The founder and president of the Coalition of African American Pastors (CAAP) is urging blacks in America to back Ted Cruz for president.

“For too long, Democrats have taken African-Americans for granted, fostering racial division and promoting policies directly harmful to the entire black community and destructive to the African American family and its pathway to prosperity,” said Rev. Bill Owens. “Ted Cruz will reverse those destructive policies and create an environment where the black community can truly prosper through the enormous talents and skills of its people; instead of languishing behind on the handouts and false promises of liberalism.”

Owens – who leads the grassroots Christian movement that supports traditional marriage and family and seeks to protect the unborn – said Friday at the National Religious Broadcasters convention in Nashville that he is supporting Cruz.

“No one has a stronger record on the defense of marriage, and no one has a better grasp of the challenges facing our families and the solutions we need,” Owens said. “As President, Ted Cruz will create a healthy culture for families, defend innocent life, and promote widely shared economic growth.”

Owens and his coalition have aggressively defended traditional marriage against the Obama administration’s continued advocacy for same-sex marriage and LGBT “rights.” In March of 2015, Owens blasted Obama when the president compared the civil rights movement to that for same-sex marriage at the 50th anniversary of the “Bloody Sunday” march, when black American citizens were beaten while demanding voting rights they had been denied.

“I marched with many people back in those days and I have reached out to some of my friends who marched with me, and all of them are shocked,” Owens told Breitbart News. “They never thought they would see this day that gay rights would be equated with civil rights. Not one agreed with this comparison.”

In February of 2014, CAAP also issued a press release in which it announced a campaign to call for the impeachment of then-Attorney General Eric Holder on the basis that he had violated his oath of office by “attempting to impose same-sex ‘marriage’ throughout the nation.”

“President Obama is a disgrace to the black community,” Owens said. “He is rewriting history. We didn’t suffer and die for gay marriage. We marched for opportunity, equality, justice, freedom from oppression. We are the true heirs of the civil rights movement. We now have a new movement to reclaim the ‘real’ civil rights movement.”