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Hate and Discrimination

Rafael Cruz: 'Appalling' That Houston Elected A Lesbian Mayor

Rafael Cruz believes that his son, Texas senator and presidential candidate Ted Cruz, is on a divinely inspired mission(link is external) to overturn the city of Houston's nondiscrimination ordinance. The elder Cruz, who also serves as a campaign surrogate for his son’s campaign, is not just upset that Houston approved an ordinance protecting LGBT people from discrimination, but is also furious(link is external) that the city even elected an openly gay mayor.

In a speech(link is external) earlier this month on behalf of the group working to repeal Houston’s ordinance, Cruz lit into the Supreme Court for striking down state bans on same-sex marriage, claiming that the court "had no jurisdiction to rule over marriage."

He said the court's decision on marriage, which he has blamed on Satan(link is external), should inspire more conservative Christians to run for higher office.

"It is appalling that in a city like Houston, right in the middle of the Bible Belt, we have a homosexual mayor," Cruz said(link is external), referring to Annise Parker. He blamed the church's inability to stop a lesbian from winning elected office on the separation of church and state, which he called "a lie."