Donald Trump on Friday became the first presidential nominee of a major party to appear at the Values Voter Summit.

The annual three-day conference is organized by a coalition of Christian conservative groups. It aims to “preserve the bedrock values of traditional marriage, religious liberty, sanctity of life and limited government,” according to the event's website.

In his roughly 45-minute speech, the Republican candidate eulogized Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly, both of whom were vocal opponents of LGBT rights. Trump said he would attend Schlafly's funeral in St. Louis on Saturday.

“Phyllis fought very hard 'till the very end for a free and prosperous America,” Trump told supporters. “She understood that to be truly united as a country we can't simply turn to government or to politicians. The bedrock of our unity is the realization that we're all brothers and sisters created by the same God.”

Trump promised attendees that as president he would repeal the Johnson Amendment, the 1954 change in the U.S. tax code introduced by then-Senator Lyndon B. Johnson that prohibits tax-exempt organizations, mostly churches, from endorsing or opposing candidates for elected office. Trump said that he learned about the law when a group of pastors told him that they could not “fully endorse” him. Trump joked that repealing the law was his only hope of getting into heaven.

“We're gonna get rid of it,” he said. “I figure it's the only way I'll get into heaven.”

Trump also had positive comments for Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council (FRC), the organization behind the Values Voter Summit, and televangelist Franklin Graham, both of whom strongly oppose LGBT rights.

FRC in 2003 filed an amicus brief in defense of a Texas law used to criminalized sex between consenting adults of the same sex in the Supreme Court case Lawrence v. Texas. In 2004, the high court struck down such bans. While unenforceable, Texas' law remains on the books.

(Related: Franklin Graham prepared to have his head “chopped off” for opposing gay rights.)

Trump added that as president he would fight for “American family values,” a phrase used by some conservative politicians to signal their opposition to LGBT rights, in particular marriage rights for gay and lesbian couples.