Christian Anti-Defamation Commission defends exorcists and hate groups from the 'scary gays'

Now that President Obama has signed lgbt-inclusive hate crimes legislation, every wannabe religious right activist with access to a computer and someone dumb enough to fund them is coming out of the woodwork looking to profit on the supposed coming persecution of Christians by the lgbt community.

Last night, Pam Spaulding clued me in on the following from Gary Cass and the Christian Anti-Defamation Commission:

"In other nations, like Canada, where hate crime laws have been enacted, it is Christians, specifically conservative Christians who hold to the historic Christian faith and it's values, that become the object of institutionalized, governmental hate."


"Christians who dare to tell the truth about the social, moral, spiritual and health consequences of illicit homosexual acts are accused of hate speech and intimidated into silence with threats of fines or jail."


"The fact the hate bill had to be passed in such an unscrupulous and cynical manner (attaching it to the Defense Authorization Act) reveals the depth of President Obama's commitment to a radical, anti-Christian agenda. He will stop at nothing to undermine the will of the majority of Americans to pay back militant homosexual activists who raised millions of dollars for his campaign and worked to get him elected."

So the Christian Anti-Defamation Commission is claiming that Christians will be under siege thanks to President Obama signing hate crimes legislation.

Now this factoid has been refuted continuously, so there is no need to go over it again.

I would prefer to show you just exactly who does the Christian Anti-Defamation Commission feels would need defending from so-called persecution.

Remember the controversy earlier this year about the church in Connecticut, Manifested Glory Ministries, which attempted to exorcise a young teen from the "spirit of homosexuality?"



Guess who went on record defending this vile act?

The Christian Anti-Defamation Commission:

CADC wants to know where is the tolerance for a church who tried to help a young man who freely asked for help to overcome homosexual temptations? No church deserves to be maligned for trying to help a troubled teen who asked for prayer.

Why are homosexuals so outraged?

And then there the group's statement defending those 11 groups who have been referred to as official anti-gay hate groups by the Southern Poverty Law Center:

The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), a liberal pro-homosexual legal group, has compiled a list of “hate groups” throughout America. According to their latest list of 926 hate groups, if you advocate for biblical righteousness you are lumped together with violent neo-Nazis and skinheads. This is slanderous on its face.


Fine Christian groups that work hard to protect biblical marriage have been demonized on the SPLC list. The only reason Christian organizations are labeled hate groups is because of their stance on traditional marriage, as defined in the Bible. There is absolutely nothing hateful about this. In fact, the opposite is true. If you will not speak the truth to those lost in homosexuality, or in any other sin, you are unloving.

Here are just two of those "loving" groups:

The Family Research Institute - that is the organization run by discredited researcher Paul Cameron.

We all know Paul Cameron. He is the guy who has been censured by individuals and groups from diverse backgrounds including the American Psychological Association, The American Sociological Association, conservative leader Williams Bennett, and anti-gay group Exodus International.

He is the guy who makes up stories about gay men castrating children in bathrooms.

He is the guy who publishes phony studies claiming, amongst other things, that gay men eat feces.

He is the guy who said the following:

“If you isolate sexuality as something solely for one’s own personal amusement, and all you want is the most satisfying orgasm you can get—and that is what homosexuality seems to be—then homosexuality seems too powerful to resist. The evidence is that men do a better job on men, and women on women if all you are looking for is an orgasm.” - Rolling Stones magazine, March 18, 1999

Then there is Abiding Truth Ministries - that is the group founded by Scott Lively. He is the guy who wrote that fradulent book The Pink Swastika which connects the gay community to the Nazi party; the book that has been repeatedly discredited.

If these three groups (Manifested Glory Church, The Family Research Institute, and Abiding Truth Ministries) are the examples of Christians needing protection from the lgbt community by the Christian Anti-Defamation Commission, then I have one question.

Who is going to protect the lgbt community from the Christian Anti-Defamation Commission?

Related posts and articles:

'Christian' organization doesn't know the difference between a pro-family group and a hate group

Who's crazier? The church that tries to 'exorcise' homosexuality or those who would defend it?

'A Mighty Army' Page 4

Queer Science

The Holy War on Gays

Making Myths

They came, they protested, they got ignored: Anti-hate crimes legislation rally a huge disaster

Gary Cass and his Christian Anti-Defamation Commission held their protest against lgbt inclusive hate crimes legislation yesterday and I think it's safe to say that despite the hype and the myriad other organizations and personalities involved, including Harry Jackson, Rick Scarborough, Janet Porter* (seen here above pushing her silly book), Matt Barber, etc., it stunk worse than a Southern kitchen after a pot of chitterlings cooking on the stove.

