Democrats call for state representative to be stripped of leadership position after comments about Muslims

OLYMPIA, Washington -- Backlash today after a state representative defended comments he made about Muslims during an interview on Q13 FOX News.

State Rep. Jay Rodne (R-Snoqualmie) said he stood by comments he wrote on Facebook calling Islam “barbarian medievalism” and suggesting Muslims are “incompatible with western civilization.”

Rodne said, however, that he did not mean to imply that all Muslims are “barbarians.”



“Of course not, no,” he told Q13 FOX. “And I stand by those comments. The atrocities committed by ISIS are barbaric. The vast majority of Muslims in the world are peaceful and want nothing more than to live in peace with other faiths. Unfortunately, there’s a small percentage of that 1.5 billion Muslim practitioners who prescribe to a medieval interpretation of their faith that commands them to commit acts of atrocity against our civilization.”

Rodne’s comments during the interview prompted an angry response from Washington State Democrats on Thursday, calling on house republicans to strip Rodne of his leadership position as the ranking members of the House Judiciary Committee.

"Jay Rodne's bigoted and Islamophobic comments are just unacceptable, and someone who holds these hateful views should not hold a crucial position of power in Olympia" said Jamal Raad, Washington State Democrats Communications Director. "The House Republicans are meeting right now for pre-session days and can change committee assignments. The Washington State Democratic Party urges them to take this opportunity to do the right thing and strip Jay Rodne of his leadership position on the Judiciary Committee. Tolerating those kinds of harmful comments is just plain wrong."