GOP lawmaker calls LGBTQ+ people “pedophiles” & says Pride Month is “child abuse”

The newest member of the Oregon State Legislature says drag queens are pedophiles, children with autism are targeted for “transgenderism,” and “minor attracted persons” are coming for Oregon’s kids.  

In a campaign blog post reported by the Oregon Capital Chronicle, newly-appointed Republican state Rep. Dwayne Yunker made the unfounded claims in his bid to unseat former state Rep. Lily Morgan (R), who resigned from the seat Yunker now occupies to become a city manager in the southern Oregon district. Yunker was challenging Morgan, who he accused of not being conservative enough, until she resigned and he was appointed to take her place.

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Yunker posted his claims last August, explaining a decision to boycott a Grants Pass City Council meeting that included a proclamation supporting Pride Month honoring “the so-called LGBTQ+ community,” in Yunker’s words.

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He titled the post “No to Gay Pride Month.”

“‘Drag queen story hour,’ or ‘family friendly drag shows’ clearly attempt to make pedophilia seem acceptable,” Yunker wrote. “It is not OK to expose children to drag queens or to claim someone is not a pedophile when he is performing sexually explicit material in front of children.”

“This is headed toward acceptance of so-called ‘minor attracted persons’ who want their letter added to LGBTQ,” he said, repeating an old and harmful anti-LGBTQ+ stereotype. “It is shocking that any adult would endorse this child abuse. Therefore, on June 7, I did not attend the beginning of the Grants Pass City Council meeting. I will not be a part of or stand next to anyone who supports these abuses.”

In a later post, Yunker disputed the resolution’s claim that LGBTQ+ people face persecution, calling it “spurious.” To the contrary, Yunker wrote, “the ever-expanding alphabet movement” discriminates against Christians. 

“We cannot sit out afraid someone might call us right wing, homophonic [sic], or even Christian Nationalists.”

Kyndall Mason, executive director of Basic Rights Oregon, called Yunker’s claims “on the very fringe” of the Republican minority’s views in the legislature but alarming nonetheless.

“The uninformed, hateful and false ideas written in Rep. Yunker’s blog posts are deeply dangerous, and will direct more hate to these constituents and all trans and queer Oregonians,” Mason said. “While these posts were written before Yunker was appointed to his seat, we’re alarmed to learn that they are still on his campaign website, and are from less than a year ago.”

While Oregon has a strong record protecting LGBTQ+ rights and boasts one of the first elected lesbian governors in the country, Tina Kotek (D), a faction of rural, ruby-red Republicans reliably promotes a MAGA-inspired cultural agenda.

In the coming legislative session, opening February 5, House Republicans will introduce legislation barring trans people from using bathrooms that correspond with their gender identity and prohibiting trans girls from participating in school sports.