Affirmation: Gay & Lesbian Mormons

Mormon Legislator John A. “Bert” Stevenson

Mormon Legislator Criticized over Talk Radio Comments
Bert Stevenson: “If those people want that kind of lifestyle, we will do away with the human race”

March 2009

A Rupert, Idaho, legislator is under fire from a gay-rights group for comments he made on a local AM radio talk show. Mormon Representative John A. “Bert” Stevenson, a Republican, appeared last week on Zeb Bell's talk show and the two discussed a measure that failed in a Senate committee to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation.

In a recording of the broadcast posted on YouTube, Stevenson told Bell he saw no reason to make “special concessions for special people” and that Sen. Nicole LeFavour, D-Boise, has brought the same bill forward for a couple of years in a row now. The national debate over gay marriage is “trying to redefine the purpose of man being on the earth,” he said, and people aren’t fired for being gay, but because of their work habits.

“If those people want that kind of lifestyle, we will do away with the human race,” he added. “That's what it was intended to do.”

The group - Lion's Pride Idaho - blasted Stevenson, saying that he had suggested that homosexuals want to end humanity, and said he claimed that gay people get fired only because they're lazy.

On Wednesday, Stevenson defended his comments, saying that he feels federal protections against discrimination are adequate and don’t need to be replicated by the state. He said his statement about the human race ending simply pointed out that if everyone was homosexual, no one would procreate any more - though he didn’t seem to recognize his words about intent.

Later the Mormon legislator made another appearance on the program where he said to Bell, “If I've offended somebody, I apologize but I want people to realize that the question you asked me the last time was my opinion and that hasn’t changed at all. And so if I've offended someone I apologize for that but my opinion hasn’t changed,” indicating that he has held his position for 30 or 40 years.

Following Lion's Pride's call Stevenson to apologize for his radio remarks made on February 25, Lion's Pride Idaho and the Southern Idaho Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual and Transgendered Community Center requested a meeting with him to discuss our shared concerns. Representative Stevenson has agreed to meet with representatives from the two groups next week in Boise.

The incident comes only days after comments made by Mormon state senator Chris Buttars, from Utah, were leaked to the media. In late January of this year, Buttars compared the gay community to radical Muslims, and suggested that gays pose the greatest threat to America.