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WATCH: Anderson Cooper Presses Baptist Leader on North Korea Statements

WATCH: Anderson Cooper Presses Baptist Leader on North Korea Statements

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Cooper calls out Southern Baptist Convention president Fred Luter on his statement connecting LGBT progress to North Korean threats to attack the U.S.

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Whether or not Southern Baptist Convention president Fred Luter believes advances toward LGBT equality are to blame for North Korea's threats to the U.S. apparently depends on who he's talking to.

Luter, interviewed by Anderson Cooper on CNN this week, backtracked on a statement he'd made to a conservative Christian radio host that "I don't think it's just a coincidence" that Kim Jong Un is threatening to attack the U.S. at the same time the Supreme Court is considering marriage equality cases and the Boy Scouts of America is weighing whether to drop its ban on openly gay members.

Luter claimed he said he didn't see any connection, but Cooper pressed him on it and played a recording of the radio interview, and Luter finally said he misspoke. "There is no connection," he told Cooper.

Cooper also called Luter out on appearing to say marriage equality was as bad a thing as mass shootings and his claim that churches will eventually be forced to perform same-sex marriages. Watch below.


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Trudy Ring

Trudy Ring is The Advocate’s senior politics editor and copy chief. She has been a reporter and editor for daily newspapers and LGBTQ+ weeklies/monthlies, trade magazines, and reference books. She is a political junkie who thinks even the wonkiest details are fascinating, and she always loves to see political candidates who are groundbreaking in some way. She enjoys writing about other topics as well, including religion (she’s interested in what people believe and why), literature, theater, and film. Trudy is a proud “old movie weirdo” and loves the Hollywood films of the 1930s and ’40s above all others. Other interests include classic rock music (Bruce Springsteen rules!) and history. Oh, and she was a Jeopardy! contestant back in 1998 and won two games. Not up there with Amy Schneider, but Trudy still takes pride in this achievement.
Trudy Ring is The Advocate’s senior politics editor and copy chief. She has been a reporter and editor for daily newspapers and LGBTQ+ weeklies/monthlies, trade magazines, and reference books. She is a political junkie who thinks even the wonkiest details are fascinating, and she always loves to see political candidates who are groundbreaking in some way. She enjoys writing about other topics as well, including religion (she’s interested in what people believe and why), literature, theater, and film. Trudy is a proud “old movie weirdo” and loves the Hollywood films of the 1930s and ’40s above all others. Other interests include classic rock music (Bruce Springsteen rules!) and history. Oh, and she was a Jeopardy! contestant back in 1998 and won two games. Not up there with Amy Schneider, but Trudy still takes pride in this achievement.