Kansas City, KS -
A September summit featuring Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann and anti-gay minister Bradlee Dean has been canceled, the
Minnesota Independent reported.
Organizers said the Freedom Jamboree suffered from low ticket sales.
Also scheduled to appear at the Kansas City, Kansas event were Joseph Farah, editor of the socially conservative news site
WorldNetDaily, and Jerome Corsi, author of
Where's the Birth Certificate?The event, billed as the national tea party straw poll convention, was being organized by Bob Vander Plaats. Vander Plaats' Iowa-based Christian conservative group The Family Leader has been under heavy fire for asking 2012 presidential candidates to sign a two-page anti-gay marriage pledge. Only Bachmann and former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum took the pledge.
Dean, who helms the ministry
You Can Run But You Can't Hide International and hosts the nationally syndicated radio show
The Sons of Liberty, created an uproar when he suggested President Barack Obama and Democrats are not Christians in delivering the Minnesota House's opening prayer in May. The next day, the chamber approved a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, sending it to voters for their approval in 2012 – a move Dean took credit for.
"I believe I have done my duty," Dean wrote in a blog post in which he said gay people are criminals.
The cancellation might provide comfort to Bachmann who has toned down her anti-gay rhetoric since officially declaring her run for the GOP presidential nomination.