Former Mississippi GOP Lawmaker Doubles Down on Unhinged Call for Transgender Allies to Face ‘Firing Squad’
Robert Foster, a Republican former Mississippi state representative and failed gubernatorial candidate Friday night launched an unhinged assault on transgender allies, calling for their death by firing squad.
After online outrage, he doubled down Saturday morning. The Mississippi Free Press reports Foster is “using his social-media platform to call for the execution of political foes who support the rights of transgender people.” Friday night Foster tweeted: “Some of y’all still want to try and find political compromise with those that want to groom our school aged children and pretend men are women, etc.
I think they need to be lined up against wall [sic] before a firing squad to be sent to an early judgment.” Saturday morning Foster, a farmer who runs an agritourism business and calls himself a “Man of Faith,” and a “Constitutional Conservative,” doubled down, attacking his foes and defending his hate-filled remarks while trying to claim he was not referring to transgender people. “I see this really set some of the wackos off, let me elaborate for you.
First, that tweet says nothing about shooting or killing transgendered people. It clearly says groomers,” he wrote. “Groomers” is a commonly-used word to describe pedophiles or those who establish relationships with children in service of pedophiles, but has been used increasingly by conservatives to demean LGBTQ people with a false claim that equates them with pedophiles.
