FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 14, 2015
Human Rights Group Condemns another Troubling Figure Scheduled to Speak at South Carolina Tea Party Convention
(Kansas
City) The Institute for Research and Education on Human Rights (IREHR)
today expressed concern that a controversial Maryland figure is
scheduled to appear alongside members of Congress and prospective
presidential candidates at an upcoming Tea Party convention.
In a new report released today, “ Another Troubling Figure Scheduled to Speak at South Carolina Tea Party Convention,”
IREHR documents the disconcerting career of Jake MacAulay, a young man
who left his leadership position in a Minnesota anti-gay hate group to
work alongside a group of Maryland white nationalist secessionist
leaders, who is presently listed as a featured speaker at the South
Carolina Tea Party Coalition Convention to be held on January 17-19 in
Myrtle Beach.
Jake
MacAulay (aka Jake McMillian) is the Chief Operating Officer of the
Institute on the Constitution (IOTC). Despite the innocuous-sounding
name, the IOTC is a theocratic, Christian nationalist outfit run by
leaders in a white nationalist secessionist group. The group was
co-founded by Michael Peroutka, a long-time leader in the white
nationalist secessionist group, the League of the South. Another IOTC
leader, David Whitney is the chaplain for the Maryland chapter of the
League of the South.
Prior
to joining the IOTC staff, MacAulay was at the core of the Annandale,
Minnesota-based hard rock homophobic ministry, You Can Run But You
Can’t Hide International. The Southern Poverty Law Center designated the
organization as an anti-gay hate group in 2012. Over the years,
MacAulay has made numerous homophobic and racially incendiary comments.
“While
we were pleased to see the South Carolina Tea Party Coalition take
action and remove Roan Garcia-Quintana from the agenda, it remains
profoundly disturbing that the convention would still provide a platform
to a bigoted figure like MacAulay,” said Leonard Zeskind, president of
the Institute for Research and Education on Human Rights.
US
Representatives scheduled to share the stage with MacAulay at the
convention include Rep. Jeff Duncan (SC), Rep. Tom Rice (SC), Rep. Mick
Mulvaney (SC), Rep. Jim Bridenstine (OK), and Rep. Louie Gohmert (TX).
Likely GOP presidential candidates Ben Carson and Rick Santorum are
also scheduled to address the convention.
“Responsible
political leaders should speak out against the bigotry that MacAulay
and his Institute on the Constitution colleagues peddle. That’s
especially true of anyone elected to represent the American people.
Congressmen Duncan, Rice, Mulvaney, Bridenstine, and Gohmert need to
make it resoundingly clear that they won’t be silent when they’re
confronted with bigotry,” added Zeskind.
“To
appear at the same podium at the same conference, even at different
times, is to lend their credibility to Mr. MacAulay’s bigotry, a cause
that should not be considered credible,” added Burghart.
IREHR calls upon all people of good will to denounce such an affront to good common sense.
Contact:
Devin Burghart
Vice President, IREHR
dburghart@irehr.org
206.331.2978
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The
Institute for Research & Education on Human Rights (IREHR) is a
national organization with an international outlook examining racist,
anti-Semitic, white nationalist, and far-right social movements,
analyzing their intersection with civil society and social policy,
educating the public, and assisting in the protection and extension of
human rights through organization and informed mobilization.
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