GOP rep comes out, denounces “Don’t Say Gay” bill at press conference

Representative Zachary Wyatt/Source: Missouri House of Representatives

Zachary Wyatt, a Republican Representative for the state of Missouri, held a press conference today in which he publicly came out as gay following an official denunciation of the state’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill.

Together with several of his colleagues, Wyatt addressed his fellow Republicans in Jefferson City and asked them to rescind the bill, which was originally proposed by fellow GOP Representative Steve Cookson.

The Kirksville Daily Express, Wyatt’s home district paper, reports that he came down hard against the “horrible bill,” which would make it illegal to discuss homosexuality in public schools.

“Today I ask you to stand with me as a proud Republican, a proud veteran and a proud gay man,” Wyatt said. He added that he chose to come out publicly after growing weary with bigotry “on both sides of the aisle.”

“I am not the first or last Republican to come out,” Wyatt told the paper. “Being gay has never been a Republican or Democrat issue, and it should never be.”

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Posted by LGBT Weekly on May 2, 2012. Filed under Breaking News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry