US: Anti-gay Texas Republican launches bid for House Speaker

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A right-wing Republican has announced that he plans to run to become the Speaker in the House of Representatives.

Texas congressman Louis Gohmert previously claimed that equal marriage will force churches to hire cross dressers and Satan worshippers.

He said in 2013: “There is no clear place to draw the line once you eliminate the traditional marriage and it’s the same once you start putting limits on what guns can be used, then it’s just really easy to have laws that make them all illegal.”

He said that churches should continue to be exempt from discrimination laws, otherwise they would be forced to hire a “cross-dresser” or a “Satan-worshipper”.

He also compared gay rights advocates to Nazis in the US House of Representatives.

He announced on Fox and Friends this week that he was launching a challenge to replace current speaker John Boehner.

Mr Gohmert said: “After the November elections gave Republicans control of the Senate, voters made clear they wanted change.

“We have heard from a lot of Republicans ‘I would vote for somebody besides speaker Boehner’. But nobody will put their name out there until now.”

“I’m putting my name out there today to be another candidate for Speaker. After years of broken promises, it’s time for a change.”