WASHINGTON — When Tennessee Rep. Andy Ogles posted Tuesday that “homosexuality has no place in America,” it wasn’t the first time he declared a certain group of people didn’t belong in the U.S.

The difference this time: His fellow Republicans called him out, publicly.

“Saying that homosexuals have no place in America is idiotic, but it’s also not reality,” Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., who publicly denounced Ogles’ post, said in an interview Wednesday. “There’s other statements on his Twitter account that I’m sure people find offensive. But in this particular instance, I felt it was important to push back.”

Along with Lawler, former New York Republican Rep. George Santos, who is gay, immediately responded to the post. Even more GOP members denounced Ogles’ post to the press Wednesday, including Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., who called it “untoward.”

“We’re supposed to love our neighbor as ourselves. ... We’re supposed to treat every single person with dignity and respect, whether we agree with them or not,” Johnson said. “It’s a Christian virtue, it’s a biblical virtue, it’s also an American virtue. It’s part of who we are — out of many, one. We’re a melting pot.”

Ogles on Tuesday deleted the post a few hours later, calling it “stupid, hurtful and a complete distraction from my America First focus.” He blamed the post on a staff member who “has been reprimanded.” Ogles’ office did not respond to a request for comment.

“He said somebody posted it, or whatever, and he removed it, so I guess that ends it,” said Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn. “It’s not Congress’ business to be in anybody’s bedroom.”

But as other statements go unchecked, some are wondering whether you can really love your neighbor in Congress. The reaction differs from a post Ogles made in March — just over a week after the U.S. launched a military strike against Iran — declaring that Muslims “don’t belong in American society.”

That time, his Republican colleagues didn’t publicly push back. Some, like Rep. Randy Fine, R-Fla., posted statements in the same vein.

“We need more Islamophobia, not less. Fear of Islam is rational,” wrote Fine. Ogles responded: “Agreed.”

Anti-Muslim rhetoric

As Democrats demanded he delete the March post and issue an apology, Ogles doubled down. He complained a day later that the European Union had “silenced” him after X flagged his language as violating guidelines there, adding that Muslims “run their government” and arguing “we must not cower to these barbarians.” The initial post remains on his account.

Over the following few weeks, he posted that America is “one nation, one culture,” and that the country is “not a melting pot.”

Although some Republicans later said they disagreed with Ogles, their objections never made it on their personal social media accounts.

“When you look at America’s founding, is it based on Judeo-Christian principles and values? Yes, it is,” Lawler said Wednesday. “But that doesn’t mean that we don’t welcome other faiths. That doesn’t mean that we don’t welcome other ethnicities or people who have a different sexual orientation.”

Rep. Glenn “GT” Thompson, R-Pa., said in March that America was founded on freedom of religion, “and it wasn’t limited to one or two religions,” but added Americans should be wary of radical Islam. It’s a hedge that many Republicans repeat — there’s a fine line between a phobia of radicalism and of peaceful Muslims.

“I don’t agree with Shariah law,” Burchett said Wednesday, using a term that has recently become a rallying cry in Congress. “If Muslims want to live in peace and not try to enforce Shariah law, then I’m OK with it.”

Since the war in Iran began, the sentiment has grown. The newly formed Sharia Free America Caucus headed by Texas Republican Reps. Keith Self and Chip Roy, which aims to ban the body of religious law, boasted more than 60 members in early April. That now includes House Foreign Affairs Chairman Brian Mast, R-Fla.

“Should we be very concerned about the Islamification of things here in the United States of America? 100% yes,” Mast said in a March interview. “When you have states or cities across the country where there’s people that want to institute Shariah law … that’s an anti-American problem.”

Nader Hashemi, associate professor of Middle East and Islamic politics at Georgetown University, said the Shariah narrative, which brings up images of “ISIS and executing people in the name of some religious interpretation of Islam,” is a “manufactured fear of Muslims.”

“Allegedly, they want to take over and impose this alien and draconian legal system on the United States, of which there’s zero evidence that anyone wants to do this,” Hashemi said in a March interview. “I view it in that context, as part of this broader Islamophobic package that sells much better at the grassroots level, because it reinforces stereotypes.”

Rhetoric conflating extremism with all practicing Muslims isn’t just an online occurrence. On Wednesday, Rep. Max Miller, R-Ohio, said on the House floor that Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., who is Muslim, “like[s] to hang out with” the militant group Hezbollah and “advocate[s] for terrorists on a daily basis.” When Tlaib sought recognition to demand the words be taken down, Miller said, “Oh, I’m sorry. Are we getting a little emotional?”

Love our neighbor

Some are not convinced that, in this political climate, everyone in Congress will remember to “love our neighbor as ourselves.”

“This is the new wave of MAGA folks in the Republican Party that think like this, and he just has no filtering system when it comes to common sense,” Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Wis., who is gay, said Wednesday of Ogles. When asked about Johnson’s “love our neighbor” message, he added: “For some of them, there may be no help.”

Pocan said the backlash against the post was a good sign. Rep. Chris Pappas, D-N.H., who is also gay, said Wednesday that he’s hoping this instance is an outlier and also pointed to the GOP response.

“This is a workplace where we all have to work together and respect each other and the staff that works here, and that means that respect differences and you let everyone be themselves,” Pappas said.

But Hashemi said if the past is any indication, as the war with Iran drags on, so will anti-Muslim rhetoric. Michigan Democratic Rep. Shri Thanedar filed a resolution months ago that would censure Ogles and remove him from the Homeland Security Committee over his anti-Muslim posts, but it hasn’t been brought to the floor.

“I remember distinctly after 9/11, George Bush went to a mosque and said, ‘We are not going to tolerate Islamophobia,’” Hashemi said. “We don’t see that happening now, and that’s very much a reflection on the failure of political leadership in this country on both sides of the aisle.”

“The question is, why haven’t these leading politicians said anything?” he added.

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