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WASHINGTON -- Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) briefly appears in a new documentary that argues gay rights are a threat to Christianity.

The film, "Light Wins: How To Overcome The Criminalization Of Christianity," is a project by socially conservative activist Janet Porter. It features a who's who of anti-gay activists, including pastor Scott Lively and Eagle Forum founder Phyllis Schlafly. The documentary warns that the religious right is getting pushed aside by the "homosexual lobby."

Paul's appearance in the film comes as he prepares to announce a 2016 presidential run and as the Republican Party finds itself divided over how to move forward on the issue of gay rights and concerns over religious freedom.

Promotional materials first posted by Right Wing Watch in February revealed that Paul was slated to appear in the documentary. But Paul told The Huffington Post at the time that he wasn't aware of it.

"I saw [the news about the documentary] this morning," he said on Feb. 12. "I dont know anything about it. Ive never heard of it until today."

The Huffington Post received a DVD of the film this week from the Human Rights Campaign. Paul appears during a section talking about ministers who don't want to perform same-sex weddings.

"Or are they [the federal government] going to ultimately say to a minister who has a tax deduction, 'Oh, that's not really your money and you're getting a tax deduction and we're going to make you do this?'" Paul asks.

(Watch Paul's appearance above, 5:25 into the clip.)

In a trailer for the film, Paul talks about being relieved that the Supreme Court hasn't found that there is a constitutional right to marriage equality. In 2013, the court said it was unconstitutional for the federal government to refuse to recognize gay couples who were married but it did not go so far as to say that same-sex marriage should be legal nationwide.

"The silver lining, I would say, that came out of the ruling though was they did go on for seven pages saying that this has been a state issue. They didn't overturn the right of states to determine what marriage is," Paul said.

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Rand Paul Appears In New Anti-Gay Documentary

Rand Paul bills himself as a different kind of Republican, a digital-savvy conservative who can expand the GOP electorate beyond its traditional boundaries.

So when he formally announces his presidential campaign Tuesday, one of the first tests will be behind the scenes as he attempts to amplify his message beyond the Louisville, Ky., launch event and reach many voters where they now live online.

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The framework is already in place, according to his team. Different domains will funnel traffic to the same official campaign website. Google staffers plan to be with Pauls top aides in Louisville., as well as a satellite campaign office in Austin, Texas, to help decipher the optimal moments to blast out digital ads and measure their real-time web performance. And Paul isnt just using social media like Facebook, Snapchat and Twitter to spread word about his political ambitions. Hes also pushing out all-important links to his own website, where he can solicit donations, email addresses and other vital information that will lead to more asks for money, more invitations to attend rallies and more ways for people to engage with his expected upstart presidential bid.

It may all seem like 21st-century White House campaigning 101. But these are essentials that budget-strapped outfits can miss just ask Ted Cruz, who as the first presidential candidate out of the gate failed to secure key website domains with his name and also sent out links directing potential boosters away from his official campaign page not deadly campaign errors, but rather missed opportunities. For Paul, there wont be a bigger test this year for his much-hyped tech team as it takes its turn among a field of crowded Republican contenders in feeding off the free media spotlight and that small segment of the American public that willingly tunes in for these kinds of events.

Pauls moment wont last long. Marco Rubio has a big announcement planned for April 13 in Miami, and Hillary Clinton is expected to follow soon after. Both likely campaign roll-outs will be closely scrutinized to see if they are using the latest and greatest tech tools right from the start to rally boosters for fundraising, volunteering and, ultimately, voting.

There will be thousands of events between now and Iowa that just dont produce a lot of rain, said Scott Tranter, co-founder of Washington-based 0ptimus, a data and technology firm working for Rubio. [Launch days] are automatic rainmakers and youve got to catch what you can.

When it comes to his campaigns tech game, Paul tends to be one step ahead of his 2016 competitors. Hes been courting Silicon Valleys libertarian-minded leaders since his first Senate campaign in 2010. Last November, Paul hired Cruzs top digital strategist. On the web, Paul regularly trolls his 2016 rivals with snarky tweets and gimmicky hashtags (#StandwithRand #thingstorunfrom #hillaryslosers). His digital team created a fake phone conversations between Clinton and Jeb Bush widely shared on social media, and Paul has even paid for ads running atop the leading search engine results for his opponents.

Sen. Paul is clearly running a very different type of organization, said Vincent Harris, the former Cruz tech adviser now working as chief digital strategist for RANDPAC, Pauls political arm. Id expect Tuesday to be another continuous reflection of a tech-foward operation, of a crowd-sourced campaign that will use digital thats never been used before on the Republican side.

Democratic and Republican digital strategists question whether Pauls online trolling will backfire as he tries reaching beyond his traditional base of libertarians and conservative-minded techies. But Paul is counting on being rewarded for bringing to the GOP presidential field some of the same creative digital elements and outreach that Obama used to great effect in 2008 in challenging the Democratic establishment and thwarting Clintons first White House bid. At the very least, Pauls online presence should pay off dividends in his bank account.

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Rand's first tech test

Daniel Maschi is ready to Stand With Rand.

"Rand Paul is independent, the only Republican speaking against the establishment about ideas that will actually grow the party," said Maschi, 21, of Perkasie, a senior majoring in political science at West Chester University.

