WASHINGTON: Ken Hutcherson

- Former NFL linebacker and current pastor at Antioch Bible Church in Washington.

Facts

- Compared the anti-gay “Mayday for Marriage” rally he organized in Washington, D.C. to the Madrid terrorist train bombing that killed 191 people: "My idea here is to drop a spiritual bomb on D.C., like Spain, where they had the terrorist bomb.”

- In 2007, went to Latvia to spread his anti-gay platform, and claimed he “receive(d) a commission by the White House Office of Faith Based and Community Initiatives as a Special Envoy in the following areas: Adoptions, Family Values, Religious Freedom, and Medical Relief, which allowed me to meet with the Latvian government.” The White House made an official statement to explain that this was completely fabricated. 

- Repeatedly  opposed state anti-discrimination laws, hate crimes legislation, National Day of Silence (brings attention to bullying in schools), and relationship recognition for gay and lesbian couples--including actively campaigning to take away protections from gay residents in Washington.

- In 2007, he joined 29 other pastors in the High Impact Leadership Coalition to publicly oppose the federal Matthew Shepard hate crimes bill. Despite those efforts, the bill was signed into law in 2009. It expands the 1969 United States federal hate-crime law to include crimes motivated by a victim's actual or perceived gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability.

- Said of Washington Governor Chris Gregoire, who signed marriage equality into law: “She might as well change her name to John Wilkes Booth because what she’s doing now is trying to put a bullet in the head of one of the greatest traditions that has ever existed and has built our society, and that is marriage between one man and one woman."