Herschel Walker spends final stretch of Georgia Senate runoff attacking LGBTQ rights

Republican Herschel Walker is using the final days before voting begins in his Georgia Senate runoff race against Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock to bash LGBTQ people.

In the immediate aftermath of a deadly mass shooting at a Colorado LGBTQ club, Walker has already launched an anti-transgender television spot, railed against the use of pronouns to describe people’s gender identity, and campaigned with a notorious North Carolina politician known for calling LGBTQ people “filth.”

Warnock received the most votes in the Nov. 8 general election, but because Georgia law requires that a candidate win with more than 50% of the vote, and Warnock won just under that, he and Walker will face off again in a runoff election ending Dec. 6.

Walker is trying to make the race about demonizing LGBTQ people rather than focusing on the issues voters say are the most important to them, such as the economy, abortion rights, gun violence and public safety.

On Saturday, a shooter killed five people at Club Q in Colorado Springs and injured 19 more. The suspect in the shooting is being held on murder and hate crimes charges, the AP reported.

A day later, according to a report published by the website Jezebel, Walker campaigned in Carrollton, Georgia, with Mark Robinson, the anti-LGBTQ Republican lieutenant governor of North Carolina.

Robinson faced bipartisan criticism and calls to resign after he said in a 2021 sermon that it is “child abuse” to educate kids about sexual orientation and gender identity.

“There’s no reason anybody, anywhere in America should be telling any child about transgenderism, homosexuality, any of that filth. And yes, I called it ‘filth.’ If you don’t like it that I called it ‘filth,’ come see me and I’ll explain it to you,” Robinson said at the time.

Walker has a lengthy record of opposing both LGBTQ equality and efforts to curb gun violence.

Warnock commemorated the Colorado Springs victims on Sunday, tweeting: “There is no place for violence, hatred, or intolerance of any kind in our democracy. I am praying for the victims’ families in Colorado Springs, for their community, and for our nation.”

The Human Rights Campaign has endorsed Warnock, saying he is a “strong ally of the LGBTQ+ movement.”

At the event with Robinson on Sunday, Jezebel reported, Walker railed against gender minorities, denied the reality that some transgender men become pregnant, and complained that the U.S. military uses pronouns that correspond with people’s gender identity.

“They have talked about Senator Warnock not talked about bringing pronouns into our military. Pronouns. What the heck is a pronoun?” Walker asked. “I can tell you right now, grenades don’t know nothing about no pronouns. Bullets don’t know what color your skin is. But yet they talking about pronouns. I’m still doing pushups and situps. That’s what we need to have them doing. Pushups and situps, not pronouns.”

On Monday, Walker released a television ad attacking transgender athletes and accusing Warnock of being “afraid to stand up for female athletes.” The ad argued that is is “unfair and wrong” for the National Collegiate Athletic Association to allow transgender women to compete in women’s swimming.

Walker said in September that transgender kids may not go to heaven because “Jesus may not recognize you. Because he made you a boy. He made you a girl.”

A post-midterm election Morning Consult/Politico survey found that just 18% of voters think it should be a “top priority” for the new Congress to investigate transgender athletes’ participation in sports — the lowest of 17 listed topics.

A Navigator poll released Monday indicated that anti-LGBTQ attacks like the ones Walker is using do not motivate most voters in the GOP base.

Asked the biggest reasons they voted for a Republican in the 2022 midterm election, just 20% cited Republican messaging against transgender student athletes and medical care for transgender kids — below every other one of the 12 issues measured.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.