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| Alabama Republican Phil Benson cited the Bible to support his views that the homosexual lifestyle was 'offensive'. Facebook |
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Alabama Republican County Official Refuses To Apologize After Writing 'F*****G Q****S Have Gotten Too Much Sympathy'
Daily Mail
Tue Jun 18, 2019
Category: U.S. News
Area: Mobile, Pensacola (Fort Walton Beach)
A county official in Alabama is defending his comments about gay people while the local Republican Party is distancing itself from him after he said 'fucking queers have gotten too much sympathy'.
The Mobile County treasurer, Phil Benson, insists that gay people are offensive to him and he sees no problem with the comment he posted online.
Benson posted the remark on a county Republican Party Facebook page that shared an article about a Colorado baker who was sued for refusing to make a cake for a woman's gender transition.
The party's post from June 12 linked to an article by the conservative magazine National Review, which profiled Jack Phillips, the devout Christian baker from Colorado who was sued for refusing to bake a cake for a homosexual couple.
The case went all the way to the Supreme Court, which ruled in Phillips' favor.
Phillips is now being taken to court once again because he refused to bake a cake for a person who was transitioning to another gender.
Benson posted a comment on the thread, saying: 'This poor guy needs to move to a place he is wanted.
'Fucking queers have gotten too much sympathy. A real abomination.'
The GOP page has since removed Benson's comment.
The Mobile County Republican Party wrote: 'A comment has been removed by the administrator. It is important to use appropriate language on this page.'
In another post, the party wrote: 'We wish to be absolutely clear the comments made by a Mobile County elected official are his own and they do NOT in anyway reflect the policies or beliefs of the Mobile County Republican Party nor any of it’s other members, therefore, we do not wish for his comments to be published further on our Facebook page.
'He can express his comments in any way he wishes on his own page.'
Benson, however, has refused to apologize, citing his biblical beliefs.
Benson tells WPMI-TV gay people can be 'very offensive' to him, adding that 'subgroups' have too much power.
They can be very offensive,' the treasurer said. 'All this beautiful rainbow stuff.'
He added: 'When one of our presidents lit the White House with wonderful rainbow colors that offended me.'
Benson was referring to the Obama administration's decision to illuminate the White House in rainbow colors in June 2015 to celebrate the landmark Supreme Court ruling which allows same-sex couples nationwide to marry.
He also cited the biblical story of Sodom and Gomorrah, the cities that are mentioned in both the Old and New Testaments.
The book of Genesis describes how God supposedly destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah because of the sins of its inhabitants, though scholars offer competing interpretations as to whether homosexuality was one of those sins.
When told that the LGBTQ community finds his comments offensive, Benson replied: 'I’m sorry they are offended. Their lifestyle offends me.'
Benson was elected as a Republican.
Alabama GOP chair Terry Lathan says Benson's comments are divisive and represent only his opinion.
MobPride, a gay rights group based in Mobile, responded: 'As a representative organization of the LGBTQ community of the greater Mobile, Alabama metropolitan area, MobPride does not condone any form or racial, religious, sexual orientation, gender identity, or other types of rhetorical hate speech.
'While Mr. Benson's opinions are respected by us, under his First Amendment right to free speech, we find it inappropriate for an elected representative of ALL citizens of Mobile County to voice such hate-orientated opinions.
'We welcome Mr. Benson, and any other elected official, to attend one of our meetings to express any concerns they may have so that we can, in the interest of goodwill, grant them the opportunity to engage us directly.
'We seek no test of will nor to force an opinion on Mr. Benson or anyone else who may share the same views.
'We only seek the opportunity to be able to defend ourselves through education and productive dialect so that we may be able to meet some common ground for the benefit of all citizens of Mobile County.'
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