Heritage Foundation Expands In DC

From today's money beg:

The Heritage Foundation is vastly expanding our presence in Washington D.C. — the belly of the beast. Our headquarters in the heart of Washington, D.C. is just two city blocks from the Senate offices, three city blocks from the Capitol building, and three city blocks from the House offices. It’s from this base that we will wage a policy war with the Left and the Establishment at very close range. In politics, proximity matters. That’s why our physical presence is key and that’s why expansion is critical to future conservative victories. In short, the Freedom Center will be a beachhead from which we can advance your principles in Washington from inescapably close range. And that’s why a generous donor has offered to match every gift to this campaign, dollar for dollar. That is why we must meet our $1 million goal by August 18 to build The Heritage Foundation Freedom Center—the physical epicenter of the conservative movement in America. These funds will be used to jump-start this critical project to secure our movement’s future. And thanks to a generous Heritage supporter, your gift by August 18 to restore liberty in our nation’s capital will be doubled.

The Heritage Foundation was co-founded in 1973 by late Coors Brewing president Joseph Coors. In January 2013 Jim DeMint resigned from the US Senate to become their president. According to their 2014 financial report, they had over $261 million in assets.

Ryan Anderson Backs FADA

"The First Amendment Defense Act would prevent the federal government from discriminating against any citizen or organization because they believe marriage is the union of husband and wife. It would ensure that no federal agency will ever revoke non-profit tax-exempt status or deny grants, contracts, accreditation, or licenses to individuals or institutions for following their belief that marriage is a union between a man and a woman. This bill simply continues the practice of the United States for all of our history. It takes nothing away from anyone. It changes nothing. It protects pluralism amid disagreement. America is in a time of transition. The court has redefined marriage, and beliefs about human sexuality are changing. Will the right to dissent be protected? Will our right to speak and act in accord with what Americans have always believed about marriage — that it’s a union of husband and wife — be tolerated?" - Ryan T. Anderson, writing for the National Review. Anderson's piece also denounces the Equality Act because of course.

Ryan T. Anderson: The Book

The new book by Heritage Foundation spokes-hater Ryan T. Anderson has launched on Amazon. From the product recap:

Attacks on religious liberty--predicated on the bogus equation of opposition to same-sex marriage with racism--have already begun, and modest efforts in Indiana and other states to protect believers' rights have met with hysterics from media and corporate elites. Anderson tells the stories of innocent citizens who have been coerced and penalized by the government and offers a strategy to protect the natural right of religious liberty. Anderson reports on the latest research on same-sex parenting, filling it out with the testimony of children raised by gays and lesbians. He closes with a comprehensive roadmap on how to rebuild a culture of marriage, with work to be done by everyone. The nation's leading defender of marriage in the media and on university campuses, Ryan Anderson has produced the must-read manual on where to go from here. There are reasonable and compelling arguments for the truth about marriage, but too many of our neighbors haven't heard them. Truth is never on "the wrong side of history," but we have to make the case. We will decide which side of history we are on.

We presume that one of the "children raised by gays" is infamous crackpot Robert Oscar Lopez. The book is endorsed by NOM founder Robert George, Southern Baptists leader Russell Moore, and megachurch Pastor Rick Warren. Even though the book just launched today, it's already gotten a couple of gushing five-star reviews. (Tipped by JMG reader Christopher)

Ryan Anderson Celebrates Hate Bills

Anderson writes for the Heritage Foundation:

Earlier today, the North Carolina House voted to override the veto of S.B. 2, a bill that protects the religious liberty of civil servants in that state. Because the Senate had already voted to override the veto as well, the bill is now law. This is good public policy, and it is a shame that it was vetoed in the first place. The law will now protect magistrates who object to performing solemnizing ceremonies for same-sex marriages and clerks who object to issuing same-sex marriage licenses. It also makes clear that no one can be denied a marriage license, but magistrates or clerks could recuse themselves from the process behind the scenes should they have sincere objections to same-sex marriage. So it’s a win-win for everyone. No one loses anything. After all, government employees have rights, and those rights should be protected. Had this bill not become law, magistrates and clerks who decline to take part in same-sex marriages could have been removed from office, and “shall” be guilty of a crime that is punishable by up to 120 days in jail.

