Texas Senator Ted Cruz, who is vying
for the Republican presidential nomination, on Sunday released a
video profiling Christians who oppose LGBT rights and marriage
equality.
Featured in the five-minute video are
former Atlanta fire chief Kelvin Cochran, florist Barronelle
Stutzman, bakers Aaron and Melissa Klein, printer Blaine Adamson and
Air Force Senior Master Sergeant Phillip Monk.
Monk was reassigned after he refused to
discipline a staff sergeant under his command who openly opposed gay
rights on religious ground to trainees because he shared the same
beliefs. Air Force policy prohibits officers from promoting personal
religious beliefs.
“To be told that because I hold a
religious belief that that's some sort of discrimination,” Monk
says in the video.
Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed fired Cochran
over controversial statements he made in a self-published, 162-page
book titled Who
Told You That You Were Naked. In
the book, Cochran describes gay people as “unclean”
and homosexuality as a “sexual perversion” similar to bestiality.
Reed said that the chief did not
properly consult city officials before publishing his book, a claim
that Cochran denies. The mayor also said that Cochran had opened
Atlanta to possible discrimination lawsuits.
Cochran has since filed a federal civil
rights lawsuit against Reed and the city.
“Our definition of freedom in the
Untied States of America is changing right before our eyes. I
believe that those very freedoms are at risk in our beloved United
States,” Cochran says.
Cruz, who does not appear in the video,
has previously said that his campaign would be based on his
opposition to marriage equality and Obamacare.
(Related: Ellen
Page confronts Ted Cruz over gay rights.)