A congressional candidate in the state of Georgia who has been personally endorsed by former President Donald Trump said Friday that civil rights protections don’t apply to LGBTQ Americans because they “can change” their sexual orientation, unlike black Americans, who are born black.

Appearing on former Trump adviser Steve Bannon’s “War Room” podcast, Vernon Jones remarked:

“I don’t know what you are unless you tell me what you are if you’re gay. When I walk into that room, you can tell that I’m Black. I’m Black from cradle to grave. Let’s not get that confused.

“They can actually change. You know you can go from being straight to being gay to being transgender and all these other genders. When you’re Black, I don’t have a choice. … When did gays come over here on [slave] ships?”

As if that wasn’t bad enough, Jones later sent out a tweet clearly intended to drive a wedge between the LGBTQ movement and African-Americans:

Jones hasn’t always been a Republican, HuffPost reports:

He voted Democratic in the primary, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported last month. He also served as a Democratic state representative in Georgia.

The willfully ignorant comments from Jones drew harsh online criticism.

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