Ted Cruz is once again proving that no activist is too extreme for his campaign to embrace, touting the endorsements he received from anti-gay activists William Owens and Kayla Moore in recent days on his campaign website. Cruz said of Owens, who runs the Coalition of African-American Pastors, a group affiliated with the Cruz-endorsing National Organization for Marriage:
“I am honored to have the support of Reverend Owens,” said Cruz. “His eloquent and uncompromising defense of the family and of religion in public life is inspiring and will continue to be effective. We are excited to have him serve as a spokesperson to pastors and in the African-American community.”
Owens is an anti-gay firebrand who was caught fibbing about his role in the Civil Rights Movement. Owens has:
- Praised a Russian law that effectively bans speech in favor of gay rights.
- Alleged that “homosexuality spreads because somebody abused children.”
- Likened homosexuality to sex with dogs and pedophilia and called gay adoption “absolutely disgraceful.”
- Labeled the Democratic Party “a demonic party.”
- Insisted that he is willing to die to stop gay rights.
- Railed against the anti-bullying Day of Silence as a “cult-like” attempt to “brainwash” youth.
- Claimed that marriage equality would mean that “the whole gamut of the family is going to be destroyed and all areas of the social life will be destroyed.”
- Accused President Obama of trying to destroy Christianity.
- Said advocates of the “radical homosexual agenda” have “shredded” the U.S. Constitution.
- Pledged to commit civil disobedience to fight gay rights, calling it “our Civil Rights Movement.”
- Falsely claimed that he was prominently involved in the actual Civil Rights Movement.
Cruz also put out a statement thanking Kayla Moore for her endorsement and praising her husband, Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, who most recently tried to block same-sex couples from getting married in Alabama.
“Kayla is a veteran of the struggle for religious liberty,” said Cruz. “As the wife of Chief Justice Roy Moore, Kayla played a key role during Alabama’s battle with the ACLU over the right to publicly acknowledge God. She knows that law does not grant rights: it simply protects the unalienable human rights given to each of us by God. I am honored to have her support.”
After her husband returned to his post as Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, Moore took over as the head of his legal advocacy group, the Foundation for Moral Law. In that capacity, she has maintained her husband’s radical stances, urging public officials to follow Kentucky clerk Kim Davis in defying the Supreme Court and suggesting that the high court’s marriage equality ruling is invalid.
