Austin Ruse
{{short description|American political activist}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Austin Ruse
| image = Austin Ruse PHOTO.jpg
| caption = Ruse in 2009
| birth_name =
| birth_date =
| birth_place =
| occupation = Political activist, journalist, author
| title = President, Center for Family and Human Rights
| spouse = Cathy Cleaver Ruse{{Cite book |last=Joyce |first=Kathryn |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WhhCQY_7sogC |title=Quiverfull: Inside the Christian Patriarchy Movement |date=2009 |publisher=Beacon Press |isbn=978-0-8070-1070-9 |language=en}}
| alma_mater = University of Missouri
}}
Austin Ruse is an American conservative political activist, journalist and author. He is the president of a nonprofit NGO, Center for Family and Human Rights (C-FAM), which holds Special Consultative Status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council. For its opposition to the LGBT movement at the UN, it has been charged as an anti-LGBT hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.[http://www.splcenter.org/hate-map#s=DC "Hate Map: DC"] splcenter.org{{Cite web|url=https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2014/03/19/could-austin-ruses-violent-rhetoric-endanger-c-fams-status-un|title=Could Austin Ruse's Violent Rhetoric Endanger C-FAM's Status with the UN?|website=Southern Poverty Law Center|language=en|access-date=2019-05-29}} Through C-FAM and his writings, Ruse advocates anti-LGBT and anti-abortion conservative positions.
Career
Around the turn of the millennium, he also was a diplomatic attaché of the Permanent Mission of the Holy See to the United Nations.{{cite journal |last1=Case |first1=Mary Anne |title=Trans Formations in the Vatican's War on "Gender Ideology" |journal=Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society |date=March 2019 |volume=44 |issue=3 |pages=639–664 |doi=10.1086/701498 |s2cid=149472746 |url=https://chicagounbound.uchicago.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=13570&context=journal_articles |quote=Taking the idea of a war over gender ideology a bit too literally, American Austin Ruse, now head of C-FAM (the Center for Family and Human Rights) and a Breitbart contributor but at the turn of the millennium a diplomatic attaché of the Permanent Mission of the Holy See to the United Nations, reported in 2000 that a priest in the Vatican's UN delegation had offered him absolution were he to kill Hillary Clinton.|url-access=subscription }}
In July 2013, Ruse was identified as a convener of a Groundswell coalition meeting among conservative activists and journalists.{{cite journal|last=Corn|first=David|title=Inside Groundswell: Read the Memos of the New Right-Wing Strategy Group Planning a "30 Front War"|journal=Mother Jones|date=July 25, 2013|url=https://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2013/07/groundswell--rightwing-group-ginni-thomas/|access-date=October 13, 2020}}
In 2017, Ruse published the book Littlest Suffering Souls: Children Whose Short Lives Point Us to Christ,{{cite book|last=Ruse|first=Austin|title=Littlest Suffering Souls: Children Whose Short Lives Point Us to Christ|year=2017|publisher=TAN Books|isbn=978-1505108392}} which profiles three devoutly religious children who died after extended periods of illness.{{cite web|title=Pope in Fatima|url=https://cruxnow.com/pope-in-fatima/2017/05/child-saints-much-teach-church-suffering-sacrifice/|publisher=Crux|access-date=May 16, 2017|date=2017-05-10}} Ruse's second book, Fake Science: Exposing the Left's Skewed Statistics, Fuzzy Facts, and Dodgy Data was also published in 2017.{{cite book|last=Ruse|first=Austin|title=Fake Science: Exposing the Left's Skewed Statistics, Fuzzy Facts, and Dodgy Data|publisher=Regnery|date=17 July 2017|isbn=978-1621575948}} Ruse's third book --- The Catholic Case for Trump --- was published by Regnery Publishers just before the 2020 United States presidential election.{{Cite web|title=The Catholic Case for Trump -|url=https://www.regnery.com/9781684510962/the-catholic-case-for-trump|access-date=2021-04-12|website=Regnery Publishing|language=en-US}} Ruse's fourth book, "Under Siege: No Finer Time to be a Faithful Catholic" was published by Sophia Institute Press in 2021.
