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An American pastor who has faced widespread criticism from LGBT activists around the world traveled to Kyrgyzstan earlier this month.

Scott Lively wrote on his blog that he arrived in the former Soviet republic that borders Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and China on Oct. 10.

Lively said in a press release that he traveled to Kyrgyzstan “at the request of a group of citizens concerned about the promotion of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender political agenda by the United States and European governments.”

“I have come to reassure the people of Kyrgyzstan that many Americans and Europeans oppose the LGBT agenda as strongly as you do, and to explain how that agenda has harmed my country and how you can stand against it,” he said.

Lively said during a press conference in the Kyrgyz capital of Bishkek on Oct. 11 that the U.S. Embassy in Kyrgyzstan is “very aggressively” pushing an LGBT rights campaign in the country. He also urged the Kyrgyz people to support efforts to define marriage as between a man and a woman in the country’s constitution and back a bill that would ban the promotion of so-called gay propaganda to minors.

Lively spoke at a seminar titled, “Healthy Families and the Struggle Against Extremism” that took place in Bishkek on Oct. 12.

“I have come to reassure the people of Kyrgyzstan that many Americans and Europeans oppose the LGBT agenda as strongly as you do, and to explain how that agenda has harmed my country and how you can stand against it,” he wrote on his blog.

Lively on Wednesday criticized U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy’s “lawless declaration of a constitutional right to ‘gay marriage’ by judicial fiat” in the 2015 ruling in the Obergefell case that extended marriage rights to same-sex couples across the U.S. Lively also wrote on his blog that he has launched the Natural Life Movement in Kyrgyzstan, which he describes as a “new and non-confrontational strategy for protecting . . . marriage and the natural family.”

“It is time for a part of the pro-family movement to shift focus to a new paradigm that emphasizes conservation of the natural family and other aspects of the natural order in the face of an increasingly artificial world,” he wrote. “If we can’t preserve the primacy of the family as a cultural norm, perhaps we can at least protect the natural family and natural living model from extinction in the way we protect forests and wetlands.”

Lively sued by Ugandan LGBT advocacy group

The Center for Constitutional Rights filed a federal lawsuit against Lively in 2012 on behalf of a Ugandan LGBT advocacy group for allegedly exploiting homophobic attitudes in the country before MP David Bahati introduced the draconian Anti-Homosexuality Act in 2009.

Lively, a former Massachusetts gubernatorial candidate, said during a 2014 press conference at the National Press Club in D.C. that “God will bless the Russian people for their faith and courage” because Putin signed the country’s propaganda law. Lively’s trip to Kyrgyzstan coincides with ongoing concerns over a similar measure that has passed twice in the country’s Parliament. in the Kyrgyz Parliament.

Lawmakers in the former Soviet republic must approve it a third time before it goes to President Almazbek Atambayev for his signature.

“It is disheartening to see Scott Lively taking his discredited and dangerous ideology on the road once again,” said Shawn Gaylord of Human Rights First on Wednesday in a statement. “Unfortunately, what he brings overseas is more than just words. His efforts have the potential to result in violence and further discrimination against an already marginalized population, and bolster efforts to pass a dangerous Russian-style propaganda bill that is moving through parliament.”

Lively told the Blade on Wednesday that he did not meet with any Kyrgyz government officials while in the country.

“My efforts were of a largely non-political nature,” he said in an email.