Congressman drops out of speaking engagement at ‘kill the gays’ pastor’s conference
Rep. Mike Johnson won't be speaking at Kevin Swanson's Bible Family Conference
A Republican congressman has dropped out of giving the keynote speech at a Christian conference hosted by Kevin Swanson, a pastor known for preaching about how gays deserve death.
U.S. Congressman Mike Johnson (R-LA) was scheduled to give a talk on “The Bible: Equipping the Man of God for Politics and the Culture War,” at Swanson’s Bible Family Conference in D.C.
Remember Kevin Swanson, the pastor who wants the government to execute gay people?
He’s organizing a conference in DC and a Republican congressman is giving the keynote address. pic.twitter.com/H2or2kfvBn
— Brian Tashman (@briantashman) April 30, 2018
When New Civil Rights Movement inquired about Johnson’s attendance, his office responded saying he had dropped out of participating.
“Congressman Johnson was invited to speak to a Christian conference in August,” Johnson’s office said. “He was unaware of Mr. Swanson’s participation and of his previous comments. Once this was brought to the congressman’s attention, he immediately denounced those comments and withdrew his participation.”
Johnson’s office also said that he “believes and has publicly stated many times that all people are made in God’s image, and God calls us to love all and to treat every person with dignity and respect.”
The conference’s website no longer lists Johnson as a speaker.
Rep. Johnson was originally a spokesperson and senior attorney for Alliance Defending Freedom, the anti-gay organization that represented Jack Phillips in the recent Masterpiece Cakeshop Supreme Court case.
The organizer of the conference, Kevin Swanson, has had the events dubbed “Kill the Gays” conferences because of Swanson’s diatribes about how the Bible calls for the death for those engaging in homosexuality.
Courtesy of Right Wing Watch, here’s Swanson at a conference in 2015, before bringing out then Presidential candidates Ted Cruz, Bobby Jindal and Mike Huckabee:
Right Wing Watch has also documented Swanson saying that little girls are turned into lesbians by Girls Scouts and movies like Frozen supporting a Ugandan bill that allows the killing of homosexuals, and saying that floods and hurricanes were God’s way of punishing pro-homosexual cities.
Other speakers at the conference will include Bible extremist and Creation Museum creator Ken Ham and President of Hobby Lobby Steve Green.
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