Ryan T. Anderson: Gay Marriage "Mess" Started With Legalizing Contraception

GoFundMe Clarifies Policy: You Can't Raise Money In Defense Of Discriminatory Acts

Last week GoFundMe yanked the fundraising page for Oregon's Sweet Cakes bakery after complaints that the money beg was in violation of their posted ban on "campaigns in defense of formal charges or claims of heinous crimes, violent, hateful, sexual acts." The cancellation spawned immediately outrage across Teabagistan and many calls for a boycott of GoFundMe. Today the crowdfunding site clarifies its policy to explicitly ban campaigns to support those charged with "discriminatory acts."

Today we’re updating our terms to help address some confusion around how GoFundMe goes about reviewing campaigns and deciding what will be permitted on our platform. Specifically, we would like to clarify that GoFundMe relies on information from law enforcement and government agencies to help determine what actions our team will take regarding questionable campaigns. We would also like to acknowledge that while we cannot conduct in-depth investigations on every campaign that is created, we do reserve the right to act on pertinent information as it becomes available to us. GoFundMe will not allow campaigns that benefit individuals or groups facing formal charges or claims of serious violations of the law. The amended term can be found under the ‘What’s Not Allowed’ section of our terms. We are also informing users that GoFundMe reserves the right to share the content from a deleted campaign with law enforcement, donors or stated beneficiaries who wish to file a police report about any misuse of fundraising proceeds.

The new banning language: "Campaigns in defense of formal charges or claims of heinous crimes, violent, hateful, sexual or discriminatory acts." The Heritage Foundation and Alliance Defending Freedom are ever so pissed:

The difference in the wording of the policy is significant because neither the Christian bakers—Aaron and Melissa Klein—nor the Washington florist who also had her account shut down broke any criminal laws. Instead, both businesses were found guilty of violating civil anti-discrimination laws. “GoFundMe has the freedom to make their own policies and do business with whom they choose. That’s what makes it so ironic and hypocritical that GoFundMe has done the bidding of a movement that wages war against this same freedom,” Greg Scott, a spokesman for Alliance Defending Freedom, a legal organization that assists in cases like the Kleins, told The Daily Signal. "GoFundMe has facilitated fundraising for inane things like sending a man to a stranger’s bachelor party, but have now cut off families who face financial ruin and who’ve had their fundamental freedoms obliterated by unjust government action. If there is a better example of a company and culture with its priorities and loyalties completely upside down, I can’t think of it."

Before the page was yanked supporters of Sweet Cakes had raised $114K. It appears that the bakery will still get that money.

Heritage Foundation Vs GoFundMe

Yesterday the Heritage Foundation questioned demonstrators outside the Supreme Court, asking their opinion about GoFundMe's cancellation of the fundraising page of the Oregon bakers. They write:

Why does GoFundMe, a crowdsourcing website that raises money for a variety of personal causes and life events, get to choose who they do business with, but the owners of Sweet Cakes by Melissa do not? After GoFundMe shut down a campaign set up for Aaron and Melissa Klein, bakery owners who were fined $135,000 by the state of Oregon for refusing to make a cake for a lesbian wedding, The Daily Signal posed that question to people in the nation’s capitol. Standing outside the U.S. Supreme Court as the nine justices heard oral arguments over a high-stakes gay marriage case, advocates on both sides of the debate reacted to GoFundMe’s controversial decision.

Nobody gets the answer right.

Ryan T. Anderson: We're Gonna Win

Anderson writes for the Heritage Foundation:

Oral arguments at the Supreme Court today were fascinating. Over two and a half hours of discussion about whether the Constitution requires all 50 states to treat same-sex relationships as marriages highlighted one essential truth: There are good policy arguments on both sides of the marriage debate and the Constitution doesn’t take sides in it.

