RICHMOND, Va. — A new political appointee in Virginia says he’ll be toning down the rhetoric on Twitter, after being called out for a history of obscenities, a vulgar reference to the vice president and abusive name-calling.
Casey Flores, 31, was appointed by Gov. Glenn Younkin to serve on the Virginia LGBTQ Advisory Board, starting July 1. The Richmond Times-Dispatch reported the secretary of the Commonwealth counseled Flores to tone it down as a Youngkin appointee, and that Flores promised to do so.
Some of the tweets pointed out include Flores calling one man a “fat, racist, self-hating, white" who is a "slob." He also tweeted to Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg telling him to “F”- off" and tweeted that Vice President Kamala Harris “sucked the right (vulgarity deleted)----."
Flores declined an interview with WUSA9 but gave a brief statement via text.
“I don’t think anyone really cares about my tweets, but Twitter people and liberal reporters," he texted. “Gay culture can be among the nastiest you’ll ever experience, and they want to destroy the governor because he’s the first Republican to use his office to reach out to the community, and me because I don’t conform.”
Flores also pointed out that he tweeted the comments in question "before being appointed by the governor and as a now-appointee [he's] committed to representing [Youngkin]as the statesman that he is.”
In a recent podcast covering the intersection of faith and politics, Flores told interviewers he was a gay youth raised through a deeply conservative evangelical church. He said he unsuccessfully tried conversion therapy to conform. But he explained his conservative political beliefs remain central in his life.
“I'm not going to criticize people for their faith," Flores told the interviewers on the Faithful Politics podcast. “I respect people's faith and if they disagree with gay marriage, that's fine. We don't agree on everything. I personally would much rather have a country that is run by right-wing evangelicals that disagree with gay marriage than the left as it currently is. I really would.”
Flores is president of the Virginia chapter of the "Log Cabin Republicans,"an organization representing politically conservative LGBTQ members inside the Republican Party. His Instagram feed features photos with figures like Steve Bannon, Mike Lindell --the My Pillow Guy -- and a posed shot at Mar-a-Lago.
Flores says he supports gay marriage and is not concerned that conservative republicans in his own party might attempt to roll back or limit the right.
He remains active on Twitter as of Tuesday.