Rick Perry to squash LGBT rights with new ad campaign

In wake of the international human rights campaign introduced by the Obama administration, Rick Perry has released a new ad in Iowa Tuesday that addresses the fallen ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy – a now-defunct discriminatory practice by the U.S. military to censor sexual identity.

“I’m not ashamed to admit that I’m a Christian, but you don’t need to be in the pew every Sunday to know there’s something wrong in this country when gays can serve openly in the military but our kids can’t openly celebrate Christmas or pray in school. As President, I’ll end Obama’s war on religion,” says Perry.

Sharon Groves, Director of Religion & Faith at The Human Rights Campaign has dismissed Perry’s attack against LGBT people as a distortion of the facts, explaining, “Rick Perry is continuing to misrepresent the views of the hundreds of thousands of people of faith in this country who live openly or advocate as allies for the LGBT members of their community,” she said. “We cannot be in the business of forcing people to choose between who they are, who they love, and their faith.  Rick Perry’s rhetoric presumes that you can’t be Christian and supportive of LGBT people.  Yet many Christians see in Jesus’ example a call to love and support their LGBT neighbors.  Rick Perry is trying to claim religion for political motives but it won’t work.  Our faith is too precious to be used as a cynical tool for political ends.”

Perry has used Christianity as a plug throughout his political campaign. Earlier this year, he held a Christian-only day of prayer in Houston, Tex. in cooperation with the American Family Association , TheCall organization, and the International House of Prayer.

Despite Perry’s stance on gay marriage and equality for all, polling by the HRC reveals that nearly 90 percent of American Christians say their faith leads them to believe the law should treat all people equally, including those who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender.