Politics

Anti-gay Pastor announces candidacy for Massachusetts Governor's race

Scott Lively  *  File Photo

By Brody Levesque | SPRINGFIELD -- Anti-gay Pastor Scott Lively announced Monday that he is entering the campaign race for Governor of Massachusetts. Speaking with LGBTQ Nation by phone Tuesday, Lively said that he would be filing his required candidacy paperwork by the end of this week.

Asked about his campaign, Lively said that he was running as an independent due to the fact that the state Republican Party was "too far to the left for his tastes." He added that he was running as what he saw as the "only candidate with strong global Biblical convictions," in the state's gubernatorial race. He took aim at both Democrats and Republicans saying that "they [both parties] operate in a culturally Marxist way."

Lively said that he thinks strong Biblical based Christian beliefs are lacking in public policy as evidenced by both parties' current positions on social issues. Lively went on to point out that he firmly believes that "we [humanity] are living in the end times" and that policies are lacking such strong Christian values that he says must be addressed and changed.

Lively, who runs Abiding Truth Ministries, a church dedicated to combating “the homosexual agenda,” and who also operates the Holy Grounds Coffee House in Springfield, has dedicated his career and life to combating what he calls the “evil Satan inspired homosexual agenda.”

Lively’s anti-gay rhetoric landed him in federal court last year in a lawsuit brought by Ugandan LGBT activists who have charged that his message has brought death and despair to LGBT people in that country along with having influenced Ugandan lawmakers – backed by influential Ugandan churches – to introduce a pending draconian law that would provide a death sentence for “repeat offenses of homosexual behavior.”

Last month the U.S. District Court Judge hearing the case ruled that the suit alleging Lively’s “crimes against humanity” had merit and could proceed.

When asked about the lawsuit and whether or not he felt that it would influence the Bay State's voters, he said that the lawsuit was unfounded and without merit and he didn't think that it would alter voter's perceptions once they heard him speak out on the issues.
In Monday's announcement on his personal website, Lively wrote:

After long contemplation and prayer I am convinced that I should run for Governor of Massachusetts. I will run as an independent. 

The people of this state need a candidate who can clearly and unapologetically articulate Biblical values without fear or compromise. They need a candidate who will tell the simple truth that abortion is murder, and homosexuality is condemned by God (but that Jesus forgives and heals those who repent). 

That parents and not the state have authority over their children, because government is our servant and not our master. That socialism is slavery and humanism breeds corruption. 

But mostly they need a leader who will remind the people that Massachusetts was founded upon Jesus Christ and the Bible and that our future security and prosperity depend on restoring our trust in Him. “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord!” Psalm 33:12.

In an interview with NBC News earlier this month, Lively said about gay people:

“They’re dangerous predators, even killers. And they caught this gay “disorder” through “an evil game of tag,” a chain of abuse in which gays recruit kids into sodomy just as they were once recruited. In this way homosexuality spreads like “a social cancer,” he claims, until nothing remains of the Christian world. 

“There is a war that is going on in the world. There is a war that is waging across the entire face of the globe. It’s been waging in the United States for decades, and it’s been waging in Europe for decades. It’s a war between Christians and homosexuals.”

Should Lively's candidacy take root with Massachusetts' conservative voters, one political analyst noted that his campaign could draw off potential supporters from the state's GOP gubernatorial front runner Charlie Baker.