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It is the first week of Pride.
An already controversial Tennessee Congressman opted to use the second day to get deeply homophobic.
“Homosexuality has no place in America,” he declared on social media.
The bigoted remark drew wide condemnation, including from fellow conservatives. He’s walking it back — but not actually apologizing.
‘Happy nuclear family month’
On Tuesday, June 2, Congressman Andy Ogles marked the second day of Pride with a deeply homophobic tweet.
“Homosexuality has no place in America,” the Republican member of Congress from Tennessee tweeted.
He compounded his error 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 announced that millions of Americans have no place existing in America.
From the outside, the tweet looks like a shocking but not surprising fit with the rest of his social media activity.
Most of his tweets seem to concern deporting not-white citizens in support of the Trump regime’s white supremacist agenda, particularly targeting immigrants from Somalia and a few other select nations.
Ogler’s fellow Republicans seek to draw a line between outright bigotry and supposed “national security” concerns.
A baffled Senator Ted Cruz, a staunch conservative, told TMZ that for “all of recorded history, homosexuals have been part of humanity. … I think the behavior of consenting adults is their business.”
Representative Mike Lawler commented: “What an absolutely idiotic statement to make” about Ogler’s tweet, calling his colleague a “f–king idiot.”
“Idiotic and offensive” Rep Mike Lawler (R-NY) on homophobic social media post by account of his colleague Rep Andy Ogles (R-TN)
— 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 that he didn’t make it.
“Earlier today while working on the farm, my phone began going crazy because of a post made by a member of my comms team,” he began a later tweet.
“The post was stupid, hurtful, and a complete distraction from my America First focus,” he lamented.
Ogles then claimed: “The employee has been reprimanded.”
Notably, that isn’t actually an apology. He merely describes the tweet’s impact, and throws an unnamed staffer under the bus.
Judging by the replies, even the remaining denizens of what was once Twitter do not 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’ Twitter account famously “liked” an incest porn clip on 9/11. Famously, he claimed that a staffer was responsible.
Hey, it’s possible. Just because no one seems to believe it doesn’t mean that it couldn’t conceivably be true, right?
By all accounts, Ogles — or his unnamed staffer, who may or may not exist — hoped that last year’s conservative backlash against progress and decency was still going strong this year. It is, but not as much.
Calling for the eradication of millions of Americans still gets condemned within the GOP if many of those Americans might be cis and white.
