently charged.
With his latest statement, Ogles could seemingly be responding to a court ruling concerning transgender troops.
On Monday, a three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit determined that the Trump administration’s policy holding the view that people with gender dysphoria are unfit to serve in the military is unlawful. The administration is expected to appeal the decision to the full bench of the federal appeals court or the Supreme Court.
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Former New York Republican Rep. George Santos also took issue with Ogles’s glaring indictment of homosexuality.
“As much as I support the Nuclear family and how fundamental it is for life, I never thought I’d hear a person I consider a friend say there is no place for me in this country simply because of who I chose to love,” Santos, who is gay, said in a reply under the Tennessee Republican’s post. “I never once pushed my lifestyle onto anyone and have always voted and advocated for conservative principles. But I have the same civil rights as anyone else in this country and I am saddened by this insane comment.”
