Rep. Will Hurd has 'real simple' advice for GOP colleagues: 'Don't be an a**hole. Don't be a racist'

Texas Republican Rep. Will Hurd gave some pointed advice to his Republican colleagues nationwide about how to prevent the party from shrinking, while speaking at a Log Cabin Republicans event in Washington, D.C. last week, according to the Washington Blade.

Hurd is the only black Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives. Log Cabin Republicans is a group that works for LGBT rights within the Republican Party. Here is an excerpt of Hurd's remarks:

"It's a pleasure to be with you all today because you all know something that many of my colleagues don't. If you're at the age of 40 in most places across this country you have to whisper that you're a Republican. This is a party that is shrinking. The party is not growing in some of the largest growing parts of our country.

Why is that? I'll tell you. It's real simple. Don't be an asshole. Don't be a racist. Don't be a misogynist, right? Don't be a homophobe. These are real basic things that we all should learn when we were in kindergarten. But unfortunately there's too many people that don't follow those things."

Hurd represents a district in Texas that includes more than one-third of the U.S.-Mexico border, and he has broken with the majority of his party by publicly opposing President Donald Trump's border wall.

Hurd also split with most of the GOP by being one of only eight Republicans in the House to vote for the Equality Act, an LGBT civil rights bill that would add sexual orientation and gender identity to the list of protected classes under civil rights law.

"People would ask me (why I supported the bill) and I would say, 'look, are you asking the only black Republican to support not being pro-equality?'" Hurd said. "And most people never have a follow-up question to that."

(H/T Raw Story)