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September 10, 2022

Another GOP extremist who proposed tattooing HIV patients has good shot at winning Congress seat

By Jackson Thoreau

A Maryland Republican state legislator once proposed tattooing people with HIV. Thanks to a judge appointed by Clinton, he has a good chance to win a Congress seat.

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Neil Parrott, a far-right, extremist Republican state representative from Western Maryland, once actually proposed going beyond Nathaniel Hawthorne's fictional premise of 172 years ago in The Scarlett Letter in real life. He supported branding people who tested positive for HIV with a tattooed mark as a means of identification, if not punishment and humiliation.

Parrott argued that placing such a mark permanently on a victim's skin, rather than just making them wear a big letter, "H," on their clothing, was somehow a "compassionate" proposal. Even the German Nazis only had stars and other codes sewn onto victims' clothing, rather than permanently tattooed on their skin. Slaves, those accused of crimes in certain U.S. states, and Confederate soldiers who deserted were branded until the 1860s.

While he has tried to distance himself from that proposal in his race for the Congress seat occupied by Democrat David Trone, Parrott still supports some of the most extreme views among Republicans running for Congress. That includes anti-abortion in all cases, even when the life of the mother is in danger, and eradicating the Affordable Care Act.

A flier by Democrat U.S. Rep. David Trone notes the extreme positions of GOP opponent Neil Parrott, who once proposed tattooing people with HIV.
(Image by Photo by Jackson Thoreau) Details DMCA

Trone beat him by 20 points two years ago, but the district has become more Republican after Judge Lynne Battaglia, appointed by Democratic President Bill Clinton, threw out a state-approved Congress map earlier this year. The new map changed Trone's district to the point that Parrott is favored by some political analysts, though some still say Trone is likely to win. Still, it's too close for comfort in a state that should be solid Democratic.

It was another example of Democrats eating their own, trying to be "fair" to Republicans who laugh in their faces as they gerrymander and erase voting rights at will in other states. If Parrott somehow wins in November, you can mostly blame Battaglia.