New Hampshire lawmaker resigns amid charges of online misogyny

A New Hampshire lawmaker resigned on Wednesday following controversy over his comments on an online forum that critics called a hotbed of anti-women comments, the speaker of the state House of Representatives said.

Two-term state Representative Robert Fisher, a Republican, stepped down after a committee voted 8-6 not to censure him or remove him from office in a party-line vote, House Speaker Shawn Jasper said in a statement. Republicans control both houses of the state legislature.

"It is unfortunate that the debate surrounding his actions while serving in the House have detracted from the good things that we have accomplished this session," Jasper said. "But I welcome his resignation for the good of the institution."

Controversy has swirled around Fisher, who could not be reached for immediate comment, since the Daily Beast website reported that he had founded the "Red Pill" forum on the website Reddit.com and used it to make a number of critical statements about women.

Fisher told a legislative panel earlier this month that he had posted to the site and described comments left several years ago which questioned women's intelligence as unwise. He said the Daily Beast report had taken his comments out of context and denied more recent involvement with the site.

"Hopefully his resignation will make it clear to those defending his actions that misogyny and degradation of women is not acceptable in New Hampshire," Ray Buckley, the chairman of the state Democratic Party said in a statement.

(Reporting by Scott Malone; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)