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Last November, Sen. Ted Cruz made some waves when he and two other presidential candidates鈥擬ike Huckabee and Bobby Jindal鈥斅爄n Iowa in support of 鈥渞eligious liberty.鈥� The event was sponsored by extreme anti-LGBT radio host Kevin Swanson, of the anti-LGBT hate group Generations with Vision.聽

Swanson has made聽聽over the years, and he has also聽,聽though he said he would provide LGBT people a chance to repent first.聽Huckabee and聽聽about Swanson鈥檚 views,聽which are readily accessible through a web search.

Appearing at the event was a mistake, Rick Tyler, a Cruz campaign spokesman,聽聽in December. Tyler said that Swanson鈥檚 comments about supporting the execution of LGBT people are 鈥渞eprehensible,鈥� and further stated that Cruz has spoken out repeatedly against anyone who calls for hatred or violence against homosexuals.

In spite of Tyler鈥檚 claims about Cruz鈥檚 support for LGBT people, Cruz was scheduled to be at a聽聽that included anti-LGBT and anti-Muslim radio host聽, the former director of issues analysis at the聽American Family Association聽(AFA), an anti-LGBT hate group. Cruz , citing illness, but told his Mississippi campaign chairman, State Sen. Chris McDaniel, that he wanted to come, and that he was still hoping to do a pop-in, but 鈥渢here鈥檚 no way he could make a full rally.鈥�

Though Fischer聽飞补蝉听谤别尘辞惫别诲聽from his directorship early last year, he remains a radio host and blogger at AFA. Fischer is known for聽聽linking homosexuality to pedophilia as well as Nazism. He has called for the聽, called for the cessation of Muslim immigration to the U.S. and also stated that Muslims don鈥檛 have First Amendment rights. Fischer has even attacked African-Americans, saying,聽鈥淸I]t鈥檚 no wonder we are now awash in the disastrous social consequences of people who rut like rabbits.鈥�

鈥淩eligious liberty鈥� has become a rallying cry for anti-LGBT groups, especially since last year鈥檚聽聽that legalized marriage equality nationwide. A litany of so-called 鈥�religious freedom restoration acts鈥� have been proposed in many states, all drafted and driven by anti-LGBT groups attempting to legalize discrimination.

In late February, in fact, the Cruz campaign聽聽a 鈥渞eligious liberty鈥� advisory council that features several people who have been instrumental in spreading and propagating damaging falsehoods about LGBT people for years.

The narrative behind 鈥渞eligious liberty鈥� portrays Christians who object to homosexuality on biblical grounds as victims of religious persecution. The so-called RFRAs would allow Christians, especially, to deny goods and services to LGBT people on the basis of their religious beliefs. Cruz devotes聽聽of his website to this new narrative. On day one of a Cruz administration, the site claims, Cruz will 鈥渋nstruct the Department of Justice, the IRS, and every other federal agency that the persecution of religious liberty ends today.鈥�

Rubio鈥檚 campaign website 鈥渞eligious liberty is the right to live according to your religious teachings and to have the opportunity to spread it to others, instill it in your children and live it in your everyday life.鈥� He has also stated that he to make same-sex marriage illegal again, which includes appointing only conservative justices to the Supreme Court who would interpret the 2015 ruling differently.

The choices for Cruz鈥檚 religious liberty advisory council are weighted heavily toward anti-LGBT Christian, something his council has in common with a 鈥渕arriage and family鈥� advisory board that Senator Marco Rubio鈥檚 campaign in February.

In fact, the two boards share some members:

鈥� Cruz鈥檚 council includes two people from the anti-LGBT hate group聽Family Research Council聽(FRC) which has, for over two decades, worked to defame LGBT people with a variety of discredited myths and pseudoscience. FRC president Tony Perkins is the chair of Cruz鈥檚 advisory council and 聽has linked homosexuality to pedophilia, even claiming that LGBT people 鈥渞ecruit children.鈥� Other FRC officials have over the years called for the deportation of LGBT people, claimed that LGBT households are 鈥渧iolent鈥� and that LGBT people are sexual predators. The FRC website states that 鈥渉omosexual conduct is harmful to the persons who engage in it and to society at large, and can never be affirmed.鈥�

