JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) – A candidate with openly anti-gay views is running
for the Missouri House of Representatives.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that 65-year-old Hardy Billington is the
only Republican candidate campaigning to represent Poplar Bluff.
Billington has called legalizing same-sex marriage an “outrage.” He bought a
newspaper ad in 2012 in support of an effort to ban the mention of homosexuality
in public schools.
Billington didn’t return requests for comment.
His Democratic opponent, Robert Smith, says he signed up because he couldn’t
let Billington win office unopposed in November.
Smith is an assistant prosecutor in Butler County. He says he doesn’t believe
it’s right “to discriminate against people because of who they are.”
It’s unclear if opposition to Billington’s views will register in the deep-red
district. Four-fifths of Butler County voters cast ballots for Donald Trump.
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