Beshear appointee deletes tweets calling Kentucky voters homophobic bigots.

Kentucky Governor’s Pick for Poet Laureate Deletes Tweets Calling Kentucky Voters Bigots

Left-wing writer Silas House, appointed as Kentucky’s poet laureate by Democratic Governor Andy Beshear, has deleted tweets in which he called a majority of Kentucky voters homophobic bigots.

After House’s appointment, the Washington Free Beacon reported on his history of disparaging Kentucky voters. In now-deleted tweets, House claimed that Appalachia “as a majority IS homophobic” and told supporters of former President Donald Trump to kiss his “gay country ass.” He also wrote, “If you support Trump you’re a bigot. Just claim it.”

It is unclear whether House is still the state’s poet laureate. House deleted a January 2023 post that showed him shaking hands with a smiling Beshear, who has yet to address House’s posts critical of Kentucky voters. Neither Beshear nor House returned requests for comment.

Local media outlets defended House, with the Lexington Herald-Leader writing that House “has a complicated relationship with Kentucky, but his deep love for it is palpable … in his tweets.” However, House’s decision to delete his past attacks on Kentucky voters suggests that Beshear is concerned that his appointee’s rhetoric could hurt his reelection prospects in a state that has backed Republicans—and Trump—by huge margins in recent elections.

Beshear will face a more formidable challenger in the upcoming election: state attorney general Daniel Cameron, who secured the GOP gubernatorial nomination following an endorsement from Trump. Cameron was also on the ballot in 2019—the Republican beat incumbent Greg Stumbo by a whopping 15 points.

Besides his criticism of Trump voters, House has also blasted evangelical Christianity, a faith held by nearly half of Kentuckians. In a November essay, the Beshear appointee lamented being “raised in a church of terrorists” and warned that the “Christian nationalist forces that terrorized me as a child have grown only more powerful.”

Besides his appointment of House, Beshear has faced criticism for vetoing a bill that would ban sex-change surgeries for minors, a move that Cameron said “sets a dangerous precedent for our children’s future.”

• House’s tweets calling Kentucky voters bigots have been deleted.
• It is unclear whether House is still the state’s poet laureate.
• Beshear is concerned that House’s rhetoric could hurt his reelection prospects.
• Besides his criticism of Trump voters, House has also blasted evangelical Christianity.
• Beshear has faced criticism for vetoing a bill that would ban sex-change surgeries for minors.

Despite the controversy surrounding House’s appointment, Beshear praised his “unique gift” and identified House’s novel as an example of his ability to tell “his Kentucky story.”

As the election approaches, it remains to be seen whether Beshear’s association with House and his controversial decisions will hurt his chances of reelection.