Will Kirk Cameron Accept Invitation to Meet Bullied LGBT Youth?

Actor-conservative pundit Kirk Cameron has been invited to lunch with a group of bullied LGBT teenagers when he visits Ocean Grove, New Jersey for a "pro-marriage" event July 27.

Cameron, who gained notoriety earlier this year for publicly calling homosexuality "unnatural, detrimental, and destructive" is scheduled to speak at the "Love Worth Fighting For" event in Ocean Grove, whose LGBT community is reportedly largely responsible for the town's revitalization. The Asbury Park Press quotes a phone interview with Cameron, in which he notes that everyone is welcome to the event. “They will feel loved and cared about and they will be challenged to think about what marriage is really all about — we invite everyone, everyone is welcome,” he says.

Corey Bernstein, the co-chair for Garden State Equality'sYouth Caucus, sent an invitation to Cameron's manager last Friday, asking the actor to meet the group for lunch July 28. His letter to Cameron reads in part, "The problem is not just that you oppose marriage equality —a view we disagree with, but to which you are entitled in our free nation ­ — but that you did so with such disregard for how we youth would perceive your words."

Bernstein adds, “Haven’t my teen colleagues and I endured enough hurtful words at school? What kind of lesson might you, as a public figure, be giving to would-be bullies?”

Neither Cameron nor his manager have yet responded to the invitation.

Watch a video of the Youth Caucus below.