Even Justice Stephen Breyer got in on the act, noting that marriage understood as the union of a man and a woman “has been the law everywhere for thousands of years among people who were not discriminating even against gay people, and suddenly you want nine people outside the ballot box to require states that don’t want to do it to change … what marriage is to include gay people.”

He concluded: “Why cannot those states at least wait and see whether in fact doing so in the other states is or is not harmful to marriage?” Even Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who asked the first question, noted that the Supreme Court’s decision from just two years ago seems to suggest that states have the authority to make marriage policy: “What do you do with the Windsor case where the court stressed the federal government’s historic deference to states when it comes to matters of domestic relations?”

Indeed, the lawyers defending the state laws highlighted how the Supreme Court’s ruling just two years ago on the federal Defense of Marriage Act hinged on the fact that states have constitutional authority to make marriage policy. If the Court is to be consistent with its marriage ruling from just two years ago, then the Court must uphold state marriage laws defining marriage as the union of husband and wife. Nothing in the Constitution requires all 50 states to redefine marriage.

Earlier today Anderson boasted that it sounded like the justices have read his anti-gay marriage book.

Heritage Foundation On Oregon Bakers

Following last week's recommended $135K fine by an Oregon administrative agency, the Heritage Foundation has rushed out the below sob story of the Oregon bakers. At the end of the clip you'll see man-on-the-street interviews which include some who support the fine.

Former GOP Sen. Jim DeMint: Please Attend NOM's Marriage Hate March

Talk about last minute.

Quote Of The Day - Ryan T. Anderson

"For the past generation, there have been a bunch of lies told in the public schools and in the media, lots of propaganda, but propaganda can’t win in the long run. In the long-run, the truth wins out. In the same way when there were some racists who tried to say that you can’t have interracial marriage, that was propaganda, it was a lie, and it failed. In the same way, trying to eliminate that marriage is about uniting the two halves of humanity, not black and white, because that’s not the two halves of humanity, the two halves of humanity, male and female, husband and wife, mom and dad, you can’t erase that, and in the long run the truth will win out." - Heritage Foundation spokesdouche Ryan T. Anderson.

RELATED: Right Wing Watch points out that the Heritage Foundation is a big fan of the late Sen. Jesse Helms, who got his political start by denouncing interracial marriage.

MSNBC: Ed Shultz Battles Hater Ryan Anderson, Cuts Off His Microphone

Ed Schultz smacked down Heritage Foundation hater Ryan Anderson last night. Here's the setup:

Schultz pointed to the hypothetical of a gay couple being turned away from a restaurant because of the owner’s beliefs, but Anderson shot back that conservatives don’t actually believe that and accused Schultz of “demagoguing.” They kept fighting after Schultz took a shot at Governor Mike Pence over his personal views on gay people. Anderson said, “You just kept slandering the governor!” Schultz fired back, “I’m not gonna let you filibuster.” When Anderson kept going, Schultz shouted, “Cut his mic off!… We’ll bring him back if he wants to be courteous!” Minutes later Schultz brought Anderson back into the conversation, and he maintained his belief that Pence is a homophobe. Anderson accused him of “name-calling” but Schultz brushed him aside. Schultz concluded by saying, “I apologize for the guy from The Heritage Foundation who can’t have a civil conversation.”

SCOTUS Justice Clarence Thomas Hobnobs With Anti-Gay Activists And Must Recuse Himself From Marriage Case

Yesterday Heritage Foundation staffer and anti-gay marriage activist Ryan T. Anderson posted the above photo of himself, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, and former NOM chairman Robert George, who wrote the Manhattan Declaration, whose signees avow that they will disobey (somehow) the legalization of same-sex marriage. Using hate group logic, Thomas must now recuse himself from the coming marriage case before his court. 

