North Carolina brewery launches LGBTQ fundraiser after Lt. Gov called gay people ‘filth’
Ponysaurus will donate proceeds from its Don't Be Mean To People beer in Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson's name
North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson (R), who has in recent months called βtransgenderismβ and homosexuality βfilth,β is now financially supporting the LGBTQ community — well, sort of.
Ponysaurus brewery in Durham, N.C., has announced that it will donate a portion of profits from its “Don’t Be Mean to People” beer to the βLieutenant Governorβs Fund for the Fabulous.β
The fund will βhelp the LGBTQ community grow, thrive, and find acceptanceβ — all in the name of Robinsonβs βillustrious title,β reads a message on the Ponysaurus Brewing Companyβs rainbow-adorned website.
βThe Lt. Governor said some not very nice things. But Donβt Be Mean to People believes in the goodness of everyone,” the message states. “So we know in his heart he doesnβt believe other North Carolinians are βfilth.β Weβre so sure of it, weβre helping to fund the good work that could be his greatest act in public office.β
Robinson, who assumed office in January, believes that maggots have more βpurposeβ than gay people, whom he has also compared to cow feces and flies.
In several speeches and sermons at churches throughout the state, Robinson has accused the LGBTQ movement and left-wing activists of infiltrating schools with sexually explicit or age-inappropriate books and indoctrinating youth into accepting queer people.Β
After the 2016 Pulse nightclub mass shooting in Florida, Robinson wrote in a Facebook post that βhomosexuality is STILL an abominable sin and I WILL NOT join in βcelebrating gay pride.ββ
Additionally, the Republican has dismissed the threats of COVID-19 and climate change and fueled antisemitic and Islamophobic conspiracy theories.
At the time, Gov. Roy Cooper (D) called Robinsonβs comments βvile, hateful languageβ that he uses to βget attention.β
β[It] is not reflective of our welcoming and diverse state, and Republican leaders should condemn these comments for the good of North Carolina,β Cooper said in a statement issued by his press secretary.
Related:Β North Carolina Lt. Gov. says maggots have more βpurposeβ than gay couples
White House Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates called Robinson’s words “repugnant and offensive.”
“The role of a leader is to bring people together and stand up for the dignity and rights of everyone; not to spread hate and undermine their own office,” Bates said in October.
Ponysaurus owners Nick Hawthorne-Johnson and David Baldwin posted a video on Instagram inviting Robinson to βstop by Ponysaurus anytime and letβs talk about it over a beer.β
Similarly, the website reads, βAn open invitation to find a way forward together. If we talk it out over a beer, maybe he wonβt mind if we change his mind.”
In 2016, Ponysaurus partnered with 40 other breweries nearby to create βDonβt Be Mean to People: A Golden Rule Saisonβ in response to North Carolinaβs controversial HB 2, which blocked trans people from using bathrooms matching their gender identities and overturned and banned LGBTQ-inclusive nondiscrimination protections.
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