U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.), who represents Tennessee\u2019s 5th Congressional District, is facing backlash from LGBTQ advocates and fellow Republicans after a social media post declared that \u201chomosexuality has no place in America.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHomosexuality has no place in America. Happy Nuclear Family Month,\u201d the congressman wrote in a post on X that was later deleted.<\/p>\n
According to the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law, an estimated 6.3 percent of U.S. adults identify as LGBTQ.<\/p>\n
Following widespread criticism, Ogles removed the post and blamed it on a staff member.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe post was stupid, hurtful and a complete distraction from my America First focus. The employee has been reprimanded,\u201d Ogles said in a statement.<\/p>\n
The Washington Blade reached out to Ogles\u2019s office for comment but did not receive a response by press time.<\/p>\n
Among those condemning the message was U.S. Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.), who called it \u201cabsolutely idiotic\u201d in a social media post.<\/p>\n
\u201cHomosexuality exists. In America,\u201d Lawler wrote on X<\/a>. \u201cIn fact, Andy, you have family, friends, neighbors, colleagues, and constituents who are gay and lesbian. It doesn\u2019t make them less than or somehow unworthy of being an American.\u201d<\/p>\n U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) also criticized Ogles\u2019s remarks.<\/p>\n \u201cFor all of recorded history, homosexuals have been a part of humanity,\u201d Cruz told TMZ DC<\/a>. \u201cI think the behavior of consenting adults is their business.\u201d<\/p>\n Chris Sanders, the executive director for the Tennessee Equality Project and Tennessee Equality Project Foundation provided a statement to the Blade about Ogles\u2019s comment.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Tennessee Nuclear Family Month resolution has really backfired on conservatives by ensnaring Congressman Ogles in scandal. He used the resolution as a pretext to say that our community doesn\u2019t belong in America, resulting in incredible backlash from across the partisan divide,\u201d Sanders said. \u201cIt is a good opportunity for him to pause and reflect on whether it\u2019s time for him to resign. Fighting one\u2019s own constituents is not the purpose of serving in Congress.\u201d<\/p>\n Human Rights Campaign Senior Press Secretary Jarred Keller provided a statement to the Blade regarding Ogles\u2019s comments.<\/p>\n \u201cLGBTQ+ people are woven into the fabric of America, and any politician who questions that is severely out of touch with reality. When so many people are worried about whether they can afford gas to get to work or groceries for their families, the last thing we need is right-wing Republicans targeting marginalized communities with hateful attacks,\u201d Keller said. \u201cRepresentative Ogles should spend less time attacking LGBTQ+ people and start addressing the issues that actually matter, because last I checked, our community isn\u2019t the reason families are struggling to make ends meet.\u201d<\/p>\n The controversy comes as Tennessee continues to advance legislation affecting LGBTQ residents. The state already has several laws on the books that LGBTQ advocates have criticized, including the Adult Entertainment Act, enacted in 2023, which restricts certain \u201cadult cabaret performances.\u201d<\/p>\n Lawmakers have also introduced additional measures this legislative session, including the \u201cNo Pride Flag or Month Act,\u201d which would prohibit state employees, volunteers, and agents from displaying Pride flags or participating in Pride observances while acting in an official capacity.<\/p>\n Another proposal, the \u201cBanning Bostock Act\u201d would seek to limit the application of state anti-discrimination protections based on the U.S. Supreme Court\u2019s decision in Bostock v. Clayton County. Tennessee lawmakers have also passed other measures restricting LGBTQ rights<\/a> and access to gender-affirming health care.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.), who represents Tennessee\u2019s 5th Congressional District, is facing backlash from LGBTQ advocates and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":260107,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[101144,100616,620,9,24,63,101145,122,124,123,30427,59245,9889],"class_list":["post-260106","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-black-trans-liberation","tag-cats-the-jellicle-ball","tag-featured","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-queen-jean","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news","tag-tony-awards","tag-trans","tag-transgender"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260106","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=260106"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260106\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/260107"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=260106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=260106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=260106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}