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Ted Cruz Attacked by Conservative Pundits for Opposing Uganda’s Antigay Law
Ted Cruz Attacked by Conservative Pundits for Opposing Uganda’s Antigay Law
The Texas Republican had a rare moment of moral clarity, but was quickly called to task by his fellow conservatives.
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz came out in support of LGBTQ+ rights, sort of. He came out in opposition to a new law enacted in Uganda that makes homosexuality a crime.
President Yoweri Museveni signed a law that includes the death penalty Monday, escalating Uganda’s crackdown on LGBTQ+ people. The law is regarded as one of the most oppressive anti-gay laws in the world.
“This Uganda law is horrific & wrong,” the Republican tweeted on May 29. “Any law criminalizing homosexuality or imposing the death penalty for ‘aggravated homosexuality’ is grotesque & an abomination. ALL civilized nations should join together in condemning this human rights abuse.”
Fellow conservatives were quick to attack Cruz for his seeming moment of clarity.
Former Trump campaign legal advisor, sanctioned and disgraced lawyer Jenna Ellis tweeted her support for the law, leading to Cruz and Ellis getting into a public spat on Twitter.
She wrote that she “stand[s] with Uganda on this” legislation and that “You can condemn a law that imposes the death penalty for homosexuality without being pro or #LGBTQ. Like Bud Light, you should have just said nothing. Not this.”
Ellis equated homosexuality and child rape in a series of tweets she authored to justify her position.
Cruz fired back at the conservative pundit.
“Jenna, not sure why you’re defending this barbaric Ugandan law. It imposes life imprisonment for consenting adults who engage in gay sex. That’s ridiculous. You or I may or may not agree with their choices, but consenting adults should not go to jail for what they do in their own bedrooms,” he tweeted.
\u201cJenna, not sure why you\u2019re defending this barbaric Ugandan law. \n\nIt imposes life imprisonment for consenting adults who engage in gay sex. That\u2019s ridiculous.\n\nYou or I may or may not agree with their choices, but consenting adults should not go to jail for what they do in their\u2026\u201d— Ted Cruz (@Ted Cruz) 1685451417
Cruz’s rare moment of moral truth was challenged immediately by the same Florida pastor who wrote the invocation for DeSantis’s second inauguration.
“Tell it to God, Ted,” wrote Tom Ascol from Grace Baptist Church in Cape Coral.
“If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them,” he wrote.
Further, he wrote, “Was this law God gave to His old covenant people’ horrific and wrong’?”
\u201cTell it to God, Ted. \n\n"If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them."\n\u2014Leviticus 20:13\n\nWas this law God gave to His old covenant people "horrific and wrong"?\u201d— Tom Ascol @tomascol (@Tom Ascol @tomascol) 1685446157
Cruz did not engage with Ascol, who has taken extreme positions before, The Daily Beastreports.
According to the preacher, women who have abortions, no matter why, should be charged with homicide. He argues that terminating a pregnancy is like hiring a contract killer.
Republicans have sought to make services for LGBTQ+ people illegal across the country. They have attacked transgender people’s existence and limited access to gender-affirming care and books by or about LGBTQ+ people and they have legislated which sports teams and restrooms transgender Americans can join and utilize.
