After a run-off election concluded and candidate Fabian Nelson won the Democrat primary, liberal news outlets The New York Times, NBC News, The Guardian, and The Associated Press published stories about his election to the District 66 seat in the Mississippi House.
That is because Nelson, 38, a real estate broker, is a homosexual.
“Representation matters—especially in Mississippi, which is one of the last two states to achieve the milestone of electing an out LGBTQ+ lawmaker,” Annise Parker, who leads the LGBTQ+ Victory Fund, wrote on social media after Nelson’s election.
Parker’s national PAC, which endorsed Nelson because he is attracted to other men, praised him for being a caring and concerned foster parent who currently serves on a state advisory council. The PAC raised $1,035 in donations for Nelson’s campaign with a goal of $7,500.
House District 66 covers Hinds County, a Democratic stronghold, where there is no Republican candidate on the ballot for the November election.
Will legislators 'stand strong' against name-calling?
Reacting to Nelson’s election, Jameson Taylor of AFA Action predicts the soon-to-be state legislator will use his sexual identity as a “bully pulpit” to push LGBT rights on The Magnolia State in a state legislature where Republicans hold a large majority.
“Republicans are going to have to stand strong,” Taylor urges, “in spite of there being a gay lawmaker in the Mississippi legislature.”
When he joins the Mississippi House, Nelson will sit next to legislators who have addressed the transgender movement by upholding female-only sports and by banning so-called “gender affirming care” of minors in the state.
Doing so would mean ignoring accusations of “homophobia” and “transphobia” by Nelson and his allies in politics and the media. Since Nelson is black, his opponents can expect to be dishonestly accused of racism, too, in a southern state with a history of racism and discrimination.
In March, for example, Gov. Tate Reeves (pictured at left) signed the Mississippi Fairness Act that bans biological males from participating on female sports teams.
"Governor Reeves knows this is not a problem in Mississippi and yet he insists on enthusiastically signing this bill to sow fear and division," Rob Hill, of the Human Rights Campaign, complained at the time.
In the same statement, which predicted transgender youths will be harmed by the law, Hill accused Reeves of focusing on a nonexistent-problem when Mississippians are "reeling" from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Meanwhile, in a recent Associated Press story about Nelson’s win, Hill claimed Nelson’s election is symbolic.
“It sends a real message in a time when we are seeing attacks legislatively and through violence against the LGBTQ+ community that the majority of people reject that kind of animus,” Hill told the AP.
Mississippi’s passage of “anti-LGBTQ” laws are mentioned in news stories about Nelson’s election but the candidate himself has told news outlets he campaigned on expanding Medicaid in the state, which is known for its poor population, and for increasing funding in public education.
During his campaign, Nelson was interviewed by website LGBTQ Nation. The then-candidate told the story of an elderly neighbor who told him she was warned by his opponent about voting for him because he is a homosexual. The neighbor defended Nelson because he is kind and helpful.
In the state legislature, however, The Human Rights Campaign will presumably expect more from an open homosexual legislator than expanding Medicaid.
'Leftist fantasies' vs churches
Mississippi is also well known for its number of churches and hence for Mississippians holding orthodox views about homosexuality. Nelson’s biography on the Victory Fund website states he attends church at Jackson Revival Center Church, located in the state capital.
A standard “What We Believe” statement of beliefs is not posted on the Revival Center website but the church is led by a female pastor, Jennifer Biard.
Taylor, meanwhile, says the Far Left is desperate to gain a foothold in the Bible Belt state of Mississippi but they are wrong if they see hope in Nelson’s election to the state legislature.
“That is not going to happen,” Taylor flatly predicts. “Mississippi voters are conservative. Many of them believe in a biblical worldview and close the door to these leftist fantasies that basically pretend that everyone in America agrees with their agenda."
