Right-wing, religious activist wants to ban children with same-sex parents from Christian schools
Mat Staver actively warned Christians not to approach queer people and have ‘personal experience.’ (Getty)
A Christian nationalist is calling for religious schools to exclude same-sex couples for the so-called safety of its students.
Far-right religious attorney Mat Staver said allowing LGBTQ+ parents near Christian schools was “like putting kids in a viper pit” during an interview on 19 January.
Speaking during a clip of the far-right talk show LibertyPastors, he answered a question from a viewer who allegedly ran a Christian school and wanted to know how to safely discriminate against same-sex couples.
“If I were running the school, I would not allow a student to come into the school that is from a same-sex household,” he said. “I would not allow a student to stay there.
“It’s a real disservice to put these kids in the situation – particularly in a Christian school that ought to be a safe environment for them – where they can become very confused.”
Staver is a chairman of the religious legal group Liberty Counsel, which has routinely advocated for anti-LGBTQ+ legislation under the pretence of religious liberty.
He rose to fame in 2015 following a legal dispute in which he defended Kentucky clerk Kim Davis from issuing a queer couple a marriage licence following the Supreme Court’s decision to legalise same-sex marriage nationwide.
The evangelical right-winger added during the clip that he believed Christians having “personal experiences” with LGBTQ+ people and not being “grounded in doctrine” was a big problem in society today.
He further blamed the recently passed Respect for Marriage Act, which removed homophobic legislation from US law, as what he claimed was an example of the US drifting from so-called Christian values.
Staver claimed that the lawmakers who voted for the bill were influenced by friends and loved ones that they “found out are homosexual” and so chose to vote for LGBTQ+ equality over “what they were supposed to do.”
“So, be very cautious in protecting those children, and do what you need to do to protect them,” he said.
He promised the viewer that he would provide “draft language” for how to legally exclude LGBTQ+ couples and prevent kids from “encountering same-sex families.”
Aside from advocating for the segregation of LGBTQ+ couples and Christians, while ignoring the fact that the two groups can and do overlap quite often, Mat Staver has also pushed conspiracy theories regarding COVID-19 vaccines.
In 2021, Staver said during a TV spot that he believed COVID-19 to be a “stepping stone” to controlling the population through vaccinations.
“Everybody who’s getting the quote-unquote vaccine – you’re the guinea pig.”
