Last November, Sen. Ted Cruz made some waves when he and two other presidential candidates — Mike Huckabee and Bobby Jindal — addressed an event in Iowa in support of “religious liberty.” The event was sponsored by extreme anti-LGBT radio host Kevin Swanson, of the anti-LGBT hate group Generations with Vision.
Swanson has made many anti-LGBT statements over the years, and he has also defended the execution of LGBT people, though he said he would provide LGBT people a chance to repent first. Huckabee and Cruz pleaded ignorance about Swanson’s views, which are readily accessible through a web search.
Appearing at the event was a mistake, Rick Tyler, a Cruz campaign spokesman, told USA Today in December. Tyler said that Swanson’s comments about supporting the execution of LGBT people are “reprehensible,” and further stated that Cruz has spoken out repeatedly against anyone who calls for hatred or violence against homosexuals.
In spite of Tyler’s claims about Cruz’s support for LGBT people, Cruz was scheduled to be at a campaign rally in Mississippi that included anti-LGBT and anti-Muslim radio host Bryan Fischer, the former director of issues analysis at the American Family Association (AFA), an anti-LGBT hate group. Cruz cancelled the appearance, citing illness, but told his Mississippi campaign chairman, State Sen. Chris McDaniel, that he wanted to come, and that he was still hoping to do a pop-in, but “there’s no way he could make a full rally.”
Though Fischer was removed from his directorship early last year, he remains a radio host and blogger at AFA. Fischer is known for his vitriolic anti-LGBT and anti-Muslim statements linking homosexuality to pedophilia as well as Nazism. He has called for the criminalization of homosexuality, called for the cessation of Muslim immigration to the U.S. and also stated that Muslims don’t have First Amendment rights. Fischer has even attacked African-Americans, saying, “[I]t’s no wonder we are now awash in the disastrous social…