North Carolina. Have you heard of it? As far as states go, it’s a pretty big deal. So you’d think if you were one of two major political parties you wouldn’t want your candidate for governor to alienate as many people as possible. But this is Trump’s America, so here we are.
Some background.
North Carolina’s current governor is Roy Cooper, a Democrat who has been in this office since 2017. Prior to Cooper was Gov. Pat McCrory, a Republican.
You may remember McCrory as the guy who enthusiastically signed HB2 in 2016, one of the nation’s first “bathroom bills” aimed at transgender people. HB2 also banned local governments from passing their own anti-discrimination laws that included protections for LGBTQ+people. The whole thing blew up in McCrory’s face when it cost the state “between $450 million and $630 million” as well as “a minimum of 1,400 jobs,” according to PolitiFact.
Today, states are passing even more extreme bills targeting transgender people and none of those corporations, performing artists, and sports teams that protested against North Carolina in 2016 seem to give a shit.
Maybe that’s why, in 2024, the Republican nominee for Governor is current Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, a Republican who has been in this office since 2021. McCrory looks absolutely progressive in comparison to Robinson.
Robinson really, really hates LGBTQ+ people. And he would pass an anti-trans bathroom bill in a heartbeat should he be elected.
“We’re going to defend women in this state,” Robinson said in February according to The Advocate. “That means if you’re a man on Friday night, and all the sudden on Saturday, you feel like a woman, and you want to go in the women’s bathroom in the mall, you will be arrested — or whatever we got to do to you.”
OK. He wants transgender people to be arrested if they use the “wrong” bathroom at the mall. Got it. However, the “or whatever we got to do to you” part isn’t clear. It’s as if it’s a call for violence against transgender people. Because it is.
Oh, and his advice to transgender people who need to use the bathroom? “[F]ind a corner outside somewhere to go.”
Just a totally normal way to treat human beings.
The anti-LGBTQ+ remarks Robinson has made over the years are truly reprehensible.
In response to the Pulse nightclub massacre in 2016, Robinson took to his Facebook page to remind everyone that “homosexuality is STILL an abominable sin.” He’s also called LGBTQ+ people “maggots” and “flies.”
Robinson may be saying that he’s going to “defend women,” but in actuality, he doesn’t seem to like women any more than he does LGBTQ+ people. Shocking, I know, because transphobia and misogyny are usually so far apart.
Robinson does not want women to have abortions, saying that once a woman is pregnant, “it’s not (her) body anymore,” according to the East Carolinian.
And he said he would like to go back to the time before women could vote.
His desire to time travel is very confusing, because Robinson is a Black man. The further we go back in history, the fewer rights Black people have. His explanation does not make things any clearer. “In those days we had people who fought for real social change, and they were called Republicans,” he said, according to HuffPost.
He made these remarks at a 2020 event hosted by the Republican Women of Pitt County. Like, know your audience, my dude.
Then again, no doubt plenty of women voted for him for him to have won the primary. And those women probably also voted for Trump. Twice.
Robinson also doesn’t like Jews.
“This foolishness about Hitler disarming MILLIONS of Jews and then marching them off to concentration camps is a bunch of hogwash,” he posted on Facebook in 2018.
He’s also posted quotes from Hitler on Facebook, which he’s received a lot of questions about over the years. UNDERSTANDABLY.
He claims he was trying to demonstrate how horrible Hitler was, but that obviously wasn’t clear. I mean, your answer to the question, “Was Hitler good or bad?” is something you need to be really fucking clear about.
Robinson is the first Black candidate to run as a Republican for governor in North Carolina. So, historic! But also, a nightmare! North Carolina, do not let this man become your governor. Literally no good can come from it.
D’Anne Witkowski is a writer living in Michigan with her wife and son. She has been writing about LGBTQ+ politics for nearly two decades. Follow her on Twitter @MamaDWitkowski.