S.C. attorney general to speak at anti-gay marriage group’s event

S.C. Attorney General Alan Wilson will speak at an event sponsored by an anti-gay marriage group next week after Clemson University football coach Dabo Swinney canceled his planned appearance.

Swinney decided Wednesday to not attend the Palmetto Family Council’s Celebrating Families event in Columbia, saying he had “no idea I was being invited into a political controversy.”

House Minority Leader Todd Rutherford, D-Richland, asked Swinney to not appear at the event, where he was going to receive the group’s “South Carolina Family Champion of 2015” award. He cited the Family Council’s fight against same-sex marriage.

Instead, Wilson, a Republican who won a second term in November and has appealed federal court orders permitting gay marriage in the state, will speak at the event, honoring “several state leaders who defend our religious liberties and freedoms everyday in South Carolina,” the group said Thursday.

Tickets to the event cost $50 with sponsorships costing as much as $5,000.

This story was originally published May 28, 2015 at 7:22 PM with the headline "S.C. attorney general to speak at anti-gay marriage group’s event."