RELATED: Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia must also recuse himself, as last summer he was the keynote speaker at an event organized by anti-gay marriage activist and Catholic Bishop Paul Loverde, who helped spearhead Virginia's battle against same-sex marriage.

Ryan Anderson On SCOTUS Decision

"Millions of citizens in these four states went to the polls and voted about the definition of marriage for state law. The majority of citizens in each state voted that the law should continue to recognize marriage as the union of a man and a woman. And last November, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled that these laws do not violate the U.S. Constitution. The Supreme Court should rule likewise. There are two central questions in the broader debate: What is marriage? And who gets to decide? The people and their elected representatives should deliberate and vote about marriage policy—not unelected judges—and they should make policy that serves the common good by reflecting the truth that marriage is the union of a man and woman. The Supreme Court should not usurp the authority of the American people to discuss, debate and make marriage policy." - Ryan Anderson, writing for the Heritage Foundation.

Wut

Heritage Foundation Wonk Ryan Anderson Has The Public Accommodations Sadz

 Anderson is extremely upset about the fine levied against that upstate New York wedding venue.

Facebook Meme Of The Day

Source.

Heritage Foundation: We Won't Give Up On Fighting Against Same-Sex Marriage

"In the media's portrayal, people defending marriage as the union of a man and woman have been getting routed ever since the Supreme Court decision last June — if not before. They point to a string of lower-court rulings striking down state marriage amendments and to public opinion polling, especially of my peers in the Millennial generation. Many also point to the forced resignation of Brendan Eich and the defeat of Arizona's religious-liberty bill. Some people would like me and the millions of Americans who continue to believe that marriage is what societies have believed it to be throughout human history — a male-female union — to get with the program and accept the inevitable. We're clearly, they tell us, on the Wrong Side of History. But we should avoid the temptation to prognosticate about the future in lieu of working to shape that future. We are citizens in a self-governing society, not pundits watching a spectator sport, not subjects of rulers." - Heritage Foundation wonk Ryan T. Anderson, in the opening to a zillion-word essay just published in its entirety on NOM's blog.

Brian Brown adds this note: "I urge you to read this excellent piece right away, and then share it far and wide — via email, on Facebook and Twitter, and however else you can. Print some copies and hand them out to friends, if you like! We need as many people to read this piece as possible today! Thanks to Ryan for his heroic wisdom and leadership!"

RELATED: Anderson has testified against LGBT rights before state legislatures.

Ed Shultz Slams Right Wing Talkers For Earning Millions From Conservative Groups

VIRGINIA: Haters File 21 Marriage Ban Defense Briefs With Fourth Circuit Court

Twenty-one amicus briefs were filed yesterday with the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in defense of Virginia's ban on same-sex marriage. The briefs were filed on behalf of the usual axis of evil: the Concernstipated Women, the Liberty Counsel, Phyllis Schlafy's Eagle Forum, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, the Mormon Church, the Southern Baptists Convention, the Heritage Foundation, the Virginia Catholic Conference, David Barton's WallBuilders, the Family Research Council, the North Carolina Values Coalition, and the (completely fake) American College of Pediatrics. Also filing briefs are the states of West Virginia and Indiana.

Individuals filing briefs include former NOM chairman Robert George and nutbag homocon Voldemort horcrux Robert Oscar Lopez, who claims that authorities are too afraid of the gay mafia to investigate reports of molestation by gay parents.

Another of the individual filings is from some crackpot named David Boyle who argues, among other deranged claims, that gay people should not be allowed to marry because there was this one time when a lesbian died from "vaginal fisting." Seriously. Equality Case Files has posted all of the briefs at the first link. There's surely nothing worth worrying about in any of them since these are pretty much all the same dirtbags who have lost everywhere else. But if you want to amuse yourself, dig into the briefs and recap what you find in the comments. A better way to waste your Saturday, of course, would be to commit some delicious deviant sodomy. But hey, it's your weekend.