Beto O’Rourke, first to reject invitation from right wing religious group
Pete Buttigieg has joined Beto O’Rourke and Cory Booker on the growing list of Democratic presidential candidates who have turned down invitations from right wing religious group The Family Leader to speak at their September 2019 summit in Iowa. Booker released a statement explaining his rejection of the invitation:
I welcome any opportunity to talk about how faith guides me, but I cannot—in good conscience—attend an event put on by an organization that preaches bigotry and sows hate against the LGBTQ community. That's why I am declining an invitation to the Family Leader's July 12 summit.
— Cory Booker (@CoryBooker) April 29, 2019
The Family Leader describes its mission as:
Strengthen families, by inspiring Christ-like leadership in the home, the church, and the government.
More specifically, the group states that it attempts to:
Protect and defend family values by influencing public policy, campaigns, and elections.
What this means is that The Family Leader lobbies on the Republican side against things like abortion and marriage equality, both are which are legal in the United States, and which Democrats staunchly defend from religious intolerance via forced government policies. In this respect, the speakers list for the summit thus far is very telling. It includes anti-abortion activist (and “national chair of then-candidate Donald Trump’s Pro-life Coalition”) Marjorie Dannenfelser and anti-marriage equality attorney Michael Farris. In other words, the organization is trying to tear down the Constitutional wall between church and state, and impose their version of religion on us. Likewise, The Family Leader’s Twitter feed expresses a desire to “protect babies from their 1st heartbeat,” which is code for outlawing all abortions. Similarly, they state on Twitter that:
TFL, as always, believes we are most blessed by following God’s design, for sex, marriage, & in all things.
Four more Democratic presidential candidates (Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders) have received invitations to The Family Leader summit. Thus far, there has been no word from them as to whether they plan to attend.
The three Democratic candidates’ rejection of invites from The Family Leader are similar to the recent Democratic Party rejection of Fox News as a host for a Democratic presidential debate. At minimum, speaking at these organizations’ events gives the hosting group legitimacy, attention, and, most likely, extra money. Signing on to their events could even be seen or exploited as endorsing the organization’s point of view. Given the Democratic Party’s longstanding values of inclusiveness and equal treatment for all, at least some Democrats are being careful not to support such groups in any way.
Pete Buttigieg in particular has good reason to spurn such invitations. Identifying both as a gay man (with a husband) and a religious Christian, Buttigieg was recently attacked by Franklin Graham, President and CEO of the Republican-oriented Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. Writing about Buttigieg, Graham stated: “I believe the Bible which defines homosexuality as sin, something to be repentant of.” In response, the liberal Christian group Faithful America has sent out an email and a petition asking “Christians of all theological and political persuasions [to] denounce him [Graham] and disassociate from the organizations he leads.” According to Buttigieg, who is quite articulate, “God doesn’t have a political party.”
Photo by Erik Drost, used under Creative Commons license. https://is.gd/ILun0O
