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It’s the first week of Pride.
An already controversial congressman in Tennessee chose to use the second day to make a strong homophobic statement.
“Homosexuality has no place in America,” he declared on social media.
The bigoted statement sparked widespread condemnation, including from fellow conservatives. He’s taking it back – but he’s not actually apologizing.
“Happy nuclear family month”
On Tuesday, June 2, Congressman Andy Ogles marked the second day of the Pride Parade with a strongly homophobic tweet.
The Republican congressman from Tennessee said in a tweet: “Homosexuality has no place in America.”
He doubled his mistake by writing: “Happy nuclear family month.”
The tweet has since been deleted, and ignited a firestorm of backlash, including from within his own party.
Simply put, he declared that millions of Americans had no place in America.
From the outside, the tweet looks like it’s shocking but it’s not surprising and fits in with the rest of his social media activity.
Most of his tweets appear to relate to the deportation of non-white citizens in support of the Trump regime’s white supremacist agenda, particularly targeting immigrants from Somalia and a few other select countries.
Augler’s fellow Republicans are seeking to draw a line between overt bigotry and supposed national security concerns.
Senator Ted Cruz, a hardline conservative, said he was puzzled TMZ that “throughout recorded history, homosexuals have been a part of humanity… and I believe that the behavior of consenting adults is their business.”
Rep. Mike Lawler commented, “What an absolutely stupid statement” about Augler’s tweet, calling his colleague an “idiot.”
“Stupid and insulting” Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) in homophobic social media post at the expense of fellow Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN)
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— Scott MacFarlane (@macfarlanenews.bsky.social) June 3, 2026 at 9:57 am
“The employee has been reprimanded.”
For whatever it’s worth, even Ogles is walking back the statement – claiming he didn’t do it.
“Earlier today while working on the farm, my phone started crashing due to a post made by a member of my communications team,” he began a subsequent tweet.
“The post was stupid, hurtful, and completely distracted from my focus on America first,” he lamented.
Ogles then claimed: “The employee has been reprimanded.”
It is worth noting that this is not actually an apology. He merely describes the impact of the tweet, and throws an unnamed employee under the bus.
Judging by the responses, even the rest of the population of what was formerly known as Twitter didn’t seem to believe Ogles’ story.
It is very common for members of Congress to claim that controversial social media activity was done by someone else.
For example, Senator Cruz’s Twitter account famously “liked” an incest-related porn clip on September 11. He is known to have claimed that a staff member was responsible.
Hey, it’s possible. Just because no one believes it doesn’t mean it can’t be true, right?
By all accounts, Ogles — or his unnamed employee, who may or may not be present — was hoping that the conservative backlash against progress and morality of the past year would remain strong this year. It is, but not to the same extent.
The call to eradicate millions of Americans is still condemned within the Republican Party if many of those Americans are cis and white.
