Wyoming Clergy and People of Faith Urge Action on Antisemitism and Extremist Rhetoric 

The Honorable Mark Gordon, Governor of Wyoming

Senate President Ogden Driskill

Speaker of the House Albert Sommers

President Ed Seidel, University of Wyoming

As clergy and people of faith in Wyoming, we have come together to denounce the rising tide of  extremist rhetoric poisoning our debates and discussions in the Equality State. 

Jeff Victor’s article, “A rising figure within Wyoming’s far right engages regularly with white  supremacist and antisemitic content,” highlights the ways in which hate continues to permeate  our Wyoming communities. We are disturbed to see this content promoted by someone so close  to the halls of power in our state. 

Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt, the U.S. Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism,  warns that antisemitism is like “the canary in the coal mine.” While hatred, discrimination and  persecution may “begin with the Jews, [it] does not end with the Jews.” 

Nick Fuentes, most frequently cited in the tweets, actively advocates for violence and  authoritarian rule. Fuentes has praised Adolf Hitler, called for “holy war” against the Jews, and  has been vocal about his bigotry towards women, Muslims, the LGBTQ+ community, disabled  people, and others. While some of Fuentes’ followers do not openly identify themselves as white  nationalists, but rather as “Christian conservatives,” we reject any attempt to cloak bigotry in  religious language, and we ask you to do the same.  

This rhetoric is especially dangerous when paired with the Wyoming Secretary of State,  Wyoming Freedom Caucus, and others’ willingness to align themselves with Turning Point USA  and its efforts to normalize bigoted ideas and court political violence across our region and the  country. TPUSA founder Charlie Kirk exploits bigotry in the name of building his own power,  actively promoting antisemitic conspiracy theories in podcasts and events. This has resulted in a  concerning openness to political violence. At a 2021 Turning Point rally, he spread false claims  about election integrity; an audience member responded by asking, “When do we get to use the  guns?” This April, two Turning Point employees admitted to assault and harassment after a 2023  incident in which they followed and badgered a professor at Arizona State University, engaging  in homophobic rhetoric and pushing him to the ground. 

The pervasive anti-LGBTQ+ sentiments in the listed tweets, as well as the embrace of an  exclusionary vision advocating that anyone outside a narrow view of Christian theology should  not hold office in the United States, are troubling to us all. Wyoming’s faith communities depend  on government respecting our freedom of religion and freedom to disagree on theological and  social issues. As we serve our diverse communities, we have seen that the rise of bigoted,  harmful rhetoric has serious consequences for our congregations and communities. We’ve seen  local government disrupted in Laramie with racist and antisemitic zoombombings of public  meetings. We’ve seen congregants and community members intimidated and threatened and the community littered with extremist flyers and stickers in Rock Springs and Cheyenne. These are  not just words, not just likes, not just on Twitter; these are impacts to our community.

Now is the time to choose the future we want for Wyoming. 

We write to ask you, as elected officials and leaders at the University of Wyoming, to exercise  the moral authority implicit in your positions. There is a temptation we all face to speak out only  when necessary. We ask you to join us in using your authority proactively. If we don’t accept our  responsibility to shape the climate for dialogue, others like TPUSA will, and they have no  qualms with using college age students as pawns in their political calculus. Please join us in  speaking out, denouncing antisemitic and anti-LGBTQ+ bigotry, combating calls for hate and  political violence, and to add your voices to those of us who are calling for an end to extremist  rhetoric. 

Sincerely, 

• Rabbi Moshe Raphael Halfon, Mt. Sinai Synagogue 

• Bishop Karen P. Oliveto, Mountain Sky Conference, The United Methodist Church

• Rev. Mary Erickson, Associate Rector, St. John's Episcopal Church 

• Kory Allen, Stake President, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints - Laramie

• Allen Doyle, Director of Campus Ministries, Canterbury House 

• Rev. Dr. Mark Lee, St. Paul's United Church of Christ 

• Rev. Michelle Bacon, United Presbyterian Church, Laramie 

• Rev. Jordan Bishop, Trinity Episcopal Church  

• Rev. Thomas H. Ketner, Episcopal Church of Wyoming 

• Rev. Juanita Smith, St. Peter's Episcopal Church, Sheridan 

• Rev. Dr. Travis Helms, St. John's Episcopal 

• Rev. Temple Heatherly 

• Rev. Roxanne Jimerson-Friday, Priest-in-Charge, Our Father's House, Ethete

• Rev. Jill Zimmerschied, All Saints Episcopal Church 

• Pamela Glasser, Transitional Deacon, Episcopal Church