Grandma Queerty told us never to trust a ginger, and in this case it looks like she was right.

On the streets of DC, Rep. James Lankford (R-OK) told ThinkProgress’ Annie-Rose Strasser and Scott Keyes that LGBT Americans shouldn’t be protected from being fired because sexuality is a choice: “Race and sexual preferences are two different things. One is… behavior-related and preference-related, and one is something inherent… skin color, something obvious, that kind of stuff.”

He also suggested such protections are superfluous because orientation isn’t readily apparent anyway: “You don’t walk up to someone on the street and look at them and say, ‘Gay or straight?’”

If it was you, Congressman?

More to the point, most districts have protections based religion and creed, which are obviously mutable. And we can’t help wonder how Lankford would feel about J. Christopher Burch, who stands accused of only hiring gay men. Betcha orientation would become a protected matter right quick if it was straights getting the boot.