People for the American Way's Religious Right Watch said the following:

Sure, we heard many of the Religious Right’s standard lies about the hate crimes bill being an effort to silence Christians, and, of course, Janet Porter waving her book about “the criminalization of Christianity.” We heard the inflammatory and inaccurate characterization of the bill as the “Pedophile Protection Act.” We heard from a Philadelphia grandmother with Repent America who in the Right’s inaccurate retelling, was arrested only for sharing the gospel with attendees at a gay pride event. We heard essentially irrelevant examples of anti-gay preachers being suppressed in other countries which don’t have the First Amendment protections Americans enjoy. And we heard some preaching that God and the Bible say homosexuality is wrong. In other words, we heard standard and typically false Religious Right talking points about the hate crimes law, and a bit of standard anti-gay theology that is unquestionably protected by the First Amendment.

But there was nothing that anyone could remotely consider incitement to a hate crime, and nothing that even these speakers could say with a straight face had any chance of getting them arrested. Even Matt Barber, who typically does not shy away from disparaging comments about gay people and their supporters, gave a relatively dry recitation of the Liberty Counsel’s assertions that the law is unconstitutional.

So, what happened? Did these culture warriors essentially chicken out? Did they feel outnumbered? In spite of the event being billed as a “rally,” the number of speakers gathered behind the microphone seemed to outnumber the number of people attending in support of their message. The “love is legit” folks had the most visible presence. Maybe the organizers just figured out that a “we love the homosexuals” message would play better than “God wants them dead.

Damn, I'm disappointed. Not even Focus on the Family could make this rally seem better than it was. Although  Cass, tried to make a diamond out of the pile of manure he helped to create. Check out his sleight of hand statement:

Gary Cass, president and CEO of the Christian Anti-Defamation Commission, said pastors who preach from the Bible could be held accountable if someone hears their sermon and then commits a crime against a gay-identified individual.

"It puts the burden on the minister to have to read the minds of the people that are listening to him and be able to predict the future," he said. "It has a very chilling effect on the minister's speech, because the safest thing is to just say nothing."


Nice trick. Pathetic but nice. I was under the impression that the narrative was that pastors would be arrested for preaching that homosexuality is a sin, period.

I noticed that Peter LaBarbera wasn't invited. Maybe he should have been. You think he would have brought pictures from Folsom Street Fair?

Seriously, this is a huge victory for our side and we really didn't have to do anything but not get in the way when Cass and his cohorts shot themselves in the foot.

If only the entire fight for lgbt equality was as easy as this.

* Just wanted to add another point that I couldn't fit into this piece regarding Janet Porter. How ironic is it that she wrote a book talking about the "criminalization of Christianity," when in 1988 when she was Janet Folger, she supported sodomy laws, which in essence criminalized gays for private behavior. So among her other "qualities," (i.e. paranoia, eagerness to engage in hyperbole and distortion tactics), one can put hypocrisy on her scorecard.

Related posts:

Let the Christian Anti-Defamation Commission wallow in the filth of its own ignorance

Christian Anti-Defamation Commission defends exorcists and hate groups from the 'scary gays'

Just who is bashing who, Christian Anti-Defamation Commission?

From the Christian Newswire comes a press release from the Christian Anti-Defamation Commission on what they think are the top instances of "Christian Bashing" in 2008.

My first thought is it's amazing how religious right groups come up with some new organization with an official sounding name.

My second, after reading the list, is they have got to be kidding. Their definition of bashing has less to do with discrimination and more to do with people questioning their definition of Christianity:

INSTANCE #6: Religulous the Movie
Bill Maher released a very shallow, pseudo-intellectual documentary entitled Religulous. The movie did not cover any new intellectual ground. It simply raised the old attacks on the faith. Maher studiously avoided being fair and did not allow for legitimate Christian answers from any leading Christian intellectuals.

or some sports anchor letting loose with a stream of profanities (the example they list here is vulgar but could someone explain to me how this is "bashing"):

INSTANCE #8: ESPN Anchor Dana Jacobson's "F--- Jesus" Remark
Speaking at an ESPN corporate event in Atlantic City, N.J., to honor ESPN Radio personalities Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic, Dana Jacobson let go with a steam of vulgar remarks; "F--- Notre Dame," "F--- Touchdown Jesus" and finally "F--- Jesus." Jacobson was suspended for a few days for the incident.

