WASHINGTON — The office of Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Tx.) today received a letter addressing a comment he made earlier this week in which he seemed to suggest that, if they don’t want to be discriminated against at work, homosexuals should hide their sexual orientation. The letter, penned by thousands of members of the American LGBT community, suggested that “maybe, just maybe,” Gohmert should hide his “bigot orientation” while he’s at work.

“Thank you for your wise words, Mr. Gohmert,” the letter reads in part. “It’s nice to know you have our back. It’s so simple: Just pretend we’re not gay! Why didn’t we think of that?!”

“Since you’ve been so helpful,” the letter continues, “we thought we’d return the favor by offering you some advice. If you don’t want to be ‘discriminated against’ at work—i.e., voted right the hell out of office—it might be a good idea to pretend you’re not a total bigot. Ya know, just a suggestion.”

Authors of the letter say they sent it in response to comments Gohmert made in an interview with ThinkProgress earlier this week. When asked by a reporter if he supported the Employment Non-Discrimination Act—which would “prevent private employers from discriminating against employees on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity”—Gohmert said he’d never heard of it, but went on to insinuate that such legislation is unnecessary anyway, because, as he said, “Who wants to go talking about sexual orientation when they’re working? Good grief.”

“You’re right, Louie,” the letter responded. “I mean, you seem to talk about sexual orientation quite a lot while you’re ‘working’ on Capitol Hill—like when you said that gay marriage can lead to bestiality, or that it’s putting America ‘on the road to the dustbin of history,’ or even that time you argued that allowing openly gay teenagers into the Boy Scouts would lead inevitably to older boys raping younger ones. But we guess it’s different for you. Seriously—you’re not a total hypocrite or anything.”

Rep. Gohmert has yet to publicly react to the letter, but sources close to the congressman say that he’s “happy to see that the gays have finally absorbed the central message of his political career: Be something you’re not, or get out.”