Uganda’s Notorious ‘Kill the Gays’ Pastor Wants ‘Closeted Homosexuals’ to Vote For Him

Notorious “Kill the Gays” pastor Scott Lively wants to represent the LGBTQ community as governor of Massachusettsbut only the closeted gays, that is.

One of the lead proponents of Uganda’s 2014 Anti-Homosexuality Act, Lively is currently campaigning against Republican Gov. Charlie Baker in the GOP primary race. The preacher has quite a task ahead of him. Baker is widely considered America’s “most popular governor,” scoring a 69 percent approval rating among constituents (even despite presiding over one of the country’s most liberal states).

To bolster support ahead of the September primaries, Lively officially announced his intention to be “the voice for conservative homosexuals.” In a Tuesday letter to supporters, he vowed to defend the “civil right” of right-wing gays “not to declare their sexuality publicly.”

“In reality there are a great many conservative homosexuals in our society today whom we never hear from,” Lively wrote. “Why? Because they are conservative in manner as well as in political ideology.”

“They believe, as conservatives have always believed, that sexuality is a mostly private matter, and just want to be left alone to live their lives in peace,” he continued. “The people they fear the most are not ‘homophobes,’ but ‘gays’ who insist that all homosexuals be leftists and ‘come out of the closet’ to join the ‘gay pride’ parade.”

Lively argued that LGBTQ activists hunt closeted gays “like fugitive criminals to ‘out’ them in a humiliating manner if they resist or (if they are politicians) dare to vote against ‘gay’ progressive goals.”

The far-right conservative added that he likes LGBTQ Republicans because they stay quiet and don’t ask for too much (e.g., like rights).

“Conservative homosexuals aren’t bothered that all that mainstream society is heterosexual, don’t want to redefine marriage or exploit children to redefine family, and they are happy living a non-traditional lifestyle anonymously except to those they trust,” Lively said.

The wide-ranging screed should really be read in its entirety, but Lively also managed to shoehorn in a complaint about the LGBTQ community appropriating the word “gay.”

“I don’t hate homosexuals but I hate the word ‘gay,’” he wrote. “‘Gay’ is a word that used to mean happy and carefreelike children used to be in past generations when we lived under conservative valuesbut it was hijacked by the ‘progressives’ who have ruined our society with liberalism. That’s why I always use quotation marks around ‘gay’ as a reminder.”

Since announcing his intention to run for governor, Lively has been on a tear attacking the LGBTQ communitywhich is saying something for someone whose views were once referred to as “abhorrent,” “terrible,” “pathetic,” and “crackpot bigotry” in a U.S. district court.

He previously urged the “separation of LGBTQ and state” during an interview with Chuck Morse of Left-Right Radio in which he vowed to bring “a strong dose of true Republican values” to Massachusetts.

What do those phrases mean, one might ask? It starts with the introduction of a bill Lively called the “First Amendment Supremacy Clause.”

“This is something I drafted that says that whenever there is a conflict between regulations based on sexual orientation and the First Amendment, the First Amendment has to prevail,” he explained. “You cannot have newly invented laws and policies superseding the most fundamental right of Americans.”

The legislation sounds similar to bills like Mississippi’s House Bill 1523, which gave people of faith virtual carte blanche to discriminate against members of the LGBTQ community in the name of their religious beliefs.

Lively also claimed the “LGBTQ political movement” should be “restricted” by the federal government if religion is (although it isn’t).

“Let’s get back to like we had it in the ’40s and ’50s,” he said.

Unsurprisingly, LGBTQ advocacy groups have condemned Lively’s primary campaign, arguing that the preacher is pushing the same brand of extreme hate that he did in Africa.

“[Lively] is one of America’s most notorious exporters of dangerous ideologies around the globe, and he’s hell-bent on dragging Massachusetts down the same path,” said JoDee Winterhof, Human Rights Campaign’s senior vice president for policy and political affairs, in a press release.

The conservative has previously credited his work as inspiring Russia’s 2013 anti-gay “propaganda” law, calling it one of his “finest achievements.” There’s no evidence he had any influence on that legislation.

You can read Lively’s letter in its entirety here.