or someone daring to tell them that in an pluralistic society, they have to respect the fact that the Christian faith does not take always precedent:

INSTANCE #5: Chaplains Fired for Praying in Jesus' Name
Chaplains for the State of Virginia are being denied their right to pray in Jesus' name. Six chaplains were fired for continuing to pray in Jesus' name. Earlier this year in Virginia, Rev. Hashmel Turner, a city councilman in Fredericksburg, was told by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that his prayers during city council meetings that ended in Jesus' name will continue to be banned.

or lies:

INSTANCE #4: Colorado Law Criminalizes the Bible
SB200, a Colorado state bill recently signed into law, criminalizes the Bible. Section 8 of the bill entitled "Publishing of discriminative matter forbidden" makes publishing the Bible illegal because it contains anti-homosexual passages. This is part of a larger effort to criminalize the expression of certain opinions and beliefs.

The law mentioned here has nothing to do with the Bible except in the mind of someone with a wild imagination who likes to play games with hypothetics.

INSTANCE #2: Vice Presidential Candidate Sarah Palin Is Attacked
Alaska Governor, Sarah Palin, came under sharp attack by some in the mainstream media because she self-identifies as a Christian.

Palin was not attacked for being a Christian. Her lack of readiness for the vice-presidential position was her downfall, pure and simple. Also her eagerness to use inaccuracies to attack Obama - "palling around with terrorists" and how it led her to being such a polarizing figure had a lot to do with her lack of a positive image.

And this next one is a doozy:

INSTANCE #3: Barack Obama Defames Christianity
According to research into President Elect Obama's own statements about faith, and an examination of Obama's position on moral issues, CADC has determined that by any biblical and historic Christian standard, Barack Obama is not a Christian, although he claims he is a "devout Christian."

So this organization is "bashing" a Christian while complaining about "Christian bashing."

My head is spinning.

It is apparent that the Christian Anti-Defamation Commission is a phony organization not designed to protect the rights of Christians but created to be another cog in the religious right machine of entitlements.

Let the Christian Anti-Defamation Commission wallow in the filth of its own ignorance

Next week, there will be a "challenge" to the new lgbt-inclusive hate crimes bill recently signed by President Obama. The "challenge" is being led by the Christian Anti-Defamation Commission:

On November 16th, CADC, along with other pro-family leaders and ministers, will go to Washington DC for a Rally for Religious Freedom. It will occur immediately in front of the Department of Justice.

Ministers, from various denominations, will preach the truth of the Word of God, especially the “politically incorrect” truth of the sin of homosexuality! We will challenge U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to charge this group of peacefully assembled clergy with a hate crime for simply preaching the Bible.

We will clearly establishing that this law cannot and will not silence God’s servants. We will continue to declare the whole counsel of God both publicly and in our pulpits. If we are arrested, we challenge the law in court.

This bold, public stand for Christ and freedom of speech will cost thousands of dollars. We need to pay for permits, rent a sound system and generators. We will need to send out press releases and get the word out to as many pro-family leaders and ministers as possible. There will be travel expenses and we also need to cover our ongoing overhead.

For those who need a reminder, the Christian Anti-Defamation Commission is that group which defends churches trying to exorcise lgbt children.

It's that same group which defends anti-gay hate groups run by discredited researchers who accuse gay men of molesting children and wallowing in feces.

In short, the CADC is a colossal joke.

And that is how we should treat its protest.

Hate crimes  legislation protects free speech and religious freedom. And I don't think that the CADC or any other group who will participate in this protest are actually dumb enough to advocate violent action against lgbts.

At least I hope not.

What CADC and the other groups are doing is ridiculous grandstanding.

However, I think that these groups are attempting to exploit the lgbt community's anger. I think that they are counting on some of us to be there at their "protest." They are counting on us to be extremely angry and extremely vocal. They are counting on us to shout them down so that they can portray themselves as innocent Christians beset by "evil homosexuals."

The solution to this reminds me of a story told to me about when the Ku Klux Klan came to a small town. The community leaders got together and organized a boycott. When the Klan came, no one was there to greet them, shout at them, or allow themselves to be exploited by the ugly words emanating from the hate group.

Certainly I am not saying that we should be absent when the CADC and their allies come to the Justice Department. What I am saying is that we should let them wallow in the filth of their own ignorance.

Everything is on our side here. If they advocate violent action against lgbts, then their Christian guise is eliminated. If they merely speak as to what they say are "Biblical words" about homosexuality and nothing happens to them (which it won't), then there is egg on their faces.

