Republican candidate Fern Shubert blamed gay parents for ‘rising crime rates’

Republican candidate Fern Shubert

Fern Shubert, a Republican candidate contesting a special congressional election in North Carolina, once blamed same-sex parenting for “rising crime rates.”

Fern Shubert is running in the special election for the state’s 9th congressional district in the US House of Representatives, which is vacant after the 2018 election was invalidated over voter fraud allegations.

The candidate, who currently sits in the state senate, has a history of anti-LGBT rhetoric.

Republican candidate Fern Shubert ‘likened gay people to paedophiles’

On a 2004 election website found by ThinkProgress, Shubert likened gay people to paedophiles and spoke of her “hatred” of homosexuality.

She wrote of gay people: “Love the sinner but hate the sin seems appropriate. Unfortunately, some believe sin is old fashioned and want everyone to condone a lifestyle that history shows is destructive.

“After what happened in the Catholic Church, it amazes me that anyone can keep a straight face when suggesting that the Boy Scouts should accept homosexual scoutmasters and parents should ignore homosexual recruitment.”

Republican candidate Fern Shubert

Republican candidate Fern Shubert.

Referring to a defunct pro-paedophile organisation, she wrote: “NAMBLA has made their interest in child abuse quite evident. If the press were not so supportive of ‘gay rights,’ more people would recognize the hidden agenda.”

A section on same-sex marriage added: “I’ve signed the request that the Senate be permitted to vote on the Defense of Marriage amendment to the NC Constitution.

“The government’s attack on traditional families is already reflected in rising crime rates.

“Anyone who cares about the future should seek to structure a society that provides the best environment for raising children, and that is the traditional two parent family.”


The primary election in the race will be held on May 14, ahead of the special election on September 10.

Mark Harris also had extreme anti-LGBT record

Mark Harris, who won the 9th congressional district seat in the 2018 election that was later invalidated over voter fraud, also had a virulently anti-LGBT record.

A recording published by Media Matters revealed that in a 2015 sermon, Harris lamented the “moral decay” of decriminalising homosexuality.

He claimed: “In one generation you and I have witnessed this country sliding from a nation who once shared a moral vision based on Judeo-Christian ethic to a nation floundering in moral decay… we have watched in one generation where homosexuality was once criminalised to now we see the criminalisation of Christianity.”

The Republican candidate also campaigned to abolish LGBT+ rights protections in North Carolina during the state’s battle over its bathroom ban, saying: “They can call it a new morality. They can call it the new normal, but God has said it’s same old sin, and I’m going to stand on the… word of the living God.”

Harris teamed up on the campaign trail with internet evangelical pundit Elizabeth Johnston, known as the ‘Activist Mommy,’ who has claimed LGBT groups want to “rape the minds” of children.