01/09/2013

Washington– A Colorado pastor took to the airwaves this week to declare that the nation’s “embrace of homosexuality” stands to “destroy society…destroy lives…destroy families, we’ll destroy everything.” It’s not the first time Pastor Dave Beuhner, who heads up Christ the King Church in Larkspur, has blasted the LGBT community. According to Right Wing Watch, Buehner has previously compared having gay friends to befriending the likes of cannibals and molesters, and even linked the growing national support for marriage equality to the tragic elementary school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut.

“Pastor Buehner’s shrill claims that LGBT people are somehow akin to cannibals and child molesters, and that advancing equality will destroy our society, is representative of an extremist viewpoint that is not palatable to the majority of Americans or the majority of people of faith,” said HRC Vice President of Communications Fred Sainz. “While his outlandish claims don’t deserve even an ounce of gravitas, Buehner is sending a message to LGBT people in his community that there is something very wrong with them. This is not the type of rhetoric we should ever hear coming from a leader of any kind.”

Buehner’s comments are dramatically out-of-line with the beliefs of a strong majority of people of faith. HRC is calling on its members and supporters to speak out and take action to counter Buehner’s offensive comments. The action is accessible at https://secure3.convio.net/hrc/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=1531.

Speaking on his ‘Generations Radio’ show on Monday, Buehner compared embracing LGBT equality to a petulant child challenging their parent: “…if you tell your daughter, your beautiful daughter, ‘Hey, don’t put your hand on the hot stove.’ She can look at that and say, ‘My dad’s a tyrant, he won’t give me liberty to put my hand on the hot stove.’ The fact of the matter is if she puts her hand on the hot stove, bad things will happen. God’s law is like that. God’s law will tell us that if we do things that are bad, bad things will happen. If we put our hands on the stove, we’ll get burned. If we embrace homosexuality, we’ll destroy society, we’ll destroy lives, we’ll destroy families, we’ll destroy everything.”

In attempting to link the nationwide growing support for marriage equality to mass shootings, Buehner has said: “The liberals are proposing that we as a nation follow a kinder, gentler flavor of rebellion against God. They’d like a rebellion that stops a little short of murdering kindergartners. They want the rebellion that involves gay marriage; they want the rebellion that embraces rape rap and abortion and a media that is in utter defiance against the law of God.”

Polling shows that an astounding 86 percent of Christians polled say they reject discrimination against LGBT people precisely because the principles of their faith compel them to do so. That same poll, conducted by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner, found that 70 percent of people felt it did more harm than good when religious leaders like Pastor Buehner speak out against LGBT people.

The Human Rights Campaign is the largest national lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender political organization with members throughout the country. It effectively lobbies Congress, provides campaign support and educates the public to ensure that LGBT Americans can be open, honest and safe at home, at work and in the community.