Headline Of The Day

The Daily Beast today published a lengthy accounting of the The Gathering, a secretive meeting of anti-gay right wing activists that starts in Orlando today. An excerpt:

The Gathering is an annual event at which many of the wealthiest conservative to hard-right evangelical philanthropists in America—representatives of the families DeVos, Coors, Prince, Green, Maclellan, Ahmanson, Friess, plus top leaders of the National Christian Foundation—meet with evangelical innovators with fresh ideas on how to evangelize the globe. The Gathering promotes “family values” agenda: opposition to gay rights and reproductive rights, for example, and also a global vision that involves the eventual eradication of all competing belief systems that might compete with The Gathering’s hard-right version of Christianity. Last year, for example, The Gathering 2013 brought together key funders, litigants, and plaintiffs of the Hobby Lobby case, including three generations of the Green family. The evangelical right financial dynasties and foundations that meet each year at The Gathering dispense upwards of $1 billion a year in grants. But even that is overshadowed by the bigger sums that The Family and The Gathering have managed to route from the federal and state government to fund their movement via the Faith-Based Initiative program, USAID, PEPFAR and other multibillion-dollar programs.

Many of the anti-gay hate groups involved will be familiar to you. Definitely hit that link.

FRC Cheers Virginia Stay Continuance

Via press release from the FRC:

The Fourth Circuit erred when it struck down the decision of the people of Virginia to define marriage as it has been understood for ages: as being between one man and one woman. Today, the Supreme Court put a hold on the Fourth Circuit ruling, allowing Virginia's law to continue to be enforced while the Fourth Circuit's opinion is appealed. We are glad that the Court saw the wisdom of slowing down the judicial process in this instance so that marriages will not be entered into that would later have to be nullified. Such irresponsible mayhem has been witnessed in Utah, and it resulted in legal chaos for state residents and state officials. Despite court rulings in favor of same-sex marriage, we remain optimistic that other Circuits will rule in favor of the right of states to define marriage as between one man and one woman. The consequences of redefining marriage are immeasurable. All Americans should hope, but, more importantly, fervently pray that the United States Supreme Court upholds the rule of law and allows voter-backed marriage amendments to stand.

Family Research Council: There Is Nothing More Christian Than Cutting Food Stamps

Family Research Council "senior fellow" Ken Blackwell speaks to the Christian Post:

"I think through empowering others and creating self-sufficiency…there within lies the path to sense of worthiness," Blackwell told CP. "When I was growing up, there was fundamental belief, that there were times in people's life when they needed a hand up…there were temporariness to hose programs, where they were structured so that they didn't breed so that they didn't breed dependency." Blackwell also suggested that there was "nothing more Christian" than "not locking people into a permanent dependency on government handouts, but making sure they are participants in their own upliftment and empowerment so that they in fact through the dignity of work and can break from the plantation of big government."

Last week the House approved a bill that cuts the food stamp program by $39B over the next ten years. Every Democrat voted against it.

Today's Family Research Council Lie

"No one is demanding that any homosexual become a heterosexual, or that homosexuals be in any way harmed, demeaned, or persecuted. To the contrary, true Christians should and do show the love of Christ to every image-bearer of God, whether that person is homosexual or heterosexual. Period. We simply believe that sexual intimacy is reserved by God for heterosexual, monogamous marriage. That's inconvenient and difficult for many of us, heterosexual and homosexual. It's also what we believe the Word of God says. Therefore, for us it is determinative of not just belief but also practice." - Rob Schwarzwalder, vice president of a hate group that endorses "ex-gay" torture, calls for the recriminalization of homosexuality, and regularly declares that all gay men are potential pedophiles.

Family Research Council: We Never Said ALL Homosexuals Are Pedophiles

Continuing to hit back at their hate group listing by the Southern Poverty Law Center, the Family Research Council has issued a lengthy refutation of the charges against them. Amongst those is the claim that they've never said that all homosexuals are inherently prone to pedophilia, only that child molestation occurs at a higher rate among gay men.

That claim has been refuted by numerous social scientists and researchers. As we well know, male-on-male molestation is frequently committed by self-identified heterosexuals who are often in so-called traditional marriages. Jerry Sandusky, an avowed Christian and married father, is just one such example. And yet:

FRC has never said, and does not believe, that most homosexuals are child molesters. However, it is undisputed that the percentage of child sex abuse cases that are male-on-male is far higher than the percentage of adult males who are homosexual. This suggests that male homosexuality is a risk factor for child sexual abuse. Homosexual activists argue that men who molest boys are not actually "homosexual;" but scholarly evidence undermines that claim. It also cannot be disputed that there is a sub-culture within the homosexual movement that advocates "intergenerational" sexual relationships. FRC's writings on this topic--unlike the SPLC's--have been carefully documented with references to the original scholarly literature.

