OKLAHOMA CITY (CBS Houston) – Ahead of Oklahoma’s primary elections on June 24th, one candidate has gotten quite a lot of attention for comments he’s made about homosexuals and the bible.
Scott Esk is running as a Republican for the state House of Representatives in District 91, which is northwest of Tulsa.
On his website, Esk says he is 100% family values and believes that biblical principles should form the basis of Oklahoma law.
But some of his past postings on social networks have raised eyebrows.
Rob Morris publishes a news magazine in Moore. He says while he was researching state candidates, he found some unsettling comments from Esk.
Morris told KFOR-TV, “This guy posted on Facebook that homosexuals should be stoned to death. My first response was you’re nuts, nobody would be stupid enough to do that.”
Morris says he found those postings from last summer on Facebook. Esk was responding to a post about Pope Francis saying “who am I to judge” about homosexuals. In his comment, Esk cited biblical verses about killing homosexuals. Another commenter challenged Esk: “So just to be clear, you think we should execute homosexuals (presumably by stoning)?”
His reply: “I think we would be totally in the right to do it. That goes against some parts of libertarianism, I realize, and I’m largely libertarian, but ignoring as a nation things that are worthy of death is very remiss.”
Morris tells KFOR-TV that he spoke to Esk by phone to ask about his extreme views. Esk responded: “What I will tell you right now is that was done in the old testament under a law that came directly from God. And in that time, it was totally just, it came directly from God. I have no plans to, you know, reinstitute that in Oklahoma law. I do have some very huge moral misgivings about those kinds of sins.”
Morris tells the station Esk does not represent everyone in the state of Oklahoma. “Even people that don’t agree with things like gay marriage, they, nobody wants the death penalty for gays. I mean that’s the most asinine thing.”
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