For Immediate Release
Tuesday, Oct. 25th, 2022
Contact: Josselyn Berry, Jberry@azdem.org
Kari Lake Adds Homophobic, Islamophobic Pastor to List of Supporters In Latest Ad
Pastor Has Deep History of Preaching Hate from The Pulpit
PHOENIX— Kari Lake adds a homophobic, Islamophobic and overall bigoted pastor to her list of supporters in her recent TV ad. In the ad, Justin Erickson is framed as a simple local businessman, a husband and father of five children. But the ad doesn’t cover that Erickson is a homophobic and Islamophobic pastor with history of making vile and bigoted remarks from the pulpit.
Mother Jones reports Erickson is a pastor at the fundamentalist Desert Bible Church in Scottsdale where he’s “preached slanderous anti-gay falsehoods, has declared Islam a Satanic force and has advocated for ‘the submission’ of women within their households.” In a 2014 sermon on homosexuality, Erickson proclaimed that “fifty percent of the homosexual LGBT-Now-Q community, 50 percent have AIDS. One in twenty are child molesters, on the sex offender registry,” grossly false claims. Erickson also suggests that LGBQ people were predisposed to horrific crime and murder.
His church also champions a subservient role for women. Its website says, “we affirm the headship of the husband and the submission of the wife.” The church describes this view as central to its beliefs. Only men, according to the church’s website, are allowed to be elders in Erickson’s Desert Bible Church. Kari Lake has also repeatedly made sexist comments, including that women “aren’t equal to men” and “we don’t want to be equal to them.”
This is the latest Lake ad in a slew of them that feature people with checkered pasts. One ad featured a Q-Anon and Stop the Steal supporting fake advocate. Another ad featured former DPS Director Frank Milstead, who had an order of protection taken out against him by a woman alleging he assaulted, threatened, harassed and stalked her.
“Once again, ‘show me who your friends are and I’ll tell you who you are’ has never more perfectly summed up a political campaign. Now Lake’s giving an even larger platform to a homophobic, Islamophobic hate monger. This is just the latest in a string of ads that show Kari Lake only surrounds herself with MAGA extremists, conspiracy theorists and grifters,” said Josselyn Berry, spokesperson for the Arizona Democratic party.