- The Washington Times - Sunday, July 2, 2023

Republican presidential hopeful and former Texas congressman Will Hurd said Sunday that his party should focus more on oversea foes than LGBTQ issues at home.

“I wish they would focus, and focus their attacks on war criminals like Vladimir Putin, not my friends in the LGBTQ community,” Mr. Hurd said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “It is 2023. We should be talking about, how do we embrace our differences?”

The high court’s conservative majority ruled last week in favor of a Colorado-based Christian web designer, saying she could refuse under the First Amendment to make statements with which shee deisagreed. 

“This decision makes me uncomfortable because we’re protecting speech that I don’t agree with,” Mr. Hurd said. “And I don’t agree personally with an anti-LGBTQ sentiment … but we have to be protecting the speech even if we don’t like or agree with that speech. That’s a foundational element in our country.”

Considered a long-shot candidate in the crowded Republican primary field, Mr. Hurd went on to say that foreign affairs and artificial intelligence are among the topics that should receive more focus from elected leaders than culture wars over the LGBTQ community. 

• Ramsey Touchberry can be reached at rtouchberry@washingtontimes.com.

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