Religious right activist E.W. Jackson
this week announced his bid for the U.S. Senate.
Jackson, an outspoken opponent of LGBT
rights and the founder of Exodus Faith Ministries in Chesapeake, is
hoping to win the Virginia Republican primary to challenge incumbent
Senator Tim Kaine, a Democrat, in 2018.
Other Republicans hoping to unseat
Kaine are Prince William County Board of Supervisors Chair Corey
Stewart and Virginia state Delegate Nick Freitas.
In 2013, Jackson unsuccessfully ran for
lieutenant governor of Virginia.
On Monday, Right
Wing Watch published a long list of Jackson's most outrageous
comments, including stating that “demonic” former President
Barack Obama has “unleashed hell on this country” and hates
America, claiming that the left wants to see Christians and
conservatives dead and asserting that transgender reality star
Caitlyn Jenner is insane.
In a 2012 interview with Peter
LaBarbera of Americans for Truth About Homosexuality, Jackson
said that gay men and lesbians have “perverted” minds and are
“very sick people psychologically, mentally and emotionally.”
“Homosexuality is a horrible sin, it
poisons culture, it destroys families, it destroys societies; it
brings the judgment of God unlike very few things that we can think
of,” he said.
During his 2013 campaign, Jackson
denied calling gays “sick,” telling News Channel 8 that he's “a
person who respects every individual.”