Donald Trump, a self-proclaimed “friend to the gays,” proved once again to be anything but, as he just appointed the rabidly anti-LGBT Rick Santorum as a member of his newly-created Catholic Advisory Group.

Santorum has compared gay relationships to pedophilia, bestiality and slavery during his own two previously failed attempts at running for president, and now joins a slew of other homophobic politicians, including four sitting members of Congress, on the board of Catholic Trump advisors.

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Desperate to gain the votes of the religious right at the expense of the LGBT community that he claimed to care about, Trump created the Catholic Advisory Group to help appeal to the idea that people of faith are under attack.

“Religious liberty is enshrined in the First Amendment to the Constitution,” said Trump. “It is our first liberty and provides the most important protection in that it protects our right of conscience.”

“Activist judges and executive orders issued by presidents who have no regard for the Constitution have put these protections in jeopardy,” he added. “If I am elected president and Congress passes the First Amendment Defense Act, I will sign it to protect the deeply held religious beliefs of Catholics and the beliefs of Americans of all faiths.”

h/t: LGBTQ Nation