Way to go, NC, for electing anti-transgender "bathroom bill" author & Proud Boys bud Dan Bishop. [View all]

[Miles Archer]

GOP Congressional Candidate Has Ties to Far-Right Supporter of the Proud Boys

Dan Bishop met for 45 minutes with anti-Muslim activist.



https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2019/09/gop-congressional-candidate-has-ties-to-far-right-supporter-of-the-proud-boys/

The campaign of North Carolina Republican congressional candidate Dan Bishop has associated with a far-right activist with a history of bigoted rhetoric who has defended the Proud Boys, a controversial neo-fascist outfit. Bishop, a state senator who authored North Carolina’s anti-transgender “bathroom bill,” is competing in Tuesday’s special election in the state’s 9th district.

The activist, Brian Talbert, runs a local organization called Deplorable Pride, a right-wing group that bills itself as a “conservative LGBT voice.” (Talbert said in a video posted this year that he is “against transgenders in the military.”) In June 2017, Talbert, who is gay, made national news when the board of Charlotte’s annual Pride celebration rejected his group’s application to enter a float in its parade, referring to a precedent of rejecting “participation from…organizations espousing anti-LGBTQ religious or public policy stances.” About that time, the White House, according to Talbert, called him with a message of support. According to the Charlotte Observer, the call had been initiated because the White House wanted to praise the group for joining a sit-in staged at a Starbucks, where staff had made fun of a customer wearing a T-shirt supporting President Donald Trump.

The LGBTQ advocacy organization GLAAD condemned Deplorable Pride in 2017, pointing to Talbert’s social media history. One post attributed to Talbert, which is no longer visible but was documented by GLAAD, stated, “Am I the only one pissed it wasn’t a real ban on all muslims? I say get rid of all the camel fuckers. Wipe them from the face of the earth.” (Talbert says this post was fabricated, but after GLADD publicized it, Deplorable Pride wrote in a comment on the GLAAD page, “I fully stand behind all my comments.”) In a 2017 Facebook comment from his personal Facebook profile, Talbert said, “Mohammed sucks cocks in hell.”

Talbert has also been a supporter of the Proud Boys, which has a documented history of inciting violence, for which some of its members have been criminally charged. He has noted that the Proud Boys have offered protection to members of Deplorable Pride during his group’s public events. The Southern Poverty Law Center has deemed the Proud Boys a “hate group,” a label the Proud Boys reject. When the SPLC issued that designation in 2018, Talbert rejected it, too, criticizing the SPLC label and defending the group. “Our LBGT organization, Deplorable Pride, will always be an ally to the Proud Boys,” he said to Big League Politics at the time. In a separate post on March 12, 2018, the Deplorable Pride Facebook account declared, “Our support for the Proud Boys stands just as strong now as it did the first day we met them. They are our MAGA brothers.”