Beto O’Rourke says he’d take away a churches tax-exempt status if they don’t support same-sex marriage

When the former Texas congressman was asked if religious institutions — “colleges, churches, charities” — should be stripped of tax-exempt status Thursday night by CNN anchor Don Lemon during the LGBTQ town hall, he immediately responded, “Yes.”

ABC News:

Beto O’Rourke, the former congressman from Texas and presidential hopeful, infuriated a swath of religious and conservative leaders with his response to a question from CNN’s Don Lemon during a LGBTQ-focused town hall on Thursday night.

Lemon asked O’Rourke if religious institutions — schools, churches, or charities — should lose their tax-exempt status if they oppose same-sex marriage.

The presidential candidate answered “yes” to the applause of a Los Angeles crowd organized by the Human Rights Campaign, the country’s largest LGBTQ equality organization.


“There can be no reward, no benefit, no tax break for anyone or any institution, any organization in America that denies the full human rights and the full civil rights of every single one of us,” O’Rourke said. “And so as president, we’re going to make that a priority and we are going to stop those who are infringing upon the human rights of our fellow Americans.”

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