A committee meeting in Pennsylvania’s capitol was derailed by a Republican representative who asked a male colleague to stop touching him on the arm, saying he’s ‘heterosexual’.
Rep Daryl Metcalfe said, ‘I don’t like men, as you might’, after Democratic Rep Matt Bradford placed his hand on Metcalfe’s forearm while debating a land-use bill at the state government meeting in Harrisburg on Tuesday.
He interrupted the visibly stunned Bradford mid-sentence to tell him to stop touching him.
Pennsylvania Rep Daryl Metcalfe said, ‘I don’t like men, as you might,’ after Democratic Rep Matt Bradford (pictured) placed his hand on Metcalfe’s forearm during a meeting in Harrisburg on Tuesday
Metcalfe (left) interrupted the visibly stunned Bradford mid-sentence to tell him to stop touching him
‘Look, I’m a heterosexual. I have a wife, I love my wife, I don’t like men – as you might. But stop touching me all the time,’ the rep from Butler County told Bradford, who started laughing.
Metcalfe added: ‘Keep your hands to yourself. If you want to touch somebody, you have people on your side of the aisle who might like it. I don’t.’
Bradford, who has a wife and children, laughed and said the meeting was ‘officially off the rails’. He then requested a sidebar to discuss what he called ‘extraneous issues’.
‘My intent was just to beg for your permission for about 30 seconds,’ Bradford, of Montgomery County, said.
Metcalfe, who is serving his tenth term in office, responded: ‘Then beg, don’t touch.’
Pennsylvania’s first openly gay legislator, Rep Brian Sims, expressed outrage on Facebook over Metcalfe’s comments.
Bradford, who has a wife and children, laughed and said the meeting was ‘officially off the rails’. He then requested a sidebar to discuss what he called ‘extraneous issues’
Following Metcalfe’s comments, the Pennsylvania Democratic Party called for his resignation
Bradford later said Metcalfe’s comments were ‘unpleasant and awkward and appalling’, adding: ‘In this day and age, it’s really inappropriate.’
‘PA State Representative Daryl Metcalfe disrupted a State Government Committee meeting this morning – about a land use bill! – to loudly declare his heterosexuality!’ wrote Sims.
The Democrat added: ‘You can’t make this stuff up! The most homophobic, transphobic, racist, sexist, xenophobic member of our government is using legislative time, and tax payer dollars, to interrupt a meeting to announce his sexual orientation.’
Following Metcalfe’s comments, the Pennsylvania Democratic Party called for his resignation.
Bradford later told Triblive.com that the lawmaker’s comments were ‘unpleasant and awkward and appalling’, adding: ‘In this day and age, it’s really inappropriate.’
Metcalfe told Triblive that he didn’t know anything about Bradford’s sexual preferences.
‘I don’t know what [Bradford’s sexuality] is,’ he said. ‘But I know from him touching me all the time that he indicates he likes to touch men.’
Bradford said that he was not making a pass at Metcalfe, but instead was trying to ‘restrain him so I could finish my thought’
Metcalfe (left), who once defended white nationalism by saying it’s ‘a lot different than a white supremacist’ has been very vocal against homosexuality in the past. Bradford (right) said he’s ‘glad’ he has ‘no idea what goes on in his head’, referring to Metcalfe
When asked about Metcalfe’s claim, Bradford said: ‘I’ll be honest, I often try to calm him down. I speak with my hands. I’ve tried to calm him down.’
He told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that he was not making a pass at Metcalfe, but instead was trying to ‘restrain him so I could finish my thought’.
‘I have no idea what goes on in his head, and some days I’m glad for that,’ Bradford said.
Metcalfe, who once defended white nationalism by saying it’s ‘a lot different than a white supremacist’ has been very vocal against homosexuality in the past.
When same-sex marriage was recognized across the country by the Supreme Court in 2015, Mecalfe said the Supreme Court displayed ‘judicial tyranny’.
‘It shows what tyrants they are when they think that they can place themselves above God’s law, above natural law, and above the will of the American people as we’ve seen it expressed in state after state after state,’ Metcalfe said.