This Saturday, August 9, when they take the stage at the annual summit of Iowa's leading anti-LGBT group, called The Family Leader, David and Jason Benham will headline a lineup of speakers that includes two sitting U.S. Senators (Sen. Cruz and Sen Scott) and a third U.S Seante hopeful (Jodi Ernst), the current governor (Republican Terry Branstad) and lieutenant governor (Republican Kim Reynolds) of the state, three once-and-possibly-future GOP presidential candidates (Mike Huckabee, Rick Perry, and Rick Santorum), a U.S. Congressman (Rep. Steve King), and multiple conservative leaders. Here's the full roster of speakers and sponsors:
With so many speakers with eyes on the future, you'd think there might be an interest in lowering the temperature a bit and embracing a more moderate image. But that's certainly not going to happen with this lineup—and some new clips that GLAAD just unearthed show you just how true that is.
In a recent radio appearance for an obscure show hosted by the Family Leader's own Tamara Scott (who recently spoke at the National Organization For Marriage's failed March For Marriage), the Benhams double down on the anti-gay rhetoric that brought them national attention. For starters, they insisted that their battle against LGBT rights is a battle against a "parallel kingdom run by Satan" that "seeks to rob kill and destroy":
[SOURCE: Tamara Scott Live, 7/30/14]
But of course the LGBT "agenda" doesn't really matter anyway, since the Benhams say you don't have to obey man-made law as long as you are staunch in your faith:
[SOURCE: Tamara Scott Live, 7/30/14]
Then, of course, they throw in their insistence that gay people—who are like food-throwers, apparently—need to repent. But their worse ire comes for the push for LGBT equality and acceptance, which they claim as an "agenda" that "seeks to capture the nation" and that is "evil, and wrong, and needs to be dealt with":
[SOURCE: Tamara Scott Live, 7/30/14]
This is the kind of rhetoric that earns the support of Iowa's governor? Of U.S. Senators and House members? Of people who constantly deny that they are actually anti-LGBT?
Okay then. Duly noted.
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*SEE ALSO: Right Wing Watch has a great roundup of some of the other speakers and the host org: The Family Leadership Summit: Right-Wing Activists Converge On Iowa [RWW]