This week in news that will absolutely not make Republicans rethink their anti-LGBTQ crusade: Tennessee Lt. Gov. Randy McNally has been leaving very appreciative comments under sexually suggestive Instagram pictures from a 20-year-old man, even as Tennessee Republicans pass viciously repressive laws targeting sexuality, gender identity, and gender expression.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee already had the fun of answering questions about a decades-old picture of himself in a miniskirt, wig, and pearls just as he was getting ready to sign bills banning “adult cabaret performances” (including, but not limited to, drag shows) in front of children, as well as gender-affirming care for minors. Now McNally is explaining why he used his verified Instagram account to post three heart emojis and three fire emojis under an up-close picture of a very young man’s underwear-clad ass.
Go figure, the explanation is not convincing.
RELATED STORY: Anti-drag Tennessee governor runs from a reporter when confronted with a photo of himself in drag
McNally’s office responded with a statement after TN Holler broke the story.
“Trying to imply something sinister or inappropriate about a great-grandfather’s use of social media says more about the mind of the left-wing operative making the implication than it does about Randy McNally. As anyone in Tennessee politics knows, Lt. Governor McNally is a prolific social media commenter. He takes great pains to view every post he can and frequently posts encouraging things to many of his followers. Does he always use the proper emoji at the proper time? Maybe not. But he enjoys interacting with constituents and Tennesseans of all religions, backgrounds and orientations on social media. He has no intention of stopping.”
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At least he didn’t try to claim he’d been hacked, but the attempt to insinuate that it’s just dirty-minded left-wing operatives reading into something that an innocent great-grandfather could not possibly have known was sexual might work if you don’t see the pictures. If you’ve seen the pictures, it’s a real howler. We are talking about multiple pictures of a very young man—he is 20 now and this has been going on for a while—wearing only underwear, which are usually pulled down or pulled up for a little extra exposure.
And if McNally so greatly enjoys interacting with constituents, maybe he should argue against his party’s efforts to chase some of his constituents out of public life or limit their access to medical care.
Franklyn McClur, the aspiring performer and Instagram thirst trap poster in question, said McNally hadn’t gone beyond complimentary comments on social media. “To me, I’m not a stranger to compliments, so I don’t really read into them because I just think that’s wrong to assume somebody’s hitting on you just because they’re nice to you,” he told Nashville’s News 2. “He did not say he wanted to date me or have sex or anything like that.”
But he also wanted McNally to take his supportive (if that’s what they are) social media responses into the real world, telling News 2, “I just hope that he knows I love him and LGBTQ+ loves him and would love him even more if he would open his heart and treat everyone else the way he wants to be treated because the way I want to be treated is to be accepted and be able to be myself and not be taken to police.”
During McNally’s time as Tennessee lieutenant governor, the state has passed a law guaranteeing the right of faith-based adoption agencies to refuse to work with LGBTQ adoptive parents. It passed a law banning transgender athletes from women’s collegiate sports. It has just passed the previously mentioned anti-drag law and law banning gender-affirming care for trans kids. And there are many more anti-LGBTQ bills in the pipeline—TN Holler puts the number at 26.
McNally wants the public to believe he’s not ogling a young LGBTQ man in his underwear—he’s just being “encouraging” and interacting with constituents. Let’s take him at his word on that for a moment. Heart emojis do not make up for passing laws that harm people. All the encouragement in the world does not replace being protected under the law for the person that you are, never mind undo the damage of being actively legislated against.
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