Manchester pastor distributed ‘pedophiles are coming!’ fliers opposing transgender policy
After being contacted by the Candia police, a church pastor on Ted Cruz’ Faith Leadership Team has taken responsibility for distributing the controversial “pedophiles are coming” leaflet to rally opposition to the Candia School District’s transgender student policy. “We’ve got male and female and one does not transition into another,” he told radio host Rich Girard.
David Carlson, pastor of the Gospel Baptist Church in Manchester, acknowledged he distributed the fliers in Candia on the day the school board met to review the policy. He said he spoke to about 18 residents and left fliers for another two dozen or so. “Most of them thanked me for knocking on their door and talking to them about the meeting,” he said.
Carlson, who founded the Gospel Baptist Church in 1992, has described the church’s theology as “conservative, Bible-based and traditional.” He said he distributed the fliers “to bring to public knowledge the fact that there’s a potential of the children being in the same bathroom, that all kind of things can go wrong, and i don’t want to see any child harmed.”
When Girard asked about the reference to pedophiles, Carlson said, “I wanted to put a grabber for a headline. I should have chosen a different word. I should have left that word out. I realize there’s a lot of controversy with that word.”
“I believe girls and young ladies deserve men in their society to look out for them, to protect them, to value them, to cherish them, to elevate them, to treat them with the greatest respect and honor,” Carlson explained.
“We used to do that,” he continued. “We used to have chivalry in our society. Men were careful not to even swear around a lady. Men protected the reputation of a lady. Men protected the purity of a lady… With that in mind, I typed the flier.”
Matters of state
“I pretty much keep out” of politics, Carlson told Girard, but this is not his first foray into matters of state. Carlson has publicly endorsed Ted Cruz for president and is a member of the senator’s Faith Leadership Team. The Gospel Baptist Church website features a photograph of Carlson with Cruz’ father, Pastor Rafael Cruz, at the church.
Last month, Carlson wrote a letter to the editor of the Union Leader opposing House Bill 1661, which would ban the practice known as “conversion therapy” that seeks to change one’s sexual orientation or gender identity. “By merely telling a person that ‘romantic feelings’ toward a member of the same gender is wrong, a person will be breaking the law,” Carlson wrote. “As a pastor in Manchester for the past 24 years, I will be in violation for telling a person what I believe to be true from the Bible.”