US: Anti-gay activist Mat Staver resigns from Christian university

Mat Staver, who thinks gays are a “crime against nature”, has resigned from his job as Dean at a private Christian university.

The anti-gay activist, who claimed same-sex marriage will cause straight men to cheat on their wives with gays, has stepped down from his role at Liberty University.

The Seventh-day Adventist pastor heads the Liberty Council, which is listed as an active anti-gay hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Centre.

He has been Dean of the Liberty University School of Law since 2006 – but the University announced he would be leaving today.

According to the university’s president Jerry Falwell Jr, Staver is stepping down to spend more time with his family – but will continue to serve as a “consultant and advisor” to the law school.

Staver previously claimed that if the US Supreme Court rules that equal marriage for gay and lesbian couples is a constitutional right, it would be “the beginning of the end of America”.

Mat Staver, and the head of Liberty Counsel, Matt Barber, previously discussed the decision of the Boy Scouts of America to delay its vote on whether to allow gay members, volunteers and staff.

The pair said that there was no way that the BSA could remain “morally straight… [if] you have adults modelling for children what every major world religion and thousands of years of history have held to be immoral behaviour.”

• Dec 01 2023

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