Harry Jackson Jr.

Harry R. Jackson Jr., is a Conservative Christian preacher and Pentecostal bishop who serves as the senior pastor at Hope Christian Church in Beltsville, Maryland, and serves as a regional bishop in the Fellowship of International Churches. He is also a social conservative activist and commentator. Jackson is the founder and chairman of the High Impact Leadership Coalition, which is composed of ministers who heavily oppose marriage equality and abortion.

Views On Equal Marriage Rights And Abortion
Jackson believes marriage equality and abortion are morally wrong. He believes abortion and marriage equality are causing the erosion of the african american family, saying,

"I don't know of anybody black who says, 'I hate gay people.' We're more accepting generally. But you overlap that – homosexuality and gay marriage – with broken families, and we don't know how to put it back together."

"I believe that the Bible teaches that same-sex marriage is an oxymoron."

"If you redefine marriage, you have to redefine family. You'd have to redefine parenting. I'm looking at the extinction of marriage. And black culture is in a free fall."

Jackson has agreed with Pope Benedict XVI's belief that condoms and other contraceptives promote AIDS.

Activism
Jackson is a prominent activist against marriage equality. Jackson began writing about the african american family in the late 1990s, and gained national recognition through his columns for Charisma magazine, in which he frequently wrote about abortion and gay marriage. In 2009, he began leading the movement against legalizing same-sex marriage in Washington, D.C. A group led by Jackson filed a lawsuit the District of Columbia after the D.C. Board of Elections refused to allow a ballot initiative on the issue of marriage equality, claiming such an initiative would violate D.C.'s Human Rights Act. In January 2010, the D.C. Superior Court upheld the board's decision. Jackson appealed to the D.C. Court of Appeals, but the court upheld the Superior Court's decision in a 5–4 vote. Jackson then appealed to the United States Supreme Court, but it was rejected without comment in January 2011. On March 26, 2013 he is doing an anti-gay marriage march in D.C. with Tony Perkins of the FRC and other conservative activists.