“The level of anti-LGBT animus clearly demonstrated by Rep. Scott Garrett’s comments is astonishing,” said HRC Government Affairs Director David Stacy. “His mean-spirited views are certainly reflected in his poor record on LGBT issues. The ultimate question now is whether or not his constituents will tolerate such harmful views in the person they send to Washington to represent them and their values.”

According to the report, the startling revelation developed in a closed committee meeting of Republicans on the House Financial Services Committee when Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) told Rep. Garrett he was expected to pay dues to the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC). As reported by Politico, Rep. Garrett “stunned the room with this explanation: He had not supported the NRCC in the past, he said, because it actively recruited gay candidates and supported homosexuals in primaries.”

Rep. Garrett’s push for the exclusion of openly LGBT candidates goes hand in hand with his record opposing basic fairness and equality for LGBT people. Garrett voted against hate crimes protections for LGBT people, against the repeal of the discriminatory “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, refused to support the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, and he twice voted in favor of writing discrimination into the U.S. Constitution by banning marriage equality.

The Human Rights Campaign is America’s largest organization working to achieve lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality. HRC envisions a world where LGBT people are embraced as full members of society at home, at work and in every community.

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