Gary Johnson has withdrawn from speaking or appearing at the Boston Tea Party event due to the fact that another confirmed speaker, Scott Lively, at the event is against gay marriage.

Governor Johnson’s communications director, Joe Hunter, emailed IREHR this afternoon, “Having seen your article re the upcoming ‘Tea Party’ event in Boston, I wanted to let you know that Governor Johnson will NOT be attending. With all due respect to the organizers and their right to invite whomever they wish, he has decided that participating would not be consistent with his strong support for marriage equality and gay rights.”

Lively is not just opposed to gay marriage, he is part of the “ex-gay movement” and believes that “gays” are the “agents of America’s moral decline”.