Conservative Christian groups in the Dominican Republic have renewed their efforts to oust U.S. Ambassador James "Wally" Brewster following his visit to a school accompanied by his husband, Bob Satawake.

"Mr. Brewster approaches our children in public and private schools, in sports tournaments, and other youth activities presenting Mr. Bob Satawake as his husband," the Catholic bishops' conference for the Dominican Republic wrote in a statement issued on Tuesday. "They are trying to confuse our youth and children by presenting a distorted model of the family, and in that way disparaging the authority of our laws" defining marriage as between a man and a woman.

Brewster, the former LGBT co-chair of the Democratic National Committee, was one of a several out gay ambassadors named by President Barack Obama in 2013. Most of these have caused little controversy in the countries to which they are posted, but Brewster has encountered stiff resistance from religious leaders from the minute he was nominated. The country's cardinal called him a "faggot" ("maricón") in a press conference denouncing his appointment that June, and the cardinal has continued to use rhetoric toward Brewster so offensive that Senator Dick Durbin wrote to Pope Francis in protest in December 2015.

The new outcry began after pictures appeared on social media earlier this month of Brewster and Satawake visiting with a group of school children accompanied by accusations that they were there to "promote homosexuality."