WASHINGTON – Today the Boston Globe reported that the infamous anti-LGBT extremist Scott Lively qualified to be on the ballot as an independent candidate for the Massachusetts gubernatorial election this fall. Well-known for his anti-LGBT advocacy in Uganda, Russia, and elsewhere around the world, Lively submitted the necessary paperwork and collected the required 10,000 certified signatures, according to the report.

“Hate is not an American value, and Scott Lively’s long record of exporting vicious anti-LGBT bigotry is horrifying,” said Ty Cobb, Director of Global Engagement at the Human Rights Campaign (HRC). “Lively’s words and actions harm LGBT people from the United States to Uganda and beyond. He is one of the most notorious extremists engaged in this work, and this is an opportunity to highlight his deplorable rhetoric and advocacy.

Earlier this year, HRC Foundation released a detailed report of Scott Lively’s deeply troubling anti-LGBT global work. Lively traveled repeatedly to Uganda claiming that LGBT people are responsible for the Holocaust, the Rwandan genocide and the spread of HIV/AIDS. Some Ugandan officials credit Lively with the idea of introducing new legislation to further criminalize homosexuality in the country, and prominent Ugandan LGBT activists have said the "bill is essentially his creation." Lively also traveled to Eastern Europe, and has taken credit for the passage of Russia’s anti-LGBT propaganda law.

Lively is the author of The Pink Swastika: Homosexuality in the Nazi Party, has described being LGBT as a “personality disorder”, and his struggle against equality as “a war” in which only one side can prevail.

The Human Rights Campaign is America's largest civil rights organization working to achieve lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality. By inspiring and engaging all Americans, HRC strives to end discrimination against LGBT citizens and realize a nation that achieves fundamental fairness and equality for all.

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