And if any of us is there when the latter happens, I think we should not only take note of the egg on their faces but also remind the nation of it every chance we get.

Related posts:

Christian Anti-Defamation Commission defends exorcists and hate groups from the 'scary gays'

Who's crazier? The church that tries to 'exorcise' homosexuality or those who would defend it?

By now, everyone has heard of the video of the Connecticut church that featured the so-called exorcism of a "homosexual spirit" from a 16-year-old child.

I posted youtube video of the incident a while back. It has since been removed but you know you can't keep something that good from being played in other mediums.

The church, Manifest Gloried Ministries, is an African-American church and that to me is one of the saddest things of all. It demonstrates just how removed the modern lgbt rights movement is from the lgbt of color community.

More infuriating than that are the comments made by the church's head Pastor Patricia McKinney, who was featured in the video supposedly exorcising the child:

"Manifested Glory Ministries is not against homosexuality. We do not hate them. We do not come up against them. We do just not believe in their lifestyle."

That's just the biggest degree of doublespeak since the term was invented. If the church has nothing against the lgbt community then why does it feel the need to think of homosexuality as a demonic spirit that needs to be exorcised?

But far be it from logic to be on the forefront of McKinney's mind. After all, she is "anointed" and "anointed people" don't need logic or common sense.

The church is now facing a lot of criticism. But they also have their defenders.

The Christian Anti-Defamation Commission is blaming the lgbt community for the entire incident. The group claimed that the church was merely exercising its religious beliefs and is now being persecuted:

CADC wants to know where is the tolerance for a church who tried to help a young man who freely asked for help to overcome homosexual temptations? No church deserves to be maligned for trying to help a troubled teen who asked for prayer.

Why are homosexuals so outraged?

Yeah why are we so outraged? How dare we complain of being thought of as Satanic spirits out to do mischief and cause harm. We just don't know our place. It needs to be nipped in the bud. The next thing you know, we will be defending ourselves when someone physically bashes us.

The Commission also says:

Because the video is being so widely viewed on the internet, homosexual activists have viciously attacked the church. These are the same people who demand tolerance for their sexual sin. But they have no tolerance for Christians who are practicing their Constitutional religious liberty. As far as we know, this young man went to church on his own prerogative and left the church unharmed.

By contrast, we know that homosexuals are allowed to participate in vile Gay Pride Parades and perverted fetish festivals on public property throughout the country. These events often involve criminally lewd and lascivious conduct that take place in the presence of children, yet they go unpunished.

I'm not even going to answer that silliness except for to say that not all gay pride parades are the same. Down here in South Carolina, our events are extremely family-friendly. But that is neither here nor there.

Really though, the justification by the Christian Anti-Defamation Comission of the church is just ridiculous. Any points it is trying to make is obscurred by the fact that THIS GROUP IS ACTUALLY DEFENDING A CHURCH FOR ATTEMPTING TO EXORCISE A 'HOMOSEXUAL DEMON' FROM A CHILD.

The only thing credible about the Christian Anti-Defamation Commission is its name. This is the same group that defended Paul Cameron and Scott Lively, two men who due to their intentional tendencies to tell lies on the lgbt community had their groups declared as official hate organizations by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

The real sad story is the 16-year-old child who seems to think that his natural impulses and desires are the result of being possessed. He is a prime of example of what could happen to our lgbt children (particularly our lgbt children of color) when the right resources aren't made available to them.

If you ask me, I think demonic spirits may have something to do with that.

UPDATE - According to Rod 2.0 Beta, the child in the center of the controversy now attends an lgbt-affirming church. That is good news indeed!

Phony christians to protest hate crimes legislation today

Today at 1:30 p.m., Christian Anti-Defamation Commission and various other groups will stand in front of the Justice Department and protest the recent lgbt-inclusive hate crimes law recently signed by President Obama.

They are hoping to get arrested for preaching about how "evil" homosexuality is, thereby adding credence to their narrative that the law punishes speech rather than action:

Ministers from various denominations will preach from the Bible, especially those parts that speak to the sin of homosexuality. This will serve to reassure ministers and Christians that they are free to do the same.

A letter from Matt Staver of Liberty Council will be presented to Attorney General Eric Holder that expresses our concerns about the many unconstitutional aspects of the hate crime bill. Specific legal challenges also may be announced then.


CADC doesn't have a leg to stand on because it has been proven continuously that hate crimes legislation has nothing to do with speech.

