CHARLESTON — A controversial answer to a candidate questionnaire has led The Charleston Gazette-Mail to pull their originally published article. State Senate candidate Joshua Higginbotham (R) told The Gazette-Mail that if elected to the West Virginia State Senate, he will be the lead sponsor of legislation that allows men to use girls’ restroom facilities, locker rooms, showers, and changing rooms.
The Gazette-Mail asked, “Do you support amending state law to provide anti-discrimination protections for West Virginia’s LGBTQ community?”
Higginbotham responded, “While serving in the House of Delegates, I was the lead sponsor of a bill called the Fairness Act that aims to do just that—I will continue to do so once elected to the Senate. This is a critical piece of legislation that will assure young West Virginians that they are welcomed here and sends a message to the rest of the nation that we are open to diversity.”
As a delegate, Higginbotham served as the lead sponsor of HB2998 (2021), better known as ‘The Fairness Act.’ In §5-11-2 on line 2, the bill provided “equal access to places of public accommodations” on the basis of “gender identity.” Therefore, a biological male can identify as a female and gain access to all public facilities. This includes restrooms and any other facilities open to the general public in businesses, parks, organizations, recreational centers, etc.
Outrage ensued online with hundreds of voters on social media expressing their disapproval. This ultimately led to The Charleston Gazette-Mail pulling the published online version of Higginbotham’s questionnaire. This raised legitimate questions about the credibility of the newspaper. It is highly unethical for a self-professing unbiased, “Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaper” to pull a candidate questionnaire, solely because voters in the candidate’s district did not like the answers given. Then, when they purportedly realized the disconnect between the candidate’s remarks and the electorate, they seemingly attempt to erase what was said.
Mountaineer Journal managed to save a screenshot of the official Gazette-Mail article, along with archiving The Charleston Gazette-Mail webpage, while it was still active.
The Journal reached out to The Charleston Gazette-Mail managing member Doug Reynolds and Executive Editor Lee Wolverton, but they were unavailable for comment.
Higginbotham Candidate Questionaire
The Fairness Act HB2998 (2021) – Sponsored by Higginbotham
UPDATE 4/8/2022 3:49 PM: After outrage ensued following their decision to pull down Higginbotham’s candidate questionnaire, it has been re-published on The Charleston Gazette-Mail’s website. On March 28, after the questionnaire was pulled, The Gazette-Mail published a statement on social media reading, “The Gazette-Mail is posting all candidates’ responses to our questionnaire on April 7, a week after the March 31 deadline to respond.” An official statement from The Gazette-Mail explaining why the candidate questionnaire was pulled from their site has not been made at this time.
It is also important to note that the state senatorial election is the second-highest position being sought on the ballot in their area.