Eric Porterfield Biography | Eric Porterfield
Eric Porterfield(full name: Eric Earl Porterfield) is an American politician and a Republican member of the West Virginia House of Delegates, representing District 27, which includes parts of Mercer and Raleigh counties.
First elected in 2018, Porterfield is the second blind person to ever serve in the West Virginia legislature.
Alongside being a physically disabled politician, Porterfield is well known for his unwavering opposition to LGBT rights.
Eric Porterfield Age
Eric Earl Porterfield is an American politician and a Republican member of the West Virginia House of Delegates, representing District 27, which includes parts of Mercer and Raleigh counties. First elected in 2018, Porterfield is the second blind person to ever serve in the West Virginia legislature.
Eric Earl Porterfield is 44 years old as of 2018. He was born on November 17, 1974, in Princeton, West Virginia, U.S.
Eric Porterfield Early life And Education
Porterfield was born and raised in Princeton, West Virginia. Describing himself as a “pretty wild, out-of-control teenager,” he later attended a Bible college at age 20.
In 2006, at age 32, he was blinded as a result of a head injury received in a physical altercation. Porterfield has not discussed the cause or nature of the altercation, noting “I can’t fully get into all the details of it, because there’s still some stuff pending on it, but a major altercation with a multitude of men ended up leaving me instantaneously blind on December the 10th, 2006
Political career
Electoral history
Porterfield was spurred to run for political office after a Republican Mercer County magistrate granted a protective order against him and his wife; this was in response to their organizing a boycott of a local OB-GYN over her support of abortion rights.
Porterfield has also cited his opposition to a law banning conversion therapy as a contributing factor in his decision to run.
He succeeded incumbent delegate Marty Gearheart, UN agency set to forgo election in 2018 and ask for West Virginia’s third territorial dominion seat.
Tenure and controversies
In February 2019, Porterfield faced criticism and calls to resign after he made a series of homophobic comments. After using an anti-gay slur in committee on February 6 while advocating for an amendment that would nullify local LGBT anti-discrimination ordinances, he appeared in interviews on February 8 calling the LGBT community “a modern-day version of the Ku Klux Klan” and a “terrorist group.”
On February 10, when asked during a television interview on WVVA what he would do if his son and daughter ever came out to him as gay, Porterfield repeatedly responded that he would “see if they could swim” and declined to clarify what he meant.
This was taken by many as implying he would drown them, though Porterfield later rejected this interpretation. West Virginia Republican Party chair Melody Potter denounced Porterfield’s words as unacceptable, saying further that they were “hateful, hurtful, and do not reflect the values of our country, our state, and the Republican Party.”
In response, Porterfield refused to apologize and doubled-down on his original statements, calling LGBTQ people “brutal monsters.”
Eric Porterfield Eye Injury| Eric Porterfield Blind|Eric Porterfield Princeton WV
Delegate history: Porterfield pursuing a lawsuit over 2006 bar fight that left him blind
PRINCETON — A West Virginia delegate who recently made headlines with statements about the LGBTQ community, calling the group “modern era KKK” and “brutal monsters,” continues to pursue a lawsuit arguing that an Indiana sports bar’s negligence and failure to provide security led to a 2006 fight that left him blind.
Delegate Eric E. Porterfield, R-Mercer, was 32 years old when he was severely injured the morning of Dec. 10, 2006, outside of Cavanaugh’s Sports Bar & Eatery in Schererville, Ind. Besides serving in the Legislature, Porterfield is the founder of Blind Faith Ministries in Princeton.
In February, Porterfield supported an amendment that would have not allowed municipalities in the state to give gays and other members of the LGBTQ community anti-discrimination protection as a protected class. Porterfield later described the group as “modern era Ku Klux Klan” and “brutal monsters” after a threatening message was left at his Charleston office.
Porterfield said on his ministry’s website that he lost his eyesight in December of 2006, but does not describe how this occurred. He declined to comment Monday when he replied to a message from the Bluefield Daily Telegraph.
The December 2006 incident began at The Sky Box, a strip club in Harvey, a community just south of Chicago, according to a weekend story in the Charleston Gazette-Mail in which court documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request were cited. The actual altercation in which Porterfield was injured occurred at Cavanaugh’s Sports Bar & Eatery about 30 miles away.
The incident started at approximately 3:15 a.m., Dec. 10, 2006, when members of the Schererville Police Department including the investigating officer, Officer A. Buonadonna, were dispatched to Cavanaugh’s for a fight in progress, according to a report filed by Buonadonna.
A witness, Mark R. Banks, told Buonadonna that two males later identified as Porterfield, then of Griffith, Ind., and Steven P. McPherson, then 24, of Schererville, were arguing with two people later identified as Jesus Meraz Venegas of East Chicago and Jason I. Dorado of Hobart, Ind.
