Texas Governor Rick Perry will in
October address a group that supports “reparative” therapy for
gay people and is actively working to repeal New Hampshire's gay
marriage law.
Perry, who jumped into the race for the
2012 GOP presidential nomination on Saturday, will be the special
guest of the Christian conservative group Cornerstone's annual
Steward of the Family Banquet fundraiser on October 28, gay
activist Jeremy Hooper's blog GoodAsYou.org reported.
Cornerstone is a leading organizer in
the attempt to repeal the state's marriage equality law approved by
lawmakers in 2009. Earlier this year, the Republican-controlled
Legislature held hearings on legislation that would repeal the law
and agreed to debate the issue early next year.
The group is also closely associated
with leading 'ex-gay' groups promoting the practice of “reparative”
therapy, which attempts to “pray away the gay.” At its website,
Cornerstone includes links to 'ex-gay' groups Love Won Out, the
National Association for Research & Therapy of Homosexuality
(NARTH), Exodus International and Parents & Friends of Ex-Gays
(PFOX).
“This is a major GOP star lending
credence to a leading state group that not only wants to stop LGBT
people's civil rights, but to also stop human beings from living
their truths,” Hooper wrote.