'Shut up!': How this North Carolina election denier got a promotion in Congress | Opinion

When Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., was slated to become House speaker in 2023, a reporter from ABC News asked about his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results. At least, she tried until she was shouted down by legislators in attendance.

“Shut up!” an older woman yelled from Johnson’s left. “Shut up!”

That legislator, Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., was rewarded for her loyalty to Johnson and President-elect Donald Trump this week when she was selected to lead one of the most important committees in Congress, the House Rules Committee.

Foxx, 81, was my representative for most of my childhood; she still represents my parents. Her egregious missteps since her election to the House in 2004 are why she’s unfit for this role. They’re also probably the reason that she got the job.

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Foxx has been a fervent supporter of Trump since he first ran for office and has stood by his side. Clearly, she is now reaping the benefits of her faithfulness.

In 2020, Foxx voted against impeaching the president. In 2021, she was one of seven North Carolina legislators to vote against certifying the presidential election results, going along with the big lie that Trump was the country’s rightful leader. She voted against impeaching him a second time days later.

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I know that Trump, despite two impeachments, a criminal sentencing and a sexual abuse case, is still in control of the Republican Party and will be in the White House. It is still horrifying to see the erasure of his attempt to overthrow a presidential election.

If Foxx and her fellow Republicans have their way, Jan. 6, 2021, will be wiped from our collective conscience. But that's not the only reason her appointment is concerning.

Foxx has made her hate for LGBTQ+ people clear

For years, Foxx has been an antagonist to LGBTQ+ rights, both in North Carolina and nationally.

In 2009, she referred to the 1998 murder of Matthew Shepard as a “hoax,” alleging that the gay 21-year-old was targeted because of a robbery, not because of his sexual orientation. Shepard died days after being beaten and tied to a fence by two men because he was gay. Shepard’s mother was in attendance the day Foxx made her claim at a congressional hearing.

Foxx later apologized for the comment, saying “hoax” was a “poor choice of words.” Shepard’s mother, Judy, did not accept the apology, saying the lawmaker was “apologizing for semantics but not her sentiment, her insensitivity or her ignorance.”

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Foxx opposed repealing the military's “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy on LGBTQ+ troops, and sought to add a provision in 2011 that prevented appropriations bill funding from violating the country’s gay marriage ban. Four years later, she opposed the Supreme Court's Obergefell v. Hodges ruling, which legalized gay marriage nationwide.

Foxx also aided in the 2023 effort to ban transgender girls from playing women’s sports. During the hearing for said bill, she claimed she didn’t “know what a trans girl is.”

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Again, I grew up in Foxx’s district. Throughout my childhood, I was told that being gay was sinful. Gender norms were strictly enforced.

It is painful knowing that the adults around me voted a person into office who didn’t believe in my rights as a queer person. Her promotion shows just how committed Republicans are to denying LGBTQ+ people the right to exist and live the way their straight counterparts can.

Then there is the history of racism that MAGA requires

Foxx has a history of racist comments and actions:

• In 2009, she used a racial epithet on the House floor when describing a piece of Democratic legislation.

• She fed into the movement against critical race theory in 2021.

• In 2023, she interrupted Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., as he was discussing racism during a committee hearing.

• Last year, she asked for the words of Rep. Sean Casten, D-Ill., to be taken down when he criticized “certain white folks.”

As chair of the House Education and the Workforce Committee, Foxx introduced bipartisan legislation to withhold student aid from colleges that met pro-Palestinian student demands and divested from Israel.

Foxx has also stood against women’s rights over the years. She’s staunchly pro-life and once introduced legislation to defund Planned Parenthood. In 2021, she voted against a domestic violence prevention bill after lamenting the rise of domestic violence during the COVID-19 pandemic on the House floor.

I'll be honest: I'm terrified by the thought of Foxx leading such a crucial panel as the House Rules Committee. She said she and the Republican majority "will deliver upon President Trump’s agenda with diligence and expediency."

Her appointment signals that Trump and congressional Republicans will push the most radical versions of their agenda and will likely succeed because not enough people in that party have any interest in stopping it.

If that's the case, Democrats need to prepare for four years of Republican chaos and begin preparing for the midterm elections now.

Follow USA TODAY columnist Sara Pequeño on X, formerly Twitter: @sara__pequeno

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: This NC lawmaker shows Trump loyalty is all GOP cares about | Opinion