Lombardo’s choice of town hall venue more proof he stands with extremists

Let’s be clear from the beginning: Clark County Sherriff and Nevada gubernatorial candidate Joe Lombardo doesn’t think highly of gay and lesbian people. He’s never said he doesn’t like gay people but, as the saying goes, actions speak louder than words.

On Thursday, Lombardo chose to take the action of hosting a town hall breakfast at a church and attached school infamous for its violently anti-gay rhetoric.

As a well-funded Republican nominee for the state’s highest office, Lombardo could have selected any number of venues, even any number of churches, to host his event. Instead, he chose the sanctuary of a church whose founder and lead pastor used a 2018 sermon on the meaning of Christmas to declare, “The whole idea of homosexual marriage is an abomination to God, he hates that… he hates the sin, the demoralizing, degrading, filthy, horrible sin of homosexuality.”

And that’s not even the worst of it. Just down the hall from Lombardo’s event, in the classrooms of the church’s school, textbooks used for K-12 instruction wrongly assert that gay pride parades are to blame for the AIDS epidemic and that no straight people would have gotten AIDS without bisexuals giving it to them.

We’re not exaggerating. The Nevada Independent uploaded pdfs of pages from the books, which include quotes such as:

“When we see the ‘gay marches’ on television, we realize how this vice [homosexuality] has grown, and consequently AIDS is growing and spreading.” And “Bisexuals (those who have sex with either men or women) have spread HIV beyond the homosexual community to the general public.”

Other lessons being taught to children in the church/school in which Lombardo hosted his town hall breakfast include that the mentality of women seeking an abortion is “the same mentality that led to the atrocities of Hitler,” including “putting millions of Jews and others (starting with the handicapped) to death in the gas chambers during World War II.”

The content of the textbooks was particularly disturbing given that Lombardo touted the event as being part of his mission to become “the education governor.”

Students who disagree or question the church’s teachings on these matters are subject to expulsion according to the school’s handbook. So not only are students being taught historic and scientific inaccuracies, they’re also being taught that thinking for themselves, using their own minds and exercising their own free speech to question the lessons they’re being taught are grounds for severe punishment.

Let that sink in for a moment. A school literally teaches students that thinking and asking questions is among the worst behaviors imaginable. Yet that’s the school where Lombardo chose to host his education event.

Making the situation worse, before his event Lombardo knew of the church and school’s troubling history. Similar concerns were raised when he hosted a “Faith Leaders for Lombardo” breakfast event at the same church in April. In other words, the choice to host the event at this particular church was not simply a mistake or an oversight. Lombardo wants these extremists to know he stands with them and against the people of Nevada who have rejected discrimination and hate.

Las Vegas Sun reporters reached out to Lombardo’s campaign regarding the event and venue. But, in continuing with his months-long tradition of avoiding difficult questions, our calls went unanswered and unreturned.

We know it wasn’t because they were too busy. Campaign communication’s director Elizabeth Ray still found time to post multiple tweets about the event throughout the day.

In the tweets, Ray didn’t even attempt to deny the church/school’s vile statements against the LGBTQ+ community or against women who sought abortions. Instead, she pointed out that Lombardo’s political opponent, current Gov. Steve Sisolak, signed a proclamation in 2019 that recognized the church on its anniversary, including three lines about the church’s service to youth and the community.

Sisolak was wrong to issue the proclamation, as is any candidate of any political party who offers praise to any organization that spreads such vitriol and misinformation. But two wrongs don’t make a right.

And given Sisolak’s record of open support for LGBTQ+ people and women’s rights, his decision to issue a proclamation on the church’s anniversary is a far cry from Lombardo’s decision to host multiple events that invite the public into the church’s sanctuary.

Lombardo’s eagerness to curry favor of bigots makes sense, while his claims about caring about education are laughable.

In a vague and meager four-point “education plan,” his promise to deliver “school choice” stands out. School choice is rightwing extremist code for encouraging private schools that teach distorted agendas, just as the church in question does.

Lombardo’s actions represent a different degree of cozying up to hatemongers and a vastly different set of values and beliefs from most Nevadans.

The church’s repulsive and ignorant rhetoric is not a relic of the past. As we described above, the church’s current senior pastor believes that being gay is a demoralizing, degrading, filthy, horrible sin. Children attending the church’s school right now are knowingly being taught factually incorrect information about AIDS and being groomed to believe that women who seek an abortion, even after being raped, are morally akin to Adolf Hitler.

And yet, the GOP candidate for governor — a man who claims he will best represent 150,000 LGBTQ+ Nevadans and 500,000 public K-12 students — chose to have his education-focused campaign event at that church’s sanctuary.

Even at a church as radical as the one Lombardo where hosted his event, there is a general acceptance that God gave people the gift of free will. Lombardo exercised his free will to promote a church and school that teaches lies, spreads ignorance, and promotes hate.

We hope Nevadans will respond in kind, exercising our free will at the ballot box to keep Lombardo’s politics of division as far away from the governor’s mansion as possible.