Ties between Republican presidential candidate Senator Ted Cruz and extremist figures in the so-called “religious freedom” movement have come under scrutiny. As he courts right-wing evangelical voters in his campaign for the GOP nomination for President, Cruz has shared the stage with speakers from the Family Research Council, American Family Association, and Liberty Counsel.
Critics have taken particular interest in Cruz’s refusal to address anti-LGBT statements made by Kevin Swanson at the National Religious Liberties Conference, where Cruz was a featured speaker. Swanson organized the conference and made remarks where he called, not for the first time, for homosexuality to be punishable by death.