Mark Burns, a Trump-endorsed congressional candidate, spewed anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric in an appeal to win over voters in a new video.
Burns, who is running for South Carolina’s third congressional district, claims in the video, “We are dangerously close to losing our country.” Burns furthers this by stating that “Satanic forces are taking over our schools, preying on our children with transgender surgeries and drag queen story hours.”
The drag community is consistently the target of hate speech and defamation by far-right groups. Many try to spin drag queen story hours as sexual or perversive; however, most attackers refrain from speaking about the different intricacies associated with drag. Just like other forms of art and entertainment, some shows and venues cater uniquely to adults, while others are made for all ages. There is a difference.
These homophobic statements play into a trend amongst Republicans, namely far-right Trump supporters, creating false narratives surrounding the LGBTQ+ community to generate fear amongst certain groups. Unfortunately, these harmful statements are commonplace for Burns, who, in 2022, came after the transgender community during an interview on The Stew Peters Show. After being asked about his opinions on trans youth, he said, “There’s no such thing as trans kids; only abusive parents, period.”
Towards the end of the video, Burns says he wants to fight for the right “to raise our children how we want to raise them,” which seemingly contradicts his views on gender reassignment surgery.
Despite the Trump endorsement, Burns failed to secure his spot in Congress. This marks the evangelical pastor’s third attempt at reaching the House of Representatives. He previously lost in both 2018 and 2022. This year, nurse practitioner Sheri Biggs won the primary election by just two percent. Conservative Biggs has experience in the medical field and the Air National Guard. While Biggs has neglected to speak about the LGBTQ+ community, she has voiced support for Trump and shares similar values.
Photo courtesy of markburns.org