鈥� FRC fellow聽聽is on Cruz鈥檚 new council and Rubio鈥檚 board. Blackwell has compared same-sex marriage to incest, suggested that transgender and bisexual people would use same-sex marriage to engage in polygamy, and tried to link a 2014 mass murder in California to attacks on 鈥渘atural marriage.鈥�

鈥� Ryan Anderson, a research fellow at the Heritage Center, was also named to Cruz鈥檚 advisory council and Rubio鈥檚 board.聽聽is one of the young guns of the anti-LGBT movement who, though not as overt in his anti-LGBT sentiment, routinely聽聽when speaking to national media. He has also written that the decriminalization of homosexuality helped lead to the Penn State molestation scandal in 2011 and commended a book that supported the criminalization of 鈥渟odomitical relationships.鈥�

鈥� Another member of Cruz鈥檚 council is pastor聽, who was a major proponent behind California鈥檚 Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriage in 2008. (It was later found unconstitutional in court.) Garlow has repeatedly linked gay marriage to Satan and聽聽at his Skyline megachurch in California in 2015 at which many speakers disparaged homosexuality as unhealthy and destructive.

鈥� The Rubio campaign named Bradford Wilcox to their board. Wilcox, listed as senior fellow at the Institute for Family Studies and a visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, is also the director of the National Marriage Project at the University of Virginia. Wilcox was instrumental in pushing the discredited anti-LGBT Regnerus study into the public square after he played a in the study鈥檚 development by recruiting Regnerus to do it, serving as a paid consultant, and .

鈥� Everett Piper was also named to Cruz鈥檚 council and Rubio鈥檚 board. Piper is president of Oklahoma Wesleyan University and delivered the closing keynote address at the 2015 gathering of the anti-LGBT hate group聽World Congress of Families聽in Salt Lake City. At Garlow鈥檚 2015 conference, Piper claimed that the LGBT rainbow flag had become 鈥渢he dark flag of tyranny overnight.鈥�

鈥� Cruz has also brought in Kelly Shackelford of the Texas-based Liberty Institute, a legal firm that bills itself as fighting for 鈥渞eligious liberty.鈥� In reality, the Liberty Institute works mostly against antidiscrimination ordinances and defends those who claim to have been hurt by them. Shackelford and the Institute聽聽(many of which are false or misrepresented) to demonstrate the need for 鈥渞eligious liberty.鈥�

鈥� Carol Swain, a professor of political science and law at Vanderbilt University, also sits on Cruz鈥檚 new religious liberty advisory council. A self-described Christian evangelical, Swain聽聽when she聽聽claiming that Islam is not like other religions in the United States, and that it 鈥減oses an absolute danger to us and our children unless it is monitored better than it has been under the Obama administration.鈥�

鈥� Rubio鈥檚 board includes Joseph Backholm, executive director of the Family Policy Institute of Washington (FPIW), who worked in 2009 to prevent domestic partnership benefits from including same-sex couples. He also led the battle against same-sex marriage in Washington state through Preserve Marriage Washington. He has called marriage equality 鈥溾�� and said that once people realized how wrong it is, that is would be abandoned, like the ancient practice of bloodletting. that the FPIW website listed with regard to same-sex marriage is an article (the link from the FPIW site is currently broken, but the article can be accessed in some browsers) that includes the myths that gay people molest children at a higher rate than heterosexuals and that gay people are promiscuous.

鈥� Caitlin La Ruffa, executive director of the Love and Fidelity Network, is also on Rubio鈥檚 board. The Network is toward helping college students 鈥渦phold the institution of marriage,鈥� according to the group鈥檚 website. The site also states that to anything other than one man and one woman 鈥渏eopardizes the religious liberty鈥� of those who 鈥渉old more traditional views on the family鈥� and also causes children to suffer 鈥渇rom a weakening marriage culture.鈥澛燝ay parents, the website adds, are denying a child of either a mother or a father, no matter a gay parent鈥檚 love and provision for that child and that the child would 鈥渄o best鈥� when raised by their married mother and father.