Ruse was a regular contributor to the media outlet Breitbart and was instrumental in encouraging Steve Bannon to get involved with Vatican reporting, which paved the way for the establishment of Breitbart's Rome bureau.{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2017/09/11/charlie-rose-of-60-minutes-just-called-steve-bannon-a-good-catholic-is-that-true|title=Steve Bannon is 'a good Catholic,' Charlie Rose said on '60 minutes.' Was he right?|last=|first=|date=|newspaper=Washington Post|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2020-02-10}}
=Awards and honors=
In 2004, Ruse and his wife were awarded the John Paul II Award for Advancing the culture of life from the Institute for the Psychological Sciences.{{cite web|title=IPS Honors Pro-Life Couple|url=http://www.catholicherald.com/stories/bIPS-Honors-Pro-Life-Coupleb,2216|publisher=Arlington Catholic Herald|access-date=March 18, 2014}}
Views and controversies
=Anti-left views=
Ruse stated that the "hard left, human-hating people that run modern universities... should all be taken out and shot" while hosting a radio talk show on American Family Radio in March 2014.Shadee Ashtari,[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/13/austin-ruse-shoot-liberals-_n_4959747.html "Catholic Group Leader Calls For Liberal Academics To Be 'Taken Out And Shot'"], Huffington Post, March 13, 2014; retrieved March 14, 2014. Monsignor Anthony Frontiero of the St. Joseph Cathedral in Manchester, New Hampshire, resigned from the board of C-FAM because of Ruse's comments.John Gehring, The Francis Effect: A Radical Pope's Challenge to the American Catholic Church, New York, 2015 (chapter 2, p. 26) The next day on the same radio program, he described Democrats "get[ting] into the ballot box" as "really dumb ... low-information voters."
After the fallout from his comments, AFR removed Ruse from their airwaves, stated that his views were "un-Christian", and scrubbed all of Ruse's shows from their online archives. Ruse also deactivated his Twitter account. Ruse stated on C-FAM's website later that week in which he said he regretted using the phrase "taken out and shot".{{cite web |url=https://c-fam.org/statement-by-austin-ruse/|publisher= Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute|access-date=December 30, 2015|title=Statement by Austin Ruse|date= 2014-03-14}}
In 2020, Ruse began attacking George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement, stating that Floyd's history of drug abuse led directly to his death. Following intervention from one of his publishers, he removed the offensive tweet. However, later, he defended the original remark.{{cite web |last1=Ruse |first1=Austin |title=Leaving Twitter |url= https://www.crisismagazine.com/2021/leaving-twitter |publisher=Crisis Magazine |access-date=22 October 2021 |date=1 October 2021}}
=Anti-gay views=
{{Blockquote
|text=Radical homosexuals... are coming for your daughter and your son and your grandchildren. They don't have any children of their own. They are deliberately barren. So, they have set their sights on yours, your innocent girls and boys.
