Republican presidential candidates Ted
Cruz and Mike Huckabee refuse to address the controversy surrounding
a “kill-the-gays” conference both attended earlier this month.
Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal also
spoke at the Iowa conference but has since dropped out of the GOP
nominating contest.
The National Religious Liberties
Conference was organized by pastor Kevin Swanson, a Colorado-based
Christian conservative who has previously called for the death
penalty for homosexuality.
Swanson told attendees that he would
protest a gay couple's wedding by smearing cow dung over his body and
reiterated his call for the government to execute unrepentant gays in
the future.
(Related: Kevin
Swanson: Gays need time to repent before being put to death.)
At the event, dubbed
the “kill-the-gays rally” by Rachel Maddow, Huckabee and
Jindal reiterated their opposition to marriage equality, with
Huckabee saying that he would ignore the Supreme Court on the issue
as president.
(Related: Mike
Huckabee vows to ignore gay marriage ruling as president.)
The Des
Moines Register reported that spokespeople for Cruz and
Jindal have avoided their questions on the subject and Huckabee's
campaign mostly ignored the controversy.
“Huckabee's spokeswoman Alice Stewart
asked for documentation and was sent a video link,” the paper
reported. “She responded the next day saying, 'Gov. Huckabee
appreciated the opportunity to speak with an audience in Iowa about
the importance of standing up for our religious liberties.'”