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U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) is busy fending off accusations from the National Enquirer he had five extramarital affairs, but that hasn’t stopped the Republican presidential hopeful from accepting recommendations from his “religious liberty” council that would undermine LGBT rights.

The council, announced last month by Cruz, among other things recommended as part of its 15 initial actions an executive order preventing discrimination against opponents of same-sex marriage; passage of the First Amendment Defense Act, a “religious freedom” bill seen to enable anti-LGBT discrimination; and rescinding President Obama’s executive order prohibiting anti-LGBT workplace discrimination among federal contractors.

Additionally, the council recommends that federal agencies not interpret protections against gender discrimination under current law to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.

“During this Holy Week, as Christians prepare to celebrate spiritual freedom in Christ, we remember also that religious liberty is the first American freedom,” Cruz said. “I thank this learned and committed group of leaders for their wise recommendations, and as president I will be proud to work with them to protect our religious liberty. Defending religious liberty has been a lifelong passion, and I’ve been blessed to help win national victories, preserving the Texas Ten Commandments monument, the words ‘under God’ in the Pledge of Allegiance and the Mojave Desert Veterans Memorial.”

Cruz never indicates the recommendations are now his own campaign positions, but that understanding is implicit by virtue of his publicly accepting them on his website. In the context of the Republican primary, the term “religious freedom” is seen as code for enabling anti-LGBT discrimination.

The Republican presidential candidate has already pledged to push for passage of the First Amendment Defense Act during the first 100 days of his administration and to direct the U.S. Justice Department to investigate claims of violations of religious liberty. As a U.S. senator, Cruz has introduced a constitutional amendment that would reverse the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in favor of same-sex marriage.

As the Blade reported last month, Cruz’s “religious liberty” council consists of a who’s who of anti-LGBT advocates, including the Heritage Foundation’s Ryan Anderson; the Bentham brothers; Bishop Harry Jackson, senior pastor of the Maryland-based Hope Christian Church and leading opponent of the same-sex marriage law in D.C.; and Tony Perkins, president of the anti-LGBT Family Research Council.

“Our constitutional liberties should not be subject to the whims of the current administration,” Cruz said. “Whether Hobby Lobby or the Little Sisters of the Poor, people of faith should not be made to bow down at the altar of political correctness. As president, I have pledged on my first day in office to rescind every single one of President Obama’s unconstitutional executive actions, and to direct every federal agency to respect and protect the religious liberty of every American.”