The Advocate: “Republican candidates around the country pose a significant threat to equality. In Nevada, that’s Sam Brown.”
MAGA extremist Sam Brown is in the spotlight for his extreme anti-LGBTQ+ record, which includes praising Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” legislation, refusing to support protections for marriage equality, and serving as the local chairman of an extreme anti-LGBTQ+ organization that strongly opposes marriage equality.
Read about Brown’s dangerous anti-LGBTQ+ record below:
Daily Beast: Republican Senate Candidate Sam Brown’s Pastor Demands Gays ‘Repent’
Kate Briquelet
7/12/24
- Brown and his wife, Amy, are members of Calvary Chapel Reno Sparks, helmed by a pastor who pushes his flock to take their “biblical values to the ballot box” and who’s labeled “transgenderism” a Marxist plot by elites aiming to control people.
- During a New Year’s Eve service, McKay said anyone “caught up in the sin of homosexuality” must repent to Jesus or face judgment—and announced the church would host a conference titled “Coming Out Again,” a kind of conversion therapy program.
- And in an appearance on conspiracy theorist Wayne Allyn Root’s radio show in 2022, Brown said he supported Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ controversial “Don’t Say Gay” law and parroted a common right-wing line: “That sort of indoctrination has no place in our schools.”
- Before joining McKay’s flock, the Browns attended another controversial megachurch when they lived in Dallas from 2011 to 2018. Caitlin Van Wagoner, a spokesperson for Watermark, told The Daily Beast that Brown “was an active and faithful member of our church family for several years.”
- A decade later, Watermark was again on the defense when a gay parishioner said he was booted after trying “conversion therapy,” finding it didn’t work, and dating another man. “Like any member whose beliefs move away from the core commitments, biblical convictions, and values of Watermark,” the church said at the time, “it became appropriate to formally change his membership status.”
Pink Times: Sam Brown’s Extremist Views on LGBTQ+ Rights Threaten Nevada’s Progress
Alexander Rivera
7/9/24
- As Nevada gears up for its crucial Senate elections, the spotlight has turned to Republican candidate Sam Brown, whose views on LGBTQ+ rights have stirred significant concern among advocates and community members.
- Brown, who is running against incumbent Democrat Jacky Rosen, has a well-documented history of opposing LGBTQ+ rights, aligning himself with far-right ideologies that have become increasingly vocal within the Republican Party.
- Brown’s role as the president and chairman of the Nevada Faith and Freedom Coalition has been marked by strong opposition to marriage equality and support for legislation that permits discrimination against same-sex couples under the guise of religious liberty.
- During his 2022 Senate campaign, Brown praised Florida’s controversial “don’t say gay” law, framing it as a necessary measure to combat so-called “indoctrination” in schools. Critics argue that such legislation, which mandates parental notification about students’ sexual orientation, endangers LGBTQ+ youth by potentially outing them to unsupportive families.
The Advocate: Raising the alarm about Nevada’s extremist anti-LGBTQ+ Republican U.S. Senate candidate Sam Brown
Christopher Wiggins
7/3/24
- As the November elections loom, and democracy and LGBTQ+ rights are on the ballot, Republican candidates around the country pose a significant threat to equality. In Nevada, that’s Sam Brown.
- Brown’s tenure as president and chairman of the Nevada Faith and Freedom Coalition demonstrates his deep entrenchment in the anti-LGBTQ+ movement. The organization has vehemently opposed marriage equality and backed legislation that permits discrimination against same-sex couples under the guise of religious liberty.
- According to the Coalition’s statements, when President Joe Biden signed the Respect for Marriage Act in December 2022, the group decried it as an assault on religious freedom, a perspective that Brown has echoed.
- Brown also had a history of affiliations with anti-LGBTQ+ churches. Since relocating to Nevada in 2019, he has been actively involved with Calvary Chapel Reno-Sparks, where pastor Phil McKay has denounced LGBTQ+ acknowledgment as a form of idolatry. According to McKay, government support for LGBTQ+ rights is “the kind of idolatry that destroys souls.”
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