NC Lt. Governor berates state senator after her speech comparing Black, LGBTQ communities
Maria Wheeler
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A heated verbal exchange occurred outside the North Carolina State Senate chamber when Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson (R) took a state senator to task after her speech for allegedly likening violence experienced by the Black community to that experienced by LGBTQ people.
“I don’t remember his exact words but it was something like ‘I don’t appreciate you comparing or equating Black people with gay people,’ and I said ‘that’s not what happened,’” state Senator Julie Mayfield (D) said in an interview with WNCT.
Senate rules forbid members from criticizing other members by name on the chamber floor, but Mayfield’s comments regarding the responsibility of elected officials to respect and represent all of their constituents, particularly minorities, were meant to call out Robinson’s behavior.
“My comments were absolutely in response to his very hateful statements against LGBTQ individuals,” Mayfield told WRAL News on Monday night.
Mayfield’s colleague, Senator Natasha Marcus (D), recorded the tail end of the public confrontation.
“Next time, before you get ready to say something on that floor, come see me,” Robinson said after approaching Mayfield outside the Senate chamber.
“Does she have to ask you before she speaks?” Marcus called after Robinson as he walked away.
While on the floor, Mayfield had reminded the assembly of the responsibilities of elected officials.
“As elected leaders, we have a responsibility to serve all of our constituents, not just those who look like us, think like us or worship at the same church as us,” Mayfield said on the Senate floor. “We are here to serve everyone, even if we may not understand them and even if they didn’t – and never will – vote for us. And yes, even if they love differently from us.”
“Senator Mayfield’s comments were not in regard to any legislation being presented on the floor. The Senator was equating the lynching of African-Americans, to the hardships of the LGBTQ+ community,” Robinson’s spokesman John Wesley Waugh told Fox News Digital. “The Senator equating one of the darkest points in American history to any issue; is an attempt to score political points for the upcoming midterms.”
“These comments, while not naming the Lt. Governor directly, were her way of personally attacking him,” Waugh said. “The Lt. Governor is not a politician, if he feels there is a difference of opinion, he will not cower behind social media to address it; he will go directly to the source.”
Robinson, a Republican who has been rumored to be eyeing a gubernatorial run in 2024 has come under fire the past few months for his comments opposing the transgender ideology.
“If there’s a movement in this country that is demonic and is full of anti-, the spirit of the antichrist, it is the transgender movement,” Robinson said while speaking at a church in August.
“They’re dragging our kids down into the pit of hell trying to teach them that mess in our schools,” he continued. “Two plus two don’t equal transgender; it equals four. You need to get back to teaching them how to read instead of teaching them how to go to hell. Yeah, I said it, and I mean it.”