GOP backs former ‘Survivor’ contestant & antigay pastor charged with child abuse for state house

The Louisiana Republican Party has just endorsed an anti-LGBTQ+ pastor running for state house who was charged with four counts of criminal cruelty to children last year.

Let’s hear it for those good old fashioned family values!

John Raymond, the homophobic headmaster of Lakeside Christian School in Slidell, Louisiana, was arrested in the spring of 2022 after he allegedly taped shut the mouths of three 13-year-olds to punish them for “excessive talking” in class.

According to police, 60-year-old Raymond “took a roll of packing tape and taped the students’ mouths shut by wrapping the tape around their heads.”

“Raymond allegedly sent the students back to class for around 45 minutes before another school administrator felt uncomfortable with the situation and removed the tape from the students’ faces,” the report said.

The packing tape was wrapped completely around the students’ heads, sticking to their hair, and required a scissors to be removed.

“During the encounter, the students claim they had trouble breathing and that the removal process was painful,” the report added.

But it doesn’t stop there.

Raymond was arrested a second time last year for allegedly grabbing a four-year-old by the ankles, holding him upside down, and “whipping his buttocks.”

When the child started crying, Raymond then proceeded to cover his mouth and nose with his hand to silence the “tantrum”, suffocating him “to the point of him going limp,” according to police.

An adult who witnessed to alleged abuse said the child was “out of it and lethargic” and “unable to stand” afterwards.

And this is the guy Louisiana Republicans want to send to the state House of Representatives.

Raymond, who has called the story about the 4-year-old “preposterous” and said “tape isn’t a crime” in regards to the 13-year-olds, says he hopes voters in House District 104 will consider all the good he’s done in the community when they go to the ballot box.

“I’m completely innocent of these charges and confident I’ll be fully exonerated in a fair judicial process,” he said. “I love children, and that’s why I started the school. I never hurt a child and look forward to putting these false charges behind me.”

“I trust the people of St. Tammany to recognize the 23 years I’ve served the community.”

In addition to allegedly abusing children, Raymond, who previously ran and lost for state house in 2018, has a history of attacking LGBTQ+ people.

He opposes same-sex marriage and has promised to “reject the woke trans-agenda” if elected. He also supports religious freedom laws designed to discriminate against queer people, and says one of his top priorities as a state lawmaker will be to “keep boys out of girl’s restrooms and locker rooms or competing in girls sports.”

Prior to entering the political realm, Raymond appeared on Survivor: Thailand in 2002, where he was the first contestant to be voted off that season, lasting just three days on the island.