Lies In The Name Of The Lord

Wayne Besen's Truth Wins Out has taken out a full-page ad to appear in tomorrow's Salt Lake City Tribune to counter the anti-gay Beckett Fund ad that appeared in the NY Times last Friday. The ad uses direct quotes from the Beckett Fund ad's cosigners in which they condemn the Mormon Church as un-Christian.

Truth Wins Out (TWO) unveiled a hard-hitting full-page ad today that will be published in The Salt Lake Tribune on Thursday, under the headline, “Lies in the Name of the Lord.” TWO’s provocative advertisement is in response to an ad by anti-gay activists in last Friday’s New York Times, that falsely portrayed protests against Proposition 8 - a ballot measure in California that prohibited same sex couples from marrying – as mob violence. The TWO ad also criticized the culture warriors who ran the Times ad under the name, “No Mob Veto,” for their disingenuous claim of religious tolerance and their posture as staunch defenders of the Mormon Church.

“These anti-gay activists are crying wolf on the Proposition 8 protests, but they actually are a wolf in sheep’s clothing that preaches religious tolerance while practicing the most defamatory form of religious bigotry,” said Wayne Besen, Executive Director of Truth Wins Out. “We refuse to permit this orchestrated campaign to rewrite history, nor will we allow some of the most notorious Mormon bashers in America to pose as friends of the Latter-day Saints.”

TWO exposes “No Mob Veto’s” hypocrisy, after the group wrote in the Times, “Beginning today, we commit ourselves to opposing and publicly shaming anyone who resorts to the rhetoric of anti-religious bigotry, against any faith, on any side of the cause, for any reason.” In its ad, TWO agreed to take the signers of the “No Mob Veto” ad at their word, including convicted felon Chuck Colson, Prison Fellowship; Rich Cizik, National Association of Evangelicals; and William Donohue, The Catholic League, and remind America of their past incendiary statements against other religions, particularly the Mormon church.

“Activists like Colson, Cizik and Donohue must decide if they are ‘people of faith’ or ‘people of fibs’ – they can’t be both,” TWO proclaimed in its ad. “Lying is wrong, especially when it’s done in the name of God.” “There is a concerted and ongoing effort by anti-gay forces to portray peaceful marchers exercising their First Amendment rights as violent troublemakers,” said Besen. “We hope to set the record straight and refuse to let No Mob Veto get away with their blatant lies.”

"Truth Wins Out is a non-profit organization that counters right wing propaganda, exposes the “ex-gay” myth and educates America about gay life." Well done, Mr. Besen.

HRC Responds To Beckett Fund Ad

The Human Rights Campaign has posted a response to today's ad by the Beckett Fund in the New York Times. It reads in part:

Today, members of the Human Rights Campaign's Religion Council responded forcefully to a full-page ad in the New York Times that implies there is an organized attempt to foment mob intimidation and violence toward the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints due to its actions dehumanizing lesbian and gay people in the recent election campaign, particularly in California around passage of Proposition 8, which stripped gay families of the right to a civil marriage. The ad was sponsored by NoMobVeto.org, a project of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty.

When did the LDS Church become the victim? It’s hard to believe, but that is exactly what it is trying to convince the public of. It is continuing to spend an excess of dollars in an attempt to mislead the public and transform its image. But the truth is that this is the same church that conducted a national broadcast to every temple, calling on members to organize and write checks to the Prop 8 campaign. The same church that donated more than half of the $40 million behind Prop 8, even though California Mormons represent just 2 percent of the state's population. Yes, it’s the same church.

Don’t allow them to replace the truth with their own version of the truth. Use our Religion Council’s message today to take action and demand the truth:

Click here to write a letter to the New York Times
Click here to send an email to the Becket Fund, the organization that paid for the misleading New York Times ad
Click here to share your personal story with NoMobVeto.org and let them know how the passage of Prop 8 affected your life

The response goes on to list several quotes from members of their Religious Council. My favorite (emphasis mine):

"Several signatories to the ad are generals in the culture wars," said Rev. Susan Russell of All Saints Church (Epsicopal), Pasadena, Calif. "They lied about gay people in the campaign, and now they are lying again when they say we are in favor of mob intimidation and violence. I personally talked legitimately angry demonstrators in California out of such action and every credible LGBT organization called for peaceful resistance to the Prop 8 travesty. Many of the leaders cited in this ad preach hate against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, then look the other way when LGBT people are the victims of hate crimes. This ad is an act of individual and corporate hypocrisy."

Full Page Ad From Beckett Fund In NYT Decries "Bigotry" Of Marriage Protests

As I reported here on Tuesday, today the Beckett Fund published a full page ad in the New York Times decrying the recent protests against the Mormon Church (and others) for their support of Proposition 8.

You'll have to embiggen the image above to read it, but the main quote is: "The violence and intimidation directed at the LDS or 'Mormon' church, and other religious organizations - and even against individual believers - simply because they supported Proposition 8 is an outrage that must stop." The message is cosigned by individuals heading numerous religious groups including the Orthodox Jewish Federation and the Catholic League, as well as Martin Luther King's niece, Alveda King.

The ad directs readers to NoMobVeto.org, which asks for signatures supporting a campaign to "expose and publicly shame anyone who resorts to the rhetoric of anti-religious bigotry — against any faith, on any side of any cause, for any reason."

HILARIOUS! They are asking for support to do EXACTLY what WE have been doing: exposing and publicly shaming anyone who resorts to anti-gay bigotry. So it's HATE when we do it, but OK when they do. How fucking typical.

You'll note that they decry the "violence" of the anti-Prop 8 protests, but remain as silent as always about the uncountable brutal attacks against LGBT people which are committed EVERY DAY of EVERY YEAR by people trained by THEM to hate gay people from the moment they know what the word means.

Anti-Gay NY Times Ad To Protest Gay "Campaign Of Violence"

A source advises us that the Beckett Fund will be taking out a full-page New York Times ad in the next few days to decry the gay community's "campaign of violence" since the Prop 8 vote. According to the source, the Beckett fund is presently looking for other major religious activism groups to sign on to their ad, which will cite incidents such as disruption of church services and the sending of suspicious white powder to Mormon and Catholic groups.

Wikipedia describes the Beckett Fund:

The Becket Fund's stated philosophy of religious liberty is that "Freedom of religion is a basic human right that no government may lawfully deny; it is not a gift of the state, but instead is rooted in the inherent dignity of the human person. Religious expression (of all traditions) is a natural part of life in civilized society, and religious arguments (on all sides of a question) are a normal and healthy element of public debate. Religious people and institutions are entitled to participate in government affairs on an equal basis with everyone else, and should not be excluded for professing their faith."

I'd imagine the Beckett Fund ad may also include Christine "They Beat Me With My Own Bible" Cloud and the Styrofoam Cross Lady. Both of those of those stories are admittedly bad PR for the gay community, but they are petty NOTHING incidents compared to the thousands of violent attacks committed every year against LGBT people, many (if not most) of which were fostered by the Christianist right. "Yes, I kicked his ass, but the Bible told me to do it." Once again, the religious right is playing the victimized martyr when it is they who are the aggressors.