VOORHEESVILLE, N.Y. (NEWS10) – A video is circling social media of a local county legislator making comments about the LGBTQ+ community, others of the legislature are calling for his resignation.
Albany County Legislator George Langdon IV was shown in a video making homophobic comments during a public forum. In the video, the politician says “…when you have homosexual relationships, it’s not perpetual. Give them an island, they’ll be gone after 40 years.”
George was sworn in as Albany County legislator in 2020. The republican represents District 37. Now, some local and state leaders are calling on his resignation.
“Now that we have seen it, I think we need to take a stand and address it immediately…I am not willing to serve with this individual anymore. All I can think about now is the people that he was talking about and the prospect of them disappearing,” says Albany County Chairman Andrew Joyce.
“Hate and bigotry have no place in Albany County, and I stand with the LGBTQ community. If this is a true reflection of his beliefs, he has no place as a policymaker in county government. Legislator Langdon needs to immediately apologize to the LGBTQ community as well as to all county residents.”
Dan McCoy, Albany County Executive
The event was called A Return to Liberty Under the Constitution Seminar, held by Liberty Bell Alliance 76, a local conservative group. According to the flyer the event was open to the public and run by William Tryon, the same individual who was arrested by the FBI in his role on the January 6th 2020 Capitol Riot.
“We demand the best of our elected representatives, we expect integrity, and we deserve respect. It’s clear that George Langdon is incapable of representing the people of Albany County with any decency. I implore him to apologize to the residents he was elected to represent, and I believe he should resign his office immediately.”
Senator Michelle Hinchey, 46th district
“There is no place in New York for this kind of hate,” says Libby Post local LGBTQ advocate. She was shocked watching the video. March 31st marks transgender day of visibility…raising awareness of discrimination faced by transgender people worldwide. “It’s very interesting this is hitting today — where our transgender brothers and sisters are standing up as well as they should and say we’re here and we’re not going anywhere,” Post adds.