Former President Donald Trump backed Pastor Mark Burns, a 44-year-old Republican South Carolina U.S. House candidate and evangelical pastor who desires to "execute" LGBTQ+ individuals who "indoctrinate children's minds," as well as parents and educators who uphold LGBTQ+ youth.
“The LGBT, transgender grooming of our children’s minds is a national security threat because it is ultimately designed to destabilize the republic we call the United States of America,” Burns said during his 2020 appearance on The Stew Peters Show, which is hosted by a Holocaust denier. “That’s why, whenever I’m elected, I want to start holding people accountable for treason to the Constitution. I’m going to push to reenact HUAC [the House Un-American Activities Committee]… We need to hold people accountable for treason, start having some public hearings, and begin executing those who are found guilty of treasonous acts against the Constitution of the United States of America.”
The HUAC refers to an investigative committee in the U.S. House that persecuted private citizens, public employees, and organizations believed to have ties with communism. The committee was abolished in 1975.
“I vote to make sure that those parents be held for child abuse,” Burns added. “There is no such thing as trans kids, there are only abusive parents who are pushing that evil, evil sexual orientation onto their child’s mind.”
“I want to make sure that those parents have been held accountable,” he continued. “We should start putting some of those parents in jail for abusing their child’s minds. Especially in the school system, any teacher that is teaching that LGBT, transgenderism, furries, the groomers, any sexual orientation communication in the school system should be immediately terminated but [teachers should also] be held for abusing young children.”
He also compared LGBTQ-supportive adults to Nazis, even though the Nazis murdered LGBTQ+ people.
Burns is on the ballot in the Republican primary on June 11, 2024. He competed in the Republican primaries for the same seat in 2018 and 2020, but during those years he only won 2.5% and 23.8% of the vote, respectively. Trump didn’t endorse him in those years, and Burns ultimately lost the primaries.
Trump endorsed him in an April 1 post via Truth Social, writing, “Burns has been with me from the very beginning of our Movement to Make America Great Again. In Congress, Mark will help me Secure the Border, Stop Illegal Immigration, Uphold the Rule of Law, Grow the Economy, and Protect and Defend our always under siege Second Amendment. Pastor Mark Burns is an America First Fighter, and has my Complete and Total Endorsement – He is a Good Man, a Hard Worker, and will not let you down!”
In a recent interview with The State, Burns said the video clip of his comments was taken out of context and edited to sound how his opponents“wanted it to sound.”
“My stance on the LGBTQ community is not one of hate,” Burns said. “My stance on them is they need to be saved. I am a sinner. My sins are no different from theirs. We all need to repent. We essentially created government without god. I don’t have a vendetta against the LGBTQ+ community.”
He also said to the publication that "the breakdown of the traditional American family is not positive" and "LGBTQ+ agendas are being promoted in the public school system."
In 2016, Burns regularly introduced Trump at Trump’s campaign events. However, during Burns’ 2018 candidacy, he falsely claimed on his church’s website that he had a Bachelor of Science degree and served six years in the Army Reserve. He was never in the Army Reserve and he only attended North Greenville University for one semester and never completed his degree.
When questioned about these falsehoods, Burns stated that his church’s website had been "clearly" manipulated or hacked. CNN did not find any proof that the site had been hacked, and Burns suddenly left the televised interview. He later confessed in a statement that, "When I was a young man starting my church in Greenville, South Carolina, I exaggerated several details of my biography because I was concerned I wouldn't be taken seriously as a new pastor. This was not right, I was not honest then and I must take full responsibility for my actions."
Recently, Burns repeated a widely believed Republican falsehood that President Joe Biden “deliberately” scheduled the annual Transgender Day of Visibility (TDOV) on top of the March 31 Easter holiday. TDOV always occurs on March 31 — it happened to fall on Easter this year because of the moon’s cycle, but Republicans have claimed Biden did it just to disrespect Christians. Next year, Easter will take place on April 20, which is also an international cannabis holiday and the birthday of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.
