‘Hell’s gates’: Speech by NC Lt. Gov. Robinson takes aim at schools, transgender people

North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson says gender identity issues are bringing the country to “hell’s gates.”

Robinson, who in his role as lieutenant governor serves on the state Board of Education, also said that someone on the board won’t stand up to say the Pledge of Allegiance, and called the unnamed person a “filthy hypocrite.”

Public speeches in which Robinson disparages LGBTQ+ people have become par for the course in his political career. Now he’s running in the Republican primary for governor. Robinson, giving a speech centered around patriotism at a Baptist church on the Sunday after the Fourth of July, brought up recent legislation about transgender athletes, saying, “why is this even a conversation in our society right now?”

“What are we going to do about an education system that’s teaching our children that they can be a boy or a girl no matter what their gender actually is?” Robinson said. “I cannot believe that I’m living in a time when there are people who say they are educated, but they believe that gender is simply a concept of the mind. What is wrong with these people? The very foundations of humanity, of God Almighty, they’re trying to tear them down.”

In 2021, Democrats called for Robinson’s resignation after a speech at a different church in which he questioned the “purpose” of homosexuality, The News & Observer previously reported.

He alluded to past controversies in this month’s speech.

“A lot of these political folks that work with me, they get nervous when I come stand up here,” Robinson said in his July 9 speech streamed on the YouTube page of Winkler’s Grove Baptist Church in Hickory.

“I don’t know what you get nervous for. You ought to be nervous about the fact that we live in a society where some folks say it’s alright to give pornography to children. As far as I’m concerned, that’s the decline of Western civilization. And I do not believe that if we continue to do it God’s gonna tolerate it long,” Robinson said, going on to talk about abortion and transgender people.

Robinson is anti-abortion, saying at the 2023 March for Life he wants the state to be a “destination for life.” In March 2022, Robinson confirmed that he and his wife, Yolanda, decided to end her pregnancy with an abortion before they were married, saying they made the wrong decision.

“This decision has been with us ever since. It’s because of this experience and our spiritual journey, that we are so adamantly pro-life,” he said at the time.

“The amount of children we’ve already killed in the womb in this nation is intolerable,” Robinson said in his speech at the church this month. “Imagine what will happen if we legalize the rape of our children. That’s when you ought to get nervous. We’re talking about folks who want to allow men to swim against women in a swimming pool, men to wrestle against women. ... Because again, there are only two genders. I don’t care who gets mad about it. I don’t care who doesn’t vote for me because of it. There are two genders.”

“And if we continue down this road, we’re going to open up hell’s gates in this nation,” Robinson said.

Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper has vetoed three anti-LGBTQ+ bills that the Republican-dominated legislature could soon pass by overriding his vetoes. The three bills would ban transgender athletes’ participation in girls’ and women’s sports, restrict gender-affirming surgery and other treatment for transgender minors, and limit instruction on gender identity in elementary schools.

The executive director of Equality NC, which advocates for LGBTQ+ rights, said the bills “would tarnish North Carolina’s reputation as an inclusive and welcoming place to live, work, and visit.” Kendra Johnson said in a statement that they would “cause immense damage to transgender and queer youth, who already experience significant disparities.”

Robinson on the Pledge of Allegiance

In his speech, Robinson also talked about “leftists” making “stupid laws,” called climate change “junk science” and criticized classroom discussions while he was a student at UNC-Greensboro. And he criticized people who don’t stand for the national anthem or Pledge of Allegiance.

Robinson, who would be North Carolina’s first Black governor if he wins, said white privilege is a “foolish concept” of the political left. He doesn’t name a person, but said a man on the State Board of Education meeting is a “filthy hypocrite” for not standing up to say the pledge.

Robinson asked the congregation to “stand up and be the men and women that God would have us to be,” and to save the nation from “the brink.” His speech was called “Be Strong and of a Good Courage,” and Robinson urged people to thank God for living “in a blessed country.”

The Rev. Paul Deal, the senior pastor at Walker’s Grove, asked Robinson after his speech to talk about “school board wars, if you will, because of all the ungodly pornography that’s in our schools.” Talking about gender, Deal said that “they are trying to indoctrinate our children.”

In Catawba, Caldwell and Burke counties, Deal said, “we have children that are identifying as animals, as dogs and cats.” However, several news organizations debunked similar rumors about North Carolina students in 2022. As school systems in other states were also faced with debunking the rumors, it led to some lawmakers apologizing for spreading the false information.

Robinson did not respond to Deal’s comments specifically, but said that churches should “build coalitions” and “not turn your children over to these wicked people .... while we fight to get these schools back in shape.”

Robinson is in a growing Republican primary field along with State Treasurer Dale Folwell, former U.S. Rep. Mark Walker and former state Sen. Andy Wells.

Whoever wins the Republican primary will likely face Democratic candidate Josh Stein, who is currently attorney general, in the general election next fall.