America’s leading anti-LGBT activist: Trump has embraced my policy agenda
America’s leading anti-LGBT activist has praised Donald Trump’s campaign as the friendliest to his agenda in decades.
Tony Perkins, the head of the ultra-conservative Family Research Council, made the comments on an open conference call for Christian groups, monitored by Right Wing Watch.
In the call, Perkins claimed that the Trump campaign had embraced Perkins’ policy agenda far more than any previous Republican nominee.
In a bid to attract support from evangelicals, Trump has adopted many policy planks wholesale – pledging to to sign the ‘First Amendment Defence Act’ to permit religious homophobic discrimination, promising to “consider” appointing ultra-conservative Supreme Court justices to repeal equal marriage, and coming out in favour of North Carolina’s anti-trans law – while running mate Mike Pence confirmed they will dismantle Barack Obama’s protections for LGBT people.
The Republican Platform passed earlier this year contained some of the most anti-LGBT provisions in decades, opposing a ban on ‘gay cure’ therapy and attacking same-sex adoption and parenting.
Perkins bragged: “There has never been a clearer contrast between the two parties when we look at the party platforms. I wrote a large portion of the platform, it is the most conservative, Biblically-aligned platform, in clear contrast with what the Democratic Party stands for.
“I’ve had to fight every Republican campaign, including George W Bush’s campaign, John McCain’s, Mitt Romney’s, on the platform over life issues, marriage issues, human sexuality.
“I’ve had to fight every campaign except Donald Trump’s campaign. They actually worked with us on the platform, in fact whipped, meaning gathered votes, on one of my amendments [to the Republican platform].”
“When you look at what this campaign has done… I was not with Donald Trump in the beginning, but now we’re down to a choice between Clinton and Trump, and the choice is quite clear.”
Asked what he expects to happen if Clinton wins, he said: “As Secretary of State, Clinton went in and they strong-armed foreign governments that were disproportionately Christian in their orientation, and they were told to promote the LGBT agenda or lose their financial aid from the United States of America.
“Even the religious freedom issues that were vocalised and verbalised and expressed were told to take a back seat to the LGBT agenda.
“[They have made] very clear religious freedom is not going to be tolerated being used as an excuse for homophobia, Islamophobia, and a whole list of other -isms that they see religious liberty as being a cover for.
“I believe organizations like ours, not churches initially, as long as they stay within the four walls of their buildings, but organisations like ours, like the Family Policy Council there in Ohio, I believe that we will lose our tax exemption and I believe that churches that dare venture outside the four walls of their church will be aggressively challenged when it comes to their tax exemption.
“I think that’s just the first wave of attacks, but I think we’ll see the increased marginalisation of Christians who speak in the public square, and I think it’s going to become a very, very hostile environment in the United States if she is successful in winning the White House.”
Check out our guide to the Clinton and Trump policy agendas here.
