According to an Iowa politician, “Anything you say anymore about a gay is a gay slur.”

Republican Representative Ralph Watts made the statement at an event in Urbandale, Iowa over the weekend when he was asked by a constituent why he referred to former Democratic challenger Bryce Smith as “red rider”.

Watts claimed he didn’t know the term was a slur and that he was actually using the homonym “Red Ryder”, as in the BB gun used by Ralphie in A Christmas Story.

Watts made the following comments to the Des Moines Register last month:



Red Ryder BB gun is the thing that falls in the category of a kid’s first gun, and it’s used to teach kids how to use a weapon and shows them responsibility and shows they’re capable of using something more powerful. With some of the things that have happened, the constant sniping and constant obscure criticism shows me that he hasn’t progressed past the Red Ryder stage. … I hadn’t heard about the slur until he brought it up.

LGBT advocacy group One Iowa criticized Watts’ words.

“This is an unacceptably dismissive and unapologetic response to a valid question about his previous use of a slur,” said Daniel Hoffman-Zinnel, One Iowa’s executive director.

“Words have real power to hurt and suppress marginalized communities, and Rep. Watts is failing to take responsibility for his words and shifting blame to the very community his words are hurting. Further, his use of the phrase ‘a gay’ is homophobic and dehumanizing. We ask him to apologise for his actions.”

You catch Watts’ exchange with the constituent below.