After graduation, he plans to help elect the Kentucky senator president.

As Paul prepares to formally enter the 2016 race Tuesday, he is counting on young conservatives and libertarians like Maschi for energy, votes, and volunteer work.

It's no accident that one of Paul's first events as a declared candidate will be at the University of Iowa student union in heavily Democratic Iowa City.

"No other Republican would do that," said Steve Grubbs, Paul's chief strategist for Iowa, the state that hosts the first votes in the GOP campaign next February. "Rand Paul is in a unique place, as far as his potential to bring new people to the caucuses and the party."

Paul uses Snapchat, trash-talks other candidates on Twitter, and buys targeted attack ads on Google. "If you don't go to a platform where they are, you won't find them," Paul, 52, said recently at South by Southwest in Austin, Texas, itself a hipster mlange of music, tech, and culture.

Paul's team hopes to draw historic numbers of young voters to the Republican caucuses and primaries, which have been dominated by older and more evangelical voters.

If it works, he could mirror President Obama, who turned out huge numbers of young and minority voters to swamp Hillary Rodham Clinton for the Democratic nomination in 2008. At the other extreme, he could wind up like his father, former Texas Rep. Ron Paul, a two-time Republican presidential contender who did not rise beyond libertarian cult figure.

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Rand Paul, ready to run, looks to expand his younger base

WASHINGTON Sen. Rand Paul is set to join the 2016 presidential campaign on Tuesday. A snapshot of important things to know about the Kentucky Republican:

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THE BRIEF

A first-time candidate for office in 2010, Paul rode the tea party wave to become one of the libertarian-leaning movement's most vocal representatives in the U.S. Senate. His combative style won him few early allies and he often tangled with GOP leaders, including fellow Kentuckian Mitch McConnell, the Senate's top Republican. But he has started to learn the ways of Washington and adapt to them, and earned McConnell's backing to run for the White House and re-election to the Senate at the same time. The quirky 52-year-old Paul will be able to tap into supporters who backed his father, former Rep. Ron Paul, during the Texas congressman's presidential campaigns. But he hopes to reach far beyond that and will need to if his bid is to lead to the Republican nomination.

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RESUME REVIEW

Paul is an ophthalmologist, or a physician who specializes in medical and surgical needs of the eye. He has worked at clinics in southwest Kentucky, specializing in eye surgery, and helps to run a free clinic for his poor neighbors. In politics, Paul helped his father run against Texas Sen. Phil Gramm in 1984 and on his 1988 presidential campaign, and managed his father's 1996 campaign to return to the House representing a Houston-area district. In Paul's first campaign with his own name on the ballot, running for Senate in Kentucky in 2010, he toppled the establishment-favored choice in the GOP primary by an almost 2-to-1 margin and went on to win the general election by 12 percentage points.

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PERSONAL STORY

Paul grew up near Houston, the son of an obstetrician father and mother who was a secretary, and was 15 when his father won election to the U.S. House in 1978. Rand Paul attended Baylor University, where he was an honors student, but left without a degree when he was accepted into Duke University's School of Medicine. While on a surgical rotation at Georgia Baptist Hospital in Atlanta, he met his future wife, Kelley, at a picnic. The couple married in 1990 and moved to Bowling Green, Kentucky, to be closer to her family. Paul joined a medical practice before opening one of his own, and Kelley Paul is a freelance writer and political consultant. The couple is raising three children in Washington.

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White House Brief: Things to know about expected '16 GOP candidate and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul

MILFORD Milford Town Hall will be one of the first stops on U.S. Sen. Rand Pauls national campaign tour this month.

On Wednesday, the day after he has said he will make a special announcement, Rand, a Kentucky Republican, is expected to be back in the first-in-the-nation state to make the case he is best suited to reclaim the White House on the Republican ticket. ... Subscribe or log in to read more

MILFORD Milford Town Hall will be one of the first stops on U.S. Sen. Rand Pauls national campaign tour this month.

On Wednesday, the day after he has said he will make a special announcement, Rand, a Kentucky Republican, is expected to be back in the first-in-the-nation state to make the case he is best suited to reclaim the White House on the Republican ticket.

It is widely speculated he will officially make his presidential bid announcement in Kentucky on Tuesday. The next day he will be in New Hampshire, in the Milford Town Hall auditorium at noon.

Last month Rand stopped in Rochester, Exeter, Hampstead and Hollis. After Milford, the multi-state Stand with Rand tour then goes on to South Carolina, Iowa and Nevada all early voting states.

New Hampshire is very encouraging its got that Live Free or Die spirit, he said during a recent interview with The Telegraph. Its got a lot of the, I would call it the Leave me alone coalition, that just wants government to mind its own business in many ways,

Paul has stated positions against what he called federal over-reach and opposes the existence of the Department of Education, the Affordable Care Act and federal regulations that make it difficult for energy developers to take advantage of new forms of cheap and clean energy, according to his website.

Paul has been considered a supporter of the Tea Party movement, supports reduced government spending and taxation and has described himself as 100 percent pro-life.

In Hollis he said the number one priority of the federal government is national defense.

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Rand Paul in Milford Thursday