Tea Party congressman Steve King is pretty sure that gay people are going to hell

In interview with local newspaper, King says he doesn't "expect to meet them should I make it to heaven"

Published October 24, 2014 3:05PM (EDT)

Steve King                          (AP/Carolyn Kaster)
Steve King (AP/Carolyn Kaster)

Uber-conservative congressman Steve "Calves the Size of Cantaloupes" King is notorious for his rank sexism and  xenophobia, so it's no surprise that the Iowan isn't a fan of gay equality. In fact, he's quite certain that gay people are destined for hell.

Speaking with the Jefferson Herald on Wednesday, King weighed in on the controversy surrounding the Vatican's recently-concluded synod on the family. A preliminary document produced by the conference hailed the "gifts" gay people could offer the Roman Catholic Church and called for the church to be "welcoming" of gays. After a conservative uproar, the authors struck that language from the synod's final report. The report also excised welcoming language toward divorced people and cohabiting couples.

Asked by the paper about divorce and cohabitation, King replied, “I think that I’ll not comment on that part. I’ll just say that what was a sin 2,000 years ago is a sin today, and people that were condemned to hell 2,000 years ago, I don’t expect to meet them should I make it to heaven. So let’s stick with that principle.”

King wouldn't explicitly tell the paper whom he included in the "condemned" category, speaking only of "those who choose a lifestyle" he abhors.

“Let me say it isn’t to me to pass that judgment," King said, "and those who choose a lifestyle that I’ll say is not one that’s anointed and favored by my faith — or their faith, for that matter — that’s between them and God.”

King, who has represented Iowa in Congress since 2003, has compiled a consistently anti-gay voting record in the House. He has voted in favor of a constitutional amendment prohibiting marriage equality and against hate crime legislation and the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. In 2009, King asserted that the marriage equality movement was part of the "push for a socialist society."


By Luke Brinker

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