As Kanye West continues on his journey of spiritual awakening, it appears that he's going to be rubbing shoulders with some less-than-tolerant leaders in the evangelical community.
This week, it was announced that West would be headlining Awaken 2020, an Evangelical prayer rally. West will join the conference to deliver a special performance alongside his Sunday Service gospel choir at the event taking place at the Sun Devil Stadium in Phoenix on Saturday.
A number of the other speakers attending the event are notable anti-LGBTQ leaders, some of whom have been openly hostile toward the community on a regular basis. Right-wing pastor and fervent Trump supporter Guillermo Maldonado will be speaking at the event, who has said in the past that same-sex relationships are "clearly prohibited by God," and that they invite "unclean spirits into our lives."
Lou Engle, known as the leader of the far-right prayer organization The Call, will also be speaking at the event. Engle has been noted by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a "zealous opponent of … LGBT rights," as he has reportedly refered to homosexuality as "a spirit of lawlessness," and even spoke at a rally in Uganda aiming to authorize the death penalty for gays and lesbians.
Pastor Ché Ahn, who will also be in attendance at the rally, has spoken out in the past about his disdain for marriage equality in the U.S., equating the fight against same-sex marriage with the fight against slavery and saying that LGBTQ rights are "not a civil rights issue" and that "just because it’s legal does not mean that it’s right, at one time we had a law saying blacks were not citizens, that didn’t make that right.”
According to Awaken 2020's official website, the event is calling on its participants "to be part of the Jesus awakening that is shifting HISTORY. Open the door and enter into a new era, a new decade, of revival that is bringing a movement of signs and wonders, healing of the sick, and preaching of the gospel."