The FRC also claims that it does not seek to re-criminalize homosexuality in the United States, despite the 2010 nationally televised declaration by FRC vice president Peter Sprigg that gay sex acts "should be outlawed." That infamous statement is all MSNBC host Christ Matthews' fault!

FRC has made no effort to reinstate sodomy laws since the U.S. Supreme Court struck them down in the 2003 case of Lawrence v. Texas. In a 2010 interview on a different topic, the question of whether we should "outlaw gay behavior" in U.S. civil law was raised not by an FRC spokesman, but by MSNBC's Chris Matthews. The spokesman affirmed that FRC (like three Supreme Court justices) believed Lawrence was wrongly decided; but the interview left some viewers with the mistaken impression that "re-criminalizing" homosexuality is a policy goal for FRC. It is not.

They believe it was "wrongly decided" and that homosexuality should have remained illegal. But they're not actively working on putting you in prison. How very evolved and not at all hateful.

The FRC's statement also continues their lie that they did not oppose the U.S. House resolution that would have denounced Uganda's "kill the gays" bill. That particular lie has been well-exposed here on JMG. Once again, here's the long-deleted radio address by FRC president Tony Perkins in which he denounces President Obama for opposing Uganda's plan to execute homosexuals:

Does civility require the acceptance of all behavior? Hello, I am Tony Perkins with the Family Research Council. At the recent National Prayer Breakfast, President Obama took the podium calling for greater civility in Washington, which in my opinion is a laudable goal. However, his comments quickly turned to his preoccupation with defending homosexuality. The President criticized Ugandan leaders for considering enhance penalties for crimes related to homosexuality. The press has widely mischaracterized the law which calls for the death penalty, not for homosexual behavior which is already a crime, but for acts such as intentionally spreading HIV/AIDS, or preying upon vulnerable individuals such as children, which has been a problem in Uganda for years because the large number of orphans. The President said that "We may disagree about gay marriage, "but surely we can agree that it is unconscionable to target gays and lesbians for who they are." Mr. President as long as you characterize efforts to uphold moral conduct that protects others and in particular the most vulnerable, as attacking people, civility will continue to evade us.

Right Wing Watch has thoroughly debunked the FRC's lie that Uganda's bill would "only" call for executing gay men for the "intentional spread" of HIV. Hit that link and then come back and re-read what Perkins said about how Uganda's bill "upholds moral conduct."

In summary, the Family Research Council has a years-long history of repulsive lies about LGBT Americans. And now they're lying about their lies. Nothing new here at all.

FLASHBACK: Federal Election Commission Fines Campaign Tony Perkins Managed For Payment To KKK Grand Wizard David Duke

Read the entire ruling. The FEC originally fined the campaign $82,600, the same amount of the payment to David Duke, but the fine was reduced after mediation. The fine, it should be noted, was for attempting to cloak the payment on federally required campaign expenditure forms. It is not against the rules to buy mailing lists from the KKK or anybody else. You just have to say you did.

FRC President Tony Perkins Supported Former KKK Leader David Duke And Louisiana's White Supremacists

I've mentioned this many times before, but it's certainly worth mentioning again this week. From an SPLC article I've excerpted here before:

In 1996, while managing the U.S. Senate campaign of Woody Jenkins against Mary Landrieu, Perkins paid $82,500 to use the mailing list of former Klan chieftain David Duke. The campaign was fined $3,000 (reduced from $82,500) after Perkins and Jenkins filed false disclosure forms in a bid to hide their link to Duke. Five years later, on May 17, 2001, Perkins gave a speech to the Louisiana chapter of the Council of Conservative Citizens (CCC), a white supremacist group that has described black people as a “retrograde species of humanity.” Perkins claimed not to know the group’s ideology at the time, but it had been widely publicized in Louisiana and the nation, because in 1999 — two years before Perkins’ speech to the CCC — Republican House Speaker Trent Lott had been embroiled in a national scandal over his ties to the group. GOP chairman Jim Nicholson then urged Republicans to avoid the CCC because of its “racist views.” The Duke incident surfaced again in local press in 2002, when Perkins ran for the Republican nomination for the Senate, dooming his campaign to a fourth-place finish in the primaries.

