Controversial Anti-LGBTQ Pastor Qualifies for Massachusetts Primary
Scott Lively will get his opportunity to run for governor of Massachusetts. The controversial pastor will oppose incumbent Charlie Baker in September after receiving enough votes last weekend at the GOP state convention in Worcester to qualify for the primary ballot.
Metroweekly.com reported that Lively, a Springfield-based pastor and founder of Abiding Truth Ministries, received 28 percent of the vote of the nearly 2,400 convention delegates. He needed only 15 percent to qualify for the primary.
Lively has been targeted by liberals for his strong anti-LGBTQ stance. He advocates traditional marriage, with a statement on his website that says, “The natural family of a man and woman united in life-long marriage for mutual love and support and the bearing and nurturing of children—through birth or adoption—is the self-evident foundation of all civilization. I believe the primacy of the natural family must be preserved and protected in the mainstream of society, with tolerance for those who choose to live discretely outside the mainstream.”
Statements like that have raised the ire of “liberal” voters and politicians throughout Massachusetts. Boston Magazine refers to Lively as a “world-reknowned homophobe” and says Lively “has pitched himself as the pro-Trump answer to Baker, who is critical of the president.”
In his speech at the convention, Lively said, “We need real conservative values in Massachusetts.”
In an interview with WBUR Radio Boston, Lively was asked why he considers himself to be the best candidate for the governorship of Massachusetts.
“Because I’m a man who is, who can stand on his principles against the worst possible attacks that a person can go through and not, and not be stampeded away from the things that he believes or be intimidated or compromise against his values,” he told WBUR. “And, frankly, that’s the kind of person that we need who’s standing in the seat, in the platform of the governor. Because all the Republicans that have come before are people that are so intimidated by people like you that they will cave on Republican values and pander to the Democrats out of fear …”
“See I’m, I’m able because of all the things I’ve been through, to be able to take everything that you’ve got and respond with fact, with reason without losing my temper and without hating you. I don’t hate you. I don’t. I don’t have any ill will toward you. I can, I can treat you like a human being, care about you even though you’re doing what you’re doing. And that’s the kind of person we need in the seat.”
Massachusetts has long been considered a “liberal” state. Baker is a Republican, but in his three years of governor, Metroweekly.com reported, Baker has “amassed a pro-LGBTQ record, even signing a law providing nondiscrimination protections in public accommodations. Voters will challenge that law at the ballot box this fall, but Metroweekly.com says Baker has promised to defend it on the campaign trail.
Shawn A. Akers is content development editor for Charisma Media. {eoa}
