FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 14, 2015
Human Rights Group Condemns another Troubling Figure Scheduled to Speak at South Carolina Tea Party Convention
(Kansas City) The Institute for Research and Education on Human Rights (IREHR) today expressed concern that a controversial Maryland figure is scheduled to appear alongside members of Congress and prospective presidential candidates at an upcoming Tea Party convention.
In a new report released today, “Another Troubling Figure Scheduled to Speak at South Carolina Tea Party Convention,” IREHR documents the disconcerting career of Jake MacAulay, a young man who left his leadership position in a Minnesota anti-gay hate group to work alongside a group of Maryland white nationalist secessionist leaders, who is presently listed as a featured speaker at the South Carolina Tea Party Coalition Convention to be held on January 17-19 in Myrtle Beach.
Jake MacAulay (aka Jake McMillian) is the Chief Operating Officer of the Institute on the Constitution (IOTC). Despite the innocuous-sounding name, the IOTC is a theocratic, Christian nationalist outfit run by leaders in a white nationalist secessionist group. The group was co-founded by Michael Peroutka, a long-time leader in the white nationalist secessionist group, the League of the South. Another IOTC leader, David Whitney is the chaplain for the Maryland chapter of the League of the South.
Prior to joining the IOTC staff, MacAulay was at the core of the Annandale, Minnesota-based hard rock homophobic ministry, You Can Run But You Can’t Hide International. The Southern Poverty Law Center designated the organization as an anti-gay hate group in 2012. Over the years, MacAulay has made numerous homophobic and racially incendiary comments.
“While we were pleased to see the South Carolina Tea Party Coalition take action and remove Roan Garcia-Quintana from the agenda, it remains profoundly disturbing that the convention would still provide a platform to a bigoted figure like MacAulay,” said Leonard Zeskind, president of the Institute for Research and Education on Human Rights.
US Representatives scheduled to share the stage with MacAulay at the convention include Rep. Jeff Duncan (SC), Rep. Tom Rice (SC), Rep. Mick Mulvaney (SC), Rep. Jim Bridenstine (OK), and Rep. Louie Gohmert (TX). Likely GOP presidential candidates Ben Carson and Rick Santorum are also scheduled to address the convention.
“Responsible political leaders should speak out against the bigotry that MacAulay and his Institute on the Constitution colleagues peddle. That’s especially true of anyone elected to represent the American people. Congressmen Duncan, Rice, Mulvaney, Bridenstine, and Gohmert need to make it resoundingly clear that they won’t be silent when they’re confronted with bigotry,” added Zeskind.
“To appear at the same podium at the same conference, even at different times, is to lend their credibility to Mr. MacAulay’s bigotry, a cause that should not be considered credible,” added Burghart.
IREHR calls upon all people of good will to denounce such an affront to good common sense.
Contact:
Devin Burghart
Vice President, IREHR
dburghart@irehr.org
206.331.2978
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The Institute for Research & Education on Human Rights (IREHR) is a national organization with an international outlook examining racist, anti-Semitic, white nationalist, and far-right social movements, analyzing their intersection with civil society and social policy, educating the public, and assisting in the protection and extension of human rights through organization and informed mobilization.
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