Democratic presidential candidates Sen. Kamala Harris, Sen. Cory Booker, and Bernie Sanders attended services and campaigned at an anti-LGBT Las Vegas Baptist church led by a pastor preaches “homosexuality is a sin and is “enough to send you to hell.”
Harris spoke at Las Vegas’ Victory Missionary Baptist Church on Sunday morning while Booker spoke on Saturday night while Sen. Bernie Sanders held a town hall at the church last month.
The Mercury News reported that Rev. Robert E. Fowler Sr.’s and the church’s stand on homosexuality is well known and easily searchable. The Las Vegas Review-Journal covered the provocative pastor in 2017 and Fowler himself spoke publicly about the subject long before that.
In a 2013 interview Fowler stated: [W]hether you commit adultery, whether you commit fornication, whether you’re a child molester, you gossip, you lie, you cheat on your taxes, you don’t pay your tithes, things of that nature — all of that is wrapped together as sin, along with homosexuality.”
So far only Harris’ campaign has released a statement saying that the California lawmaker’s “support and advocacy for LGBTQ equality has been unwavering throughout her career. She will continue to visit houses of worship across the country to address congregants about the pressing issues we face as a nation.”
There’s a clear moral imperative to remove Trump and Pence, but Democrats should be more meticulous about not even appearing to give a stamp of approval to a preacher who is driving gay teens to commit suicide.
Out gay adults can laugh in the face of this despicable preacher, but gay teens with bigot parents and lacking healthy psychological support, listening to this preacher’s hate-speech aren’t so fortunately situated.
These candidates need to be educated on this matter with urgency.
I think it is disingenuous of Kamela Harris to tell me that the VIctory Baptist crowd will stand up to and fight against discrimination of LGBTQ, immigrants, or anyone who is not a Baptist. And she damn well knows better. I really don’t like a prosecutorial mentality anyway, and she won’t have my vote in the primary for sure and I doubt it will be a problem in the general election. My ideal ticket is Elizabeth Warren/Pete Buttigieg and Beto should run for Senate from TX so we can win both houses. As the Founding General Counsel of the Gay Activists Alliance, Inc. I have nothing to say to Bernie Sanders except ” you are old enough to know better. ” Anyone who caters to these white extremist puppypukes should be ashamed. Take note, Corey Booker.