In the month since the devastating shooting that tok place at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Cuban-American senior Emma González has become one of the faces of the gun control movement. Days after former classmate Nikolas Cruz killed 17 and injured many more, González delivered a powerful speech about the need to change gun laws. Moved by her words and activism, many said that she gave them hope. Despite the amount of support she’s received, she’s also become a target for conservatives who refuse to budge on gun legislation. The latest disparaging comment comes from Leslie Gisbon, a Republican candidate for the Maine House of Representatives, who called Emma a “skinhead lesbian.”
“There is nothing about this skinhead lesbian that impresses me and there is nothing that she has to say unless you’re frothing at the mouth moonbat,” Gibson wrote on Twitter, according to NBC News.
Gibson, a lifetime National Rifle Association (NRA) member, backtracked and after backlash apologized to González, who identifies as bisexual. “I would like to extend to you my most sincere apology for how I addressed you,” Gibson said, according to the Huffington Post. “You are doing work that is important to you. I would like to extend my hand in friendship and understanding to you.”
The candidate, who is running unopposed in the election for the Maine House 57th District, didn’t specify how the words he used attacked her for her sexuality. Equality Maine’s Matt Moonen slammed Gibson for the words he used. “Emma González is a courageous young woman who is stepping up and speaking out,” he told NBC News. “Mr. Gibson’s attack on her sexual orientation was reprehensible. This kind of rhetoric has no place in any elected office, and certainly not in the Maine House of Representatives.”