“As the argument moved across the parking lot, Banks observed Venegas and Dorado ‘jump’ Porterfield and a fight ensued,” Buonadonna stated in his report. “According to several people who approached me when I first arrived on the scene, up to ten subjects were involved in the fight, but Banks could only ID Venegas and Dorado as the two who possibly battered Porterfield.”
The two suspects were placed into custody. Buonadonna then went into the sports club where Porterfield was being attended by the staff as well as local EMS. The officer said he asked Porterfield for an ID and about what happened.
“Porterfield told me that I was ‘a cop so f…. figure it out.’ Porterfield was very uncooperative and refused to answer any questions other than his name.
He also refused to show me a picture ID,” Buonadonna said in the report, adding that Porterfield had swelling and bruising in both his eyes. The suspects had “a strong odor of alcohol,” but Porterfield did not; this was confirmed by emergency room personnel.
Buonadonna said in a supplement to his report that an ER physician called him about two hours after the fight and said: “Eric Porterfield was still in the ER and diagnosed with bilateral globe perforation, which, in layman terms means that Porterfield got his eyes literally poked out.”
After arriving at the ER, Buonadonna and another officer saw one of the suspects, Jason Dorado, in the hospital lobby waiting for a ride. He had been released by medical personnel and “diagnosed with a human bite wound to his right ear,” according to the report.
The attending physician informed the officers that Dorado had told an ER nurse “that he had Porterfield in a headlock when Porterfield bit his ear.” Dorado also told the nurse that he “poked his eyes out” during the fight and stated, “what the f … do you want me to do he bit me?”
The doctor also told the officers that Porterfield was being brought to the surgery and that he could lose sight in his right eye. His left eye was also seriously injured and “even if he gains sight in it, the eye would be permanently damaged.”
All of the subjects involved in the fight were very vague in their descriptions of potential suspects and uncooperative in their versions of what happened, according to the incident report. Porterfield, McPherson, and Venegas were each facing a charge of disorderly conduct, a misdemeanor. Dorado was jailed for probable cause aggravated battery, a Class B felony.
More than a year later on Dec. 12, 2007, Porterfield contacted the police and gave investigators a statement. He described how he was leaving the club with his friend Steven McPherson, walking to where their vehicle was parked at a neighboring library.
When they were between the club and the library, “he noticed a group of guys just standing around.” Then the subjects circled around and said something to McPherson about a girlfriend.
McPherson said “sorry guys” and Porterfield told them that they didn’t want trouble. Porterfield said then that his friend was attacked. He remembered being in a headlock and replied that “anything is possible” when asked if he bit anybody.
McPherson said in a June 2007 statement that he heard a girl yelling over his shoulder. Porterfield was a few steps ahead of him and “said something back to them in a stern manner.
He then turned around put up his hands and said he did not want to fight.” McPherson said he was punched and was on the ground when he glanced up and saw Porterfield on the hood of a tan SUV and “approximately 4 males around him,” and noticed that his eyes were black and that he needed medical attention.
On June 26, 2007, Porterfield arrived at the Schererville Police Department with his attorney, according to the report.
A question and answer form had been prepared, but Porterfield did not fill it out.
Porterfield stated both personally and through his attorney that he did not want to give a statement and he did not want to pursue criminal charges against anyone involved in the fight at Cavanaugh’s.
By 2008, Porterfield had filed a lawsuit against the owner of Cavanaugh’s, arguing, according to court documents, that the owner should have known that the club was “frequented by persons with a propensity to engage in criminal conduct.”
The suit also argues that the club had had previous criminal incidents and that it did not provide adequate security for its clients. Additional information, including witness statements and defendants statements, was filed on Jan. 31, 2018 at the Lake Superior Court Civil Division in Gary, Ind.
Eric Porterfield Wife, Married, Children, Family
Jessica Worrell, she is a wife of Eric Porterfield. She is 31 years old as of 2018 because Jessica’s birthday is on 10/28/1987. Jessica’s Reputation Score is 3.75. Previous to Jessica’s current city of Tampa
Porterfield married the former Jessica Worrell and has two children, Beth and John. They live in Princeton. He is a born again Baptist missionary.
He founded Blind Faith Ministries in 2012 and has done missionary work with the group in South Sudan, Venezuela, and Cuba.
Eric Porterfield Eyes
How a 3 a.m. bar fight left a WV delegate blind
More than 12 years after Eric Porterfield, who made national news earlier this year comparing the gay community to the Ku Klux Klan, lost his vision in a parking lot brawl, his legal battle against the bar where it happened continues.
Porterfield, now a Republican member of the House of Delegates from Mercer County, started that night in 2006 at a strip club in Harvey, Illinois, a tough suburb just south of Chicago.
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