Brian Brown: Fred Karger Will Not Stop Me From Collaborating With Russia

Yesterday we learned that NOM watchdog Fred Karger has reached out to federal officials, asking that they investigate Brian Brown for possibly violating the Logan Act, which forbids citizens from collaborating with foreign governments against the interests of the United States. Five days after Brown's speech to the Duma, they passed the bill which bans anybody from a country with legalized same-sex marriage from adopting Russian children. Today an official Russian state news agency got a response from Brown.

Brown told RIA Novosti in a telephone interview Wednesday that he spoke extemporaneously at the meeting, and he called Karger’s suggestion that the speech may have violated US law “absurd.” “It is laughable how little he understands that in America we’re free to stand up and speak for things like traditional marriage around the world,” Brown said. Brown said he was invited to speak to the lawmakers by Russian activists working with the World Congress of Families, an Illinois-based conservative group set to hold a global convention in Moscow next year. He said Karger’s appeal to top US officials would not deter his work abroad. “We’ve been very open that we’re going to work with allies around the world that believe marriage is a union between a man and a woman,” Brown said. A State Department spokeswoman said Wednesday that she could not confirm whether Karger’s letter had been received but added that “if and when we do receive it, we will review it and respond appropriately.”

According to a transcript posted by the Duma, one of the things that Brown told Russian lawmakers was, "We will unite. We will defend our children their normal civil rights. Every child must have the right to normal parents: a mother and a father."