Reference

After using the slur "faggot" in committee on February 6 while advocating for an amendment that would nullify local LGBT anti-discrimination ordinances, he appeared in interviews on February 8 calling the LGBT community "a modern day version of the Ku Klux Klan" and a "terrorist group."[11][12] On February 10, when asked during a television interview on WVVA what he would do if his son and daughter ever came out to him as gay, Porterfield repeatedly responded that he would "see if they could swim" and declined to clarify what he meant.[13] This was taken by many as implying he would drown them, though Porterfield later rejected this interpretation.[14][15][16] West Virginia Republican Party chair Melody Potter denounced Porterfield's words as unacceptable, saying further that they were "hateful, hurtful, and do not reflect the values of our country, our state, and the Republican Party."[17] In response, Porterfield refused to apologize and doubled-down on his original statements, calling LGBTQ people "brutal monsters."[18]

Porterfield (R-Mercer), who is a born-again Baptist missionary and is blind, was elected to the state's House of Delegates in November. He has continued to stand by his bigoted views, accusing the LGBTQ community of being a "terrorist group" that has "no care for diversity of thought."

Porterfield was responding to an earlier debate over a amendment that would strip protections away from LGBTQ people, in which he called gay activists "the most socialist group in this country ...