The Human Rights Campaign, a national LGBTQ advocacy group, released a statement denouncing Alabama Secretary of State and Republican U.S. Senate candidate John Merrill’s recent comments saying Americans are “preoccupied with homosexual activities.”
Merrill told supporters at a town hall over the weekend that the country’s morality is dwindling because of changes in pop culture and television, saying people are “too interested in anything that is not uplifting, edifying. They’re too busy being preoccupied with homosexual activities and the wife swap shows.”
Merrill said there are no shows on air that are “based on biblical foundations. …Shows that promote family and culture with a father, a mother and children based on biblical teachings and biblical principles on which our nation was founded.”
In a statement, HRC Project One America Director Meghan Kissell called Merrill’s comments an attack on the LGBTQ community.
“This attack on LGBTQ people and our values only further underscores the fact that the Alabama Senate Republican primary is becoming a race to the bottom and a competition for who is the most virulently anti-LGBTQ,” Kissell said. “Alabamians deserve a leader who fights for the equality of everyone and every community, not someone who would feel more comfortable in America’s oppressive past.”
Along with Merrill, U.S. Rep. Bradley Byrne, former Auburn football coach Tommy Tuberville, state Rep. Arnold Mooney and former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore are among the field of Republicans also running to unseat Sen. Doug Jones next year.
