Throughout his presidential campaign Ted Cruz has courted the ugliest elements of the far right Christian groups and spokesman. As part of this self-prostitution effort, Cruz has set up a Religious Liberty Advisory Council. Not surprisingly, Cruz's council includes a who's who of anti-gay extremists and those who want a Christian Theocracy to replace the existing government of the United States. Chairing Cruz's advisory council is hate group president Tony Perkins who, besides being virulently anti-gay, also has white supremacist ties. Think Progress has details on this frightening advisory group. Here are excerpts:
In his bid for the presidency, Ted Cruz (R) has consistently surrounded himself with some of the most extreme social conservatives in the country. In addition to appearing beside these individuals at various events, he also recruited a Religious Liberty Advisory Council — what Fox News’ Todd Starnes calls a “faith-based Justice League.”
Through Starnes, Cruz unveiled this week just what kind of ideas this council has developed to protect “religious liberty.” Given the fact that his council consisted of representatives from only the most conservative iterations of Christianity, the 15-point list is unsurprisingly dedicated to privileging Christian beliefs and enabling discrimination against the LGBT community and women.
For example, one of the recommendations is to “rescind Executive Order 13672 – an order that requires certain federal contractors to not discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.” The council also recommends that Cruz “direct all federal agencies to stop interpreting ‘sex’ to include ‘sexual orientation’ and/or ‘gender identity.'” This would gut essential protections that LGBT people — and particularly members of the transgender community — are relying on.
The LGBT community isn’t the only target; Cruz would also finally have the opportunity to strip away important protections for women under Obamacare. His “religious liberty” advisers would have him “direct the Department of Health and Human Services to eliminate its requirement that all employers include coverage for all FDA-approved contraceptive methods and sterilization procedures.” This would make it even harder for women to access birth control than the Hobby Lobby case has already made it.
Other suggestions include protecting religious organizations from the IRS if they engage in political speech, expanding school prayer to the fullest extent possible, and ensuring that military chaplains can condemn homosexuality and women who have sex outside of marriage without consequence.
None of these ideas is surprising, however, given who serves on Cruz’s committee. His council’s chair is Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, an anti-LGBT hate group. “These are the policies that he is going to pursue,” Perkins promised Starnes. “He is absolutely committed to the issue of religious liberty.”
With Ted Cruz as president, it seems the only religion that will have any liberty is his particular conservative brand of evangelical Christianity.
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