Edwin Feulner, a former congressional aide in Washington who rose to prominence as a co-founder of the influential Christian Nationalist right-wing think-tank, The Heritage Foundation, died on Friday. He was 83.The Heritage Foundation announced his death but provided no details. Related IRS says churches can now endorse political candidates in move that threatens our democracy This is really bad, wrote on Democratic congressman. Feulner (pronounced FULL-ner) co-founded the group with another now-prominent right-wing Republican, Paul Weyrich. Never Miss a Beat Subscribe to our newsletter to stay ahead of the latest LGBTQ+ political news and insights. Subscribe to our Newsletter today The far-right policy group has long advocated against LGBTQ+ rights, including bans on marriage equality, LGBTQ+ military service members, trans service members, adoption by gay and same-sex parents, gender-affirming care for trans youth, and advocating for conversion therapy and draconian bans on LGBTQ+ content in libraries.Heritage generally opposes anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination measures, opposed the Supreme Courts Bostock decision to include sex in discrimination rulings, and opposes the Equality Act, federal legislation that would explicitly prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.With its founding in 1973, Feulner and Weyrich transformed the conservative think tank model from ivory tower to accessible, based on easily digestible policy briefs they called backgrounders, distributed to lawmakers before a vote to influence policy outcomes, rather than waiting to deliberate on the results afterward.It doesnt do us any good to have great ideas if we are not out there peddling our products, Feulner told the Washington Examiner.Rightwing House Speaker Newt Gingrich called the Heritage Foundation the Parthenon of the conservative metropolis.Feulner served as founding president of the organization until 2013, and again briefly in 2018. The group gained renewed prominence in 2024 with their policy recommendations for a second Trump administration, called Project 2025, a nearly-thousand-page far-right conservative wish list that has been implemented with an army of appointees many recommended by Heritage at every level in every department of the federal government. Partner organizations for Project 2025s advisory board include anti-LGBTQ groups Alliance Defending Freedom, Eagle Forum, Family Policy Alliance, Moms for Liberty, Turning Point USA, and dozens of other far-right organizations.Trump publicly distanced himself from Project 2025 during the campaign but has embraced its goals as an organizing principle for his second term. Feulner described those early on in the history of the Heritage Foundation as free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional values and a strong national defense. Project 2025 was the latest iteration of the Mandate for Leadership, another wish list for new presidents that Heritage has issued since Ronald Reagan took office in 1981.That document, also around a thousand pages and the nuts and bolts of how you make the kind of changes that philosophers and academics have been talking about, said Feulner, was distributed by Reagan at his first cabinet meeting.Heritage claimed that about 60% of its suggestions had been acted on by the Reagan administration in its first year in power. Heritage identified Trump as a pliable partner for its conservative goals early on. In 2016, as the Republican establishment turned against him, Feulners successor as the groups president, Tea Partier and former Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC), pursued a collaborative relationship with the Trump campaign.With Trumps win, Feulner became head of domestic policy for Trumps first transition. The group returned again with a database of thousands of loyal conservatives to appoint to political office.The Heritage Foundation was launched in 1973 with a $260,000 donation from beer baron Joseph Coors, a far-right conservative and notorious homophobe.At the early peak of Heritage Foundation influence in 1984, Feulner told The New York Times, The years in the wilderness gave us the time to work out challenges to the prevailing orthodoxy. Feulner saw intellectual ferment happening on the left new ideas, new institutional energy. Now we are in the mainstream, he cautioned, and we will suffer for that like the liberals before us. President Trump meeting with Edwin Feulner (left front) co-founder of the Heritage Foundation, Leonard Leo (fifth back on right) co-chairman of the Federalist Society, and other conservative group leaders in 2017. pic.twitter.com/aXR9MS7Atc Sheryl Holson (@holson_sheryl) September 28, 2024Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.