Out lawmaker Ian Mackey grew up surrounded by homophobia. Now he’s fighting back!
Missouri Democratic Rep. Ian Mackey made national headlines back in April for a speech he gave in which he blasted his transphobic GOP colleagues.35-year-old Mackey is openly gay and was elected in the November 2018 midterms to represent a suburb of St Louis.
His speech came during a debate over HB 2140, a wide-ranging elections bill that aimed to introduce a new voter ID requirement.Republicans tried sneaking in an amendment that would permit public school districts to put a measure on the local ballot that, if approved, would ban trans girls from participating in girls’ sports.Related: Gay senator Shevrin Jones put his homophobic colleagues on blast and it was incredibleMackey’s speech targeted the author of the amendment, Rocheport Republican Chuck Basye, who revealed that he had a gay brother last year.Basye said his brother had been scared to come out to him for fear of his sibling’s reaction.
But, Basye noted, his brother should not have worried.In his speech, Mackey argued that HB 2140 was exactly the sort of legislation that made LGBTQ people worry about coming out.MO State Rep.
Mack (D) confronts Rep. Basye (R) over an anti-trans bill: “I was afraid of people like you… 18 years I walked around with ‘nice’ people like you who voted for crap like this.
