Jay Sekulow

—Leads the American Center For Law And Justice (ACLJ) , an organization at the forefront of anti-LGBT pushes at home and abroad. Deep dive here. The ACLJ has been particularly aggressive with anti-LGBTQ pushes in Russia.

—Argued that removing criminal sanctions on same-sex sodomy “strikes a damaging blow for the traditional family that will only intensify the legal battle to protect marriage and the traditional family.”

—Said equality activists sought marriage in order “to legitimize their lifestyle through the legislative process.”

—Attacked federal LGBTQ hate crimes law as a “dangerous trend” that “chills free speech.”

—Authored a 1996 book in which he warned against “the sordid gay lifestyle” and accused a high school lecturer of being “out to recruit students into the ranks of the gay community.”

—Insisted schools protecting LGBTQ students from bullying constitutes “indoctrination.”

—Fought against opening the Boys Scouts to LGBTQ people, arguing that it will lead to churches and religious schools being targeted.

—Said domestic partnership in California “conflicts with the moral values of most Americans.”

—Supported the discriminatory Federal Marriage Amendment and testified before the U.S. Congress that “children are hurt when either the father or the mother is absent.”

—Equated bans on marriage equality for same-sex couples with bans on cousins marrying: “Well, I—you know, look, no one wants any American to feel like they’re discriminated against, but the fact is in America not everybody can get married. We don’t let cousins marry. You have to be a certain age to get married. There are restrictions put in place.”

—Wrote: “Can you imagine, that in public schools of America today, students are being taught that homosexual conduct, which in many states is still deemed illegal, is not only a viable alternative lifestyle, but is actually equal to heterosexual relationships.”

—Submitted written remarks to Congress on the subject of marriage equality that made a crude joke equating same-sex unions with five-legged dogs: “Abraham Lincoln famously questioned, if one called a dog’s tail a leg, how many legs the dog would have? Veterinary mathematicians could be counted on to reply, ‘why, five, of course.’ And that sought after response would draw the laugh of the great man, along with his rebuff that, no matter what you called a tail, it was never going to be a leg. And no matter what you call the union of any grouping of persons other than one man and one woman, it will never be a marriage. Nonetheless, judges in a number of States have been busy counting five legged dogs and creating judicial mandates for marital constellations no less bizarre. For centuries of American legal history and a millennium of common law, marriage has been only one thing: the union of one man and one woman. Call three men and a baby a marriage, if you must, but Lincoln would as surely chuckle as if you had counted five legs on his hound.”

—Wrote on marriage equality: “Same-sex marriage will not simply undermine traditional marriage; it will transform our society and the nature and reach of government. That transformation will lead to more, not less, government growth and social chaos.”

—Represented a doctor who fought in court for the right to not hire LGBTQ employees because “not only does homosexuality bring physical and spiritual disease and death, but also it is contagious to others exposed to it.”