A Republican candidate for governor of Colorado has come under fire after delivering a disturbing anti-LGBTQ+ tirade, accusing queer people of being “in rebellion against nature” and infiltrating government institutions to impose their “beliefs.”
Speaking at a GOP forum hosted by the Christian nationalist Truth & Liberty Coalition, state Senator Mark Baisley attacked the historic number of LGBTQ+ representatives in Colorado’s legislature, suggesting their presence was not the result of progress or equality, but part of a calculated effort.
“They are in rebellion against nature,” Baisley claimed. “Our founding document begins with the words that we are establishing this new nation on the laws of nature and of nature’s God. If you understand that they are in rebellion against that nature all the time, then you see why they’re doing the things that they do.”
He continued by making deeply stigmatising and conspiratorial statements about gender dysphoria:
“The folks who are struggling with dysphoria, gender dysphoria, and have that brokenness in their spirit and in their minds… They get themselves put in those positions of authority so that they can change things that would have made things more comfortable for them growing up.”
Equating LGBTQ+ Advocacy to Religious Indoctrination
In his speech, Baisley went so far as to compare the LGBTQ+ movement to religious coercion, suggesting queer people were using the state as a platform to “force” beliefs on others.
“They push that almost as if they’re using the state as their kind of church to force their religious beliefs on the rest of us. Once you understand that they are in rebellion against the nature of God, then a lot of things start making sense of what they are doing.”
The comments are especially striking given the religious nature of the event itself. The Truth & Liberty Coalition, which hosted the forum, is a prominent Christian nationalist group that advocates for the United States to become a Christian theocracy — effectively eroding the separation of church and state.
A Forum Filled With Anti-LGBTQ+ Rhetoric
Baisley was joined on stage by three other Republican gubernatorial candidates, each of whom took turns attacking LGBTQ+ rights and promoting extreme rhetoric.
State Rep. Scott Bottoms vowed to repeal all laws protecting LGBTQ+ people and claimed inclusive education policies were part of a “demonic epidemic.” He also bizarrely promised to ban the use of pronouns for all state employees, seemingly forgetting that cisgender people use pronouns too.
Political Analyst: “A Bleak Performance”
Political communications expert Logan M. Davis, writing in the Colorado Times Recorder, described the forum as “the strangest, bleakest performance” he’d seen in over a decade of observing right-wing politics.
“Each provided a glimpse into a dark fantasy world which bears little resemblance to our own,” Davis wrote. “Of course, there is nothing surprising about these men harbouring homophobic or transphobic views, but I was surprised by how unhinged and conspiratorial those views are — and how willing the candidates were to speak them out loud.”
He warned that this level of extremism is becoming increasingly common within the Republican Party.
“Delusion is not uncommon,” Davis concluded. “That it should so uniformly swallow an entire debate stage is.”
The candidates are running to replace Colorado’s outgoing Democratic Governor Jared Polis, who is the first openly gay man elected governor in the United States and currently completing his final term.
