President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence hosted Bishop Harry Jackson, a virulently anti-LGBTQ activist, in the Oval Office Friday to deliver an Easter Blessing.
Trump introduced Jackson as a “highly-respected gentleman,” and “a person that we have tremendous respect for.” Jackson in turn praised Trump for his “insightful leadership” of ensuring churches were eligible for financial support in the $2.2 trillion emergency coronavirus bill.
Jackson informed Trump that Good Friday is “one of the darkest days” in the Christian faith. It is the day Christ is believed to have died on the cross. Barely hours earlier Trump had offensively tweeted, “HAPPY GOOD FRIDAY TO ALL!” earning him broad anger and mockery.
Bishop Jackson was a prominent activist during the years before the Supreme Court ruled same-sex couples have the right to marriage, and was paid $20,000 by the National Organization For Marriage (NOM).
In 2008 Jackson said, “There’s been a hijacking of the civil rights movement by the radical gay movement,” and declared, “You can’t equate your sin with my skin.”
Jackson has equated marriage equality with the “extinction of marriage.”
Candidate Trump appointed Jackson to his Evangelical Executive Advisory Board in 2016.
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