From the Council Of Conservative Citizen's statement of principles:

We believe in the traditional family as the basic unit of human society and morality, and we oppose all efforts by the state and other powers to weaken the structure of the American family through toleration of sexual licentiousness, homosexuality and other perversions, mixture of the races, pornography in all forms, and subversion of the authority of parents.

Bolding is motherfucking mine. Not one cable news network or mainstream newspaper has mentioned Perkins' racist past since the FRC shooting.

UPDATE: Here is a PDF of the Federal Election Commission ruling that FRC president Tony Perkins violated campaign expenditure disclosure law when he tried to hide his payment to KKK Grand Wizard David Duke.

White Supremacist Kevin DeAnna Writes World Net Daily Article Supporting FRC

Failing to mention that he himself founded a white supremacist group, former Youth For Western Civilization president Kevin DeAnna has authored a World Net Daily article in support of the Family Research Council.

In a press conference in front of the council’s Washington headquarters, Perkins thanked political opponents who expressed their condolences after the attack by a man who had been volunteering at an LGBT center. But the FRC chief challenged them “to go a step further.” He also asked organizations that condemned the violence to “call for an end to the reckless rhetoric that I believe” led to the shooting. Perkins identified the Southern Poverty Law Center as responsible for the atmosphere, stating that it gave suspected gunman Floyd Lee Corkins “a license to shoot.” When challenged by reporters, Perkins expanded on his remarks and claimed that the SPLC’s designation of the Family Research Council as a “certified hate group … marginalizes individuals and organizations letting people feel free to go and do bodily harm to innocent people who are simply working and representing folks from all across this country.”

Last year a representative for Youth For Western Civilization joined a march of German nationalists and neo-Nazis.

Also represented was a small but growing nonprofit U.S. organization called Youth for Western Civilization. The group, which bills itself as "America's right-wing youth movement," bannered a photo of the Cologne rally on its website this week, accompanying an account that declared that "we will not falter nor fail in our attempt for the defense of the Western homeland." Youth for Western Civilization, which has chapters at only about 10 U.S. campuses, is just one of hundreds of conservative student organizations around the nation, far smaller than better-known college-based groups like Young Americans for Freedom and College Republicans. But its influence is bigger than its size, drawing the attention of large numbers of admirers — and critics — since it began organizing three years ago. Thanks to its discipline in advocating a small number of simply stated positions and a new-media-savvy communications strategy, YWC may be radically refreshing the template for political organizing in American higher education.

The Family Research Council and neo-Nazis are birds of a feather as Tony Perkins has twice spoken before a Louisiana white supremacy group that lists an end to "race mixing" among its "statement of principles."

Anti-Gay Group Responds To FRC Shooting With Request To Sign Anti-Gay Pledge

Backers of the Manhattan Declaration have issued a press release about the FRC shooting. The message closes by asking for more signatures on their anti-gay pledge, whose signees vow to disobey any laws that protect LGBT Americans.

Today, the news broke of a shooting at the Family Research Council, a think tank in Washington, D.C. that promotes faith, family, and freedom. The FRC has been a friend of the Manhattan Declaration from our very first day. Though the details remain unclear, it seems a security guard prevented the shooter from venturing beyond the lobby. At some point in the intervention, he was shot. Initial reports are that the guard will be okay. Such heroic action warrants a thanks beyond mere words. But, for now, words will suffice. Thank you for your bravery, Leo. And for the part you play in the pursuit of a more free, more faithful nation. Sign the Declaration.

The Manhattan Declaration was launched in 2009 and was co-authored by late anti-gay activist Chuck Colson. To date it has over 530,000 signatures. Among those signees is FRC president Tony Perkins. Below is an excerpt:

Because we honor justice and the common good, we will not comply with any edict that purports to compel our institutions to participate in abortions, embryo-destructive research, assisted suicide and euthanasia, or any other anti-life act; nor will we bend to any rule purporting to force us to bless immoral sexual partnerships, treat them as marriages or the equivalent, or refrain from proclaiming the truth, as we know it, about morality and immorality and marriage and the family. We will fully and ungrudgingly render to Caesar what is Caesar's. But under no circumstances will we render to Caesar what is God's.