|author=Austin Ruse addressing his followers in 2016{{Cite web | url=https://www.advocate.com/commentary/2017/3/21/trump-gives-haters-prominent-spot-united-nations |title = Trump Gives Haters a Prominent Spot at the United Nations|date = 2017-03-21}}
}}
In 2011, Ruse's organization opposed the Human Rights Council's decision to investigate violence based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Ruse said his group opposed the effort because it would begin a process of adding "sexual orientation and gender identity" as a new category of non-discrimination in international law. The Advocate has described Ruse as "fanatically anti-gay", stating that he has supported anti-gay legislation backed by Vladimir Putin in Russia. Ruse supported legislation in Russia that banned homosexual pedagogy in grade school curricula, and has argued that most Americans would like to see a similar approach in the US.{{Cite web|url=https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2017/06/26/anti-lgbt-roundup-events-and-activities-62617|title=Anti-LGBT Roundup of Events and Activities 6.26.17|website=Southern Poverty Law Center|language=en|access-date=2020-02-10}}{{cite news |last1=Wulfhorst |first1=Ellen |title=US sends pro-family group to UN fuelling fears over LGBT rights |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/usa-women-hategroup/us-sends-pro-family-group-to-un-fuelling-fears-over-lgbt-rights-idUSL2N1GS263 |work=Reuters |date=15 March 2017 |language=en}}
In 2017, Ruse attacked Jesuit priest James Martin on social media for his work that urges gay Catholics to begin conversations with their bishops. Michael Sean Winters described Ruse's attacks as "vulgar and childish", and stated that when it comes to Catholicism, Ruse "seems to adopt the most hurtful interpretations possible and hurls them at the feet of others".{{Cite web|url=https://www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/fr-jim-martins-works-will-outlast-recent-childish-twitter-attacks|title=Fr. James Martin's works will outlast recent, childish Twitter attacks|date=2017-09-08|website=National Catholic Reporter|last=Winters|first=Michael Sean|language=en|access-date=2020-02-10}}
=Support for Donald Trump=
Ruse has repeatedly publicly expressed his support for Donald Trump. He has stated that Trump "more closely adheres to Catholic social teaching than Joe Biden".{{cite web |last1=Mucha |first1=Sarah |title=Joe Biden is a man of faith. That could help him win over some White evangelicals. |url=https://www.kten.com/story/42384122/joe-biden-is-a-man-of-faith-that-could-help-him-win-over-some-white-evangelicals |publisher=KTEN |access-date=20 July 2020 |date=18 July 2020}}
In August 2020, critics charged Ruse with mocking the speech impediment of a 13-year-old child who had appeared during the 2020 Democratic Convention on Twitter. Ruse has consistently denied the charges. {{cite web |url= https://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/brayden-harrington-hero/ |title= Brayden Harrington, Hero
|last= Dreher|first= Rod |date= 21 August 2020|website= |publisher= The American Conservative |access-date= 21 August 2020 }} He has repeatedly claimed the former vice president never had a stutter.{{cite web |last1=Gifford |first1=Storm |title=Trump-loving author Austin Ruse claims Joe Biden never had stutter |url=https://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/ny-biden-never-had-stutter-20200822-zp2liyujfrhpjdldr242bdjz7m-story.html |publisher=NY Daily News |access-date=14 October 2020 |date=22 August 2020}} One of C-FAM's board members resigned over the incident.
Personal life
Raised Methodist, Ruse converted to Catholicism.{{cite web|title=Austin Ruse – Former Methodist|url=https://chnetwork.org/journey-home/austin-ruse-former-methodist/|publisher=The Coming Home Network|access-date= January 20, 2019}} He is a supernumerary member of Opus Dei,{{Cite web|url=http://churchandstate.org.uk/2019/03/opus-deis-influence-on-the-u-s-judiciary/|title=Opus Dei's Influence on the U.S. Judiciary|date=21 March 2019}}{{Cite web|title=Faith and the City: Opus Dei Assumes Responsibility for St. Agnes Church|url=https://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/faith-and-the-city-opus-dei-assumes-responsibility-for-st.-agnes-church|access-date=2020-08-28|website=National Catholic Register|date=15 June 2016 }} a personal prelature of the Catholic Church.
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.c-fam.org/ Center for Family and Human Rights]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ruse, Austin}}
Category:21st-century American diplomats
Category:American activist journalists
Category:American magazine journalists
Category:American nonprofit chief executives
Category:American anti-abortion activists
Category:American people of English descent
Category:American Roman Catholics
Category:Diplomats for the Holy See
Category:Converts to Roman Catholicism from Methodism
Category:Members of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre