Beto O’Rourke who said he would make it a “priority” of his administration, if elected, to revoke the tax exempt status of Christian churches and organizations that oppose “same-sex marriage” or deny “full human rights” and “full civil rights” to those who identify as LGBTQ+ has dropped out of the 2020 presidential race.
O’Rourke, a former Texas congressman who hopes to obtain the Democrat Party’s nomination for president, made the comments last month during a CNN town hall meeting that was dedicated to so-called LGBTQ+ issues.
“Do you think religious institutions like colleges, churches, charities – should they lose their tax exempt status if they oppose same-sex marriage?” CNN’s Don Lemon asked of O’Rourke.
“Yes,” O’Rourke said immediately, drawing much applause from the audience in Los Angeles.
“There can be no reward, no benefit, no tax break for anyone, or any institution, any organization in America that denies the full human rights and the full civil rights of every single one of us,” O’Rourke stated. “So as president we’re going to make that a priority and we are going to stop those who are infringing on the rights of our fellow Americans,” he added.