Gays Hate Chikin AND Cake

"America bit back on Chick-fil-A, and now a cake shop in Colorado is getting a slice of the action. If Jack Phillips's name sounds familiar, it's because the media tried to twist the knife on the local baker for turning down a same-sex 'wedding' order. According to reports, the couple shouted profanity, offered a choice gesture, and stormed out. Later that day, the couple tried to smear the local businessman on Facebook. But if they thought that would frighten off Jack, they were mistaken. 'We would close down that bakery before we closed our beliefs,' Phillips told reporters. Like the 'tolerant' mobs who vandalized Chick-fil-As, some activists are advocating violence against the 20-year-old shop. But the strategy to silence and intimidate is backfiring for this small minority. Thanks to a few outspoken mayors, Americans are catching on to what's really at stake--and it isn't 'equality!' Free speech, enterprise, and worship are all at risk." - Hate group leader and KKK supporter Tony Perkins, via email blast.

OOH. Those queens stormed out and THEN they said something on Facebook! Why, that's just like sitting fire to the front lawn of a major national corporation!

FRC's Fail Bus Is Back

Values Voters Summit 2012

All the major wingnuts and hate groups will attend.

Today In Lying Liars Who Lie

Perkins knows well that those names are Maryland public records and that all the Washington Blade did was post a link to the state-provided PDF. But you can bet that the OUTRAGED the money will roll in.

FRC: The Muppets Are Leftists

Tony Perkins: Google Is Terrible For Not Remaining Socially Neutral

"Thanks to a new campaign, Google's approach to traditional values is to search—and destroy. The web giant just kicked off a worldwide push called 'Legalize Love,' aimed at breaking down the barriers to homosexuality around the globe. Their biggest targets? Countries that have moral objections to same-sex relationships. [snip] After watching Target and J.C. Penney take a financial hit after endorsing same-sex marriage, Google should know better. They can push to 'Legalize Love,' but they shouldn't be surprised by the blow back. Because when it comes to Google, political neutrality is what most users are searching for." - Tony Perkins, speaking on the AFA's national radio show. (Via Right Wing Watch)

Tony Perkins: Chick-Fil-A Is Fantastic For Not Remaining Socially Neutral

"Last week, Chick-fil-A's CEO Dan Cathy told the Baptist Press of his company's steadfast support for marriage and family. This simple affirmation of biblical truth has sent homosexual activists into a frenzy. Chick-fil-A may be a private company, but that doesn't mean its executives have to surrender their beliefs. Under the First Amendment, they are just as entitled as any American to speak publicly about their views. Those of us who share Chick-fil-A's commitment to the biblical definition of the family need to show them that we stand with them (whether or not we're chicken connoisseurs!). Please join thousands of others and 'Like' our Facebook post supporting Chick-fil-A's stand. Leave a comment in support, or share the post on your page. Join FRC and eat at Chick-fil-A on Wednesday, August 1 for Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day - an effort started by Gov. Mike Huckabee to show that Americans stand with them." - Tony Perkins, in an email blast to AFA members.

FRC Slams Eric Cantor's Call For GOP Tolerance On LGBT Rights Issues

The Family Research Council is the first hate group out of the gate to slam House Majority Leader Eric Cantor's call for GOP tolerance on LGBT rights issues.

This misguided tolerance leads both political parties to embrace H.R. 6019, legislation introduced by Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (R-Texas) (ironically one of the biggest bullies in Congress) that seeks to continue a slush fund at the Justice Department by federalizing “bullying.” This bill would very likely fund the Dan Savages of the world to go after the Dan Cathy’s of the world. That isn’t tolerance – that is taxpayer-funded culturcide. It is Rep. Cantor remarks on his own party though that seems to indicate it is the wrong kind of tolerance he is supporting. A party needs to stand for something or it stands for nothing. Is Rep. Cantor saying that if a Member of Congress was an avowed socialist they would embrace them? One would hope not. Party platforms need to mean something and should be guidelines for anyone wishing to join or work for that party. If your ideas and stances are good ones and you are consistent in your beliefs people will embrace you – otherwise your majority will go away even quicker then the last one did.

That didn't take long, did it?

FRC Cheers Chick-Fil-A

Hate Groups Cheer Boy Scouts

Family Research Council

They deserve a major pat on the back. They have defied the winds of political correctness and have said 'no' to a culture that wants us to accept as normative a pattern of sexual behavior which clearly violates God's intended design for men and women.

Concerned Women For America

[The CWA] strongly supports the rights of the Boy Scouts of America to set policy for their own organization. They've made the determination that it's best for their organization and for the kids involved to exclude homosexual leaders, and we believe they have both the legal right and the moral right to make that decision.

American Family Association

AFA radio host Bryan Fischer claims that the Boy Scouts personally reached out to him in advance of the decision to let him know that the ban would stay in place and he could "call off the dogs." Clip via Good As You.

FRC: Obama Loves Gays And Abortion