Feb 8, 2021
CHARLESTON (AP) A Republican lawmaker in West Virginia who resigned after posting an anti-gay slur but then was re-elected is drawing fresh criticism for an extended online diatribe opposing protections against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
House Delegate John Mandt said in a now-deleted Facebook post last week that he opposed the proposal known as the Fairness Act.
“Oftentimes evil cloaks itself in pleasant sounding terms, and that is exactly what the Fairness Act does,” Mandt wrote. “There is nothing fair about it.”
Republican Delegate Joshua Higginbotham has said he would be the lead sponsor of the legislation, which would ban discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in employment, housing and public spaces. Similar protections exist in 22 states and the District of Columbia.
W.Va. lawmaker who resigned over slurs returns to statehouse
by Cuneyt Dil, The Associated Press
Posted Feb 3, 2021 4:50 pm EDT
Last Updated Feb 3, 2021 at 4:58 pm EDT
CHARLESTON, W.Va. A Republican lawmaker in West Virginia who resigned after posting an anti-gay slur is set to elude political consequences now that he has won back his seat in the Statehouse.
John Mandt stepped down as a House delegate in the heat of his reelection campaign last October after screenshots emerged of him using the slur in a Facebook Messenger group. It had been the latest in a series of discriminatory remarks the state delegate had made about gay people and Muslims.