When Kevin Swanson decided to invite presidential candidates to his National Religious Liberties Conference in Des Moines this week, we were alarmed to see that Ted Cruz, Mike Huckabee and Bobby Jindal accepted his invitation.
It would be an understatement to call Swanson an extremist. He wants the government to apply Old Testament law in all matters, thinks birth control turns women’s uteruses into “graveyards for lots and lots of little babies,” spoke up for Uganda’s “kill-the-gays” bill, sees constant threats to recruit his daughter to become a lesbian from Disney movies and Girl Scout cookies, and describes homosexuality as a satanic “disease” that causes natural disasters.
In case you needed more evidence of Swanson’s radical beliefs, he dedicated one 2010 radio program to talking with cohost Dave Buehner about how LGBT Pride Month should actually be spent pondering the stoning of gay people. He went on to say that the inclusion of “sodomites in the military” will ultimately destroy America.
In another edition of “Generations Radio,” Swanson repeated his call for the state to adhere to biblical codes by imposing the death penalty for homosexuality and adultery, insisting that “homosexuality is about the most evil thing that can ever happen in a society.”
Following the landmark Obergefell marriage equality ruling, Swanson warned that the Supreme Court had asked “God to come to this nation and wipe it off the face of the map,” once again alleging that there is a link between gay rights and natural disasters.
Swanson also believes that God is making gay people — and Supreme Court justices — literally go insane.
Naturally, Swanson has a dim view of gay parents, telling listeners that “if you want to destroy, utterly destroy kids, raise them in these homosexual homes.”
In an interview with anti-gay activist Paul Cameron, Swanson said that “the homosexuals have wanted to destroy the family for a long time and the result, of course, is a lot, a lot, a lot of children’s sexual and physical abuse, this is part of their agenda.” He specifically pointed to Scotland as a place that “has had this huge blight of homosexuality, leading of course to lots and lots of child sexual abuse.”
And this is the person who Republican candidates will be standing with this weekend.
