North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson is an unabashed Christian nationalist and virulent anti-LGBTQ bigot who recently announced that he is running for governor. On Wednesday, Robinson appeared on religious-right broadcaster David Brody's "America 180" program where he complained about the supposed "dangers of this transgender movement," claimed that teaching children about LGBTQ issues is "child molestation," and admitted that as an elected official, he has to "remind myself that this is a constitutional republic, it's not a theocracy."
"The last time I checked, the Bible hasn't changed," Brody said. "And this whole gender stuff ... has nothing to do with the physicality of gender and what God created. So how do you kind of navigate those roads for you personally and professionally?"
"Well, on a professional level, I have to remind myself that this is a constitutional republic, it's not a theocracy," Robinson replied. "We have to operate by allowing people to have their constitutional rights, and I certainly intend to do that."
"But on a personal level, I am going to continue to speak at churches and to church groups and to other Christians about the dangers of the things that we see in our society today, the dangers of this transgender movement. It's fine if you want to be a transgender person in your home and you want to be that in your personal life, that's fine. But you cannot come to me and tell me as an individual that I have to accept that, that I have to go along with that delusion."
"Here's where I absolutely draw a hard line," he continued. "These folks need to leave these children alone. Leave my children alone. Leave other people's children alone. That is not your domain. ... Stop dragging children into this and stop forcing this on the children. In North Carolina, I'm going to do whatever I can to protect the children in this state from the wiles of these folks that are trying to push these highly sexual topics on them and sexualize children. As far as I'm concerned, it's child abuse, it's child molestation, and we will not stand for it."
"That is absolute perversion is what that is, and it is against the law, and we need to do everything we can to continue to push back against that," Robinson proclaimed. "I have the right to express my religious opinion in my church and that is not going to change, and I am not going to back down from that."
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