A Republican lawmaker in Montana said that LGBTQ people who get beat up for holding hands in public are receiving the “normal consequences associated with the choices they made” and said that LGBTQ people “recruit young people” – a reference to child molestation -in a speech this week.

State Sen. Theresa Manzella (R) was speaking at a “God, Country, Family” event in Clinton, Montana about “the LGBTQ agenda” Wednesday night, defending real estate agent Brandon Huber. Huber is facing an ethics complaint with the Missoula Organization of Realtors for “hate speech” against LGBTQ people after he wrote a letter to his church denouncing a food bank’s Pride fliers.

At the event held at Huber’s Clinton Community Church, Manzella defended the real estate agent/pastor, saying that the Missoula Organization of Realtors “made an awfully big mistake because our founding documents make it clear that he most certainly has the right to stand on his sincerely held beliefs” by even entertaining the complaint, which will be adjudicated next month.

“My right to live a righteous lifestyle based on my sincerely held beliefs does not end where their choice to live a perverse lifestyle begins,” Manzella said, getting applause.

She didn’t stop attacking “alternative LGBTQ lifestyles” while defending the real estate agent, going so far as to accuse the LGBTQ population wanting to “recruit young people,” a reference to child molestation.

She said LGBTQ people “play the protected class card” by complaining about violence against them. She brought up how some queer people are afraid to hold hands with someone of the same sex in public out of fear of getting beat up.

“I’ve got to tell you, I think those are normal consequences associated with the choices they made,” Manzella said.