But since they have been proven wrong with logic, the CADC and their supporters are relying on repetition to beat folks down.

In a perfect world, this group and their cohorts would be ignored. Unfortunately, as the creation of cell phones have shown, this is not a perfect world.

Maybe they will be ignored, but I am suspecting something interesting to come out of today's protest and I am hoping that folks in our community don't provide it.

Related posts:

Let the Christian Anti-Defamation Commission wallow in the filth of its own ignorance

Christian Anti-Defamation Commission defends exorcists and hate groups from the 'scary gays'

Family Research Council, American Family Association named as anti-gay hate groups

Today, the Southern Poverty Law Center added five more groups to its list of anti-gay hate groups, including some names that are long overdue.

The new groups are:

1. American Family Association
2. Americans for Truth About Homosexuality
3. Dove World Outreach Center
4. Family Research Council
5. Illinois Family Institute

This brings the total of anti-gay hate groups to 18 and all of them are profiled in exact detail by SPLC.

Other groups profiled by SPLC but not designated as official hate groups are:

1. Christian Anti-Defamation Commission
2. Concerned Women for America
3. Coral Ridge Ministries
4. Liberty Counsel
5. National Organization for Marriage

And as an added bonus SPLC also has a page in which they debunk 10 anti-gay myths. And I am sure you have heard of all them before (i.e. gays molest children at a higher rate than heterosexuals, gay have a short lifespan, you can "cure" homosexuality.)

And one thing that cannot be repeated enough is SPLC's reasons to list these organizations as anti-gay hate groups:

Even as some well-known anti-gay groups like Focus on the Family moderate their views, a hard core of smaller groups, most of them religiously motivated, have continued to pump out demonizing propaganda aimed at homosexuals and other sexual minorities. These groups’ influence reaches far beyond what their size would suggest, because the “facts” they disseminate about homosexuality are often amplified by certain politicians, other groups and even news organizations. Of the 18 groups profiled below, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) will be listing 13 next year as hate groups (eight were previously listed), reflecting further research into their views; those are each marked with an asterisk. Generally, the SPLC’s listings of these groups is based on their propagation of known falsehoods — claims about LGBT people that have been thoroughly discredited by scientific authorities — and repeated, groundless name-calling. Viewing homosexuality as unbiblical does not qualify organizations for listing as hate groups.

The last sentence was emphasized by me because it needs to be remembered. Unfortunately when the inaccuracies of various religious right groups are pointed out, the conversation tends to go on a religious direction and this is a mistake.

When we go to the religious direction, we give these groups a chance to cover themselves. "These are merely our personal religious beliefs," they say. 

Religion is immaterial. The bad acts that theses groups commit in the name of religion is the point we should focus on and hammer consistently.
Keep our message short and sweet - these groups knowingly lie about lgbts in attempts to demonize us.

My advice to everyone is to read SPLC's profiles, memorize them, and pass them around to your friends and neighbors.

These groups and their spokespeople are liars and we need to call them as such. We need to hammer that point over and over and over again until it is drilled into the head of America.

Hat tip to People for the American Way and Truth Wins Out

Related posts:

The American Family Association must address Bryan Fischer's hateful comments

10 reasons why Americans for Truth is a hate site

Christian Anti-Defamation Commission defends exorcists and hate groups from the 'scary gays'

Why doesn't Robert Knight want to talk about Paul Cameron? 

National Organization for Marriage needs to address hate in its own ranks 
  
The top 12 lies of Tony Perkins and the Family Research Council

American Family Association will not confront reason why its considered a hate group

The American Family Association is confronting its designation as a hate group via its phony news service, One News Now:

The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is defaming a number of pro-family organizations by adding them to its list of "hate groups."

The leftist legal organization has issued a list of alleged "hate groups" that includes mainstream Christian ministries because of their opposition to the sin of homosexuality. Dr. Gary Cass of DefendChristians.org, a ministry of the Christian Anti-Defamation Commission, tells OneNewsNow the American Family Association earned a spot in the ranks with other groups that are usually considered racist or violent.

"To say that anybody who has a principled objection to homosexuality [and] the impact that that sinful lifestyle has on individuals and on society is somehow morally equivalent to overt racism and violence is absolutely defamatory," Cass contends.

However, just as in the case of the other supposed moral values groups who have cried foul over their designations as hate groups and profiles, it's not what the AFA is saying that's important. It's what the organization is not saying.

Nowhere in the article is a quote from anyone in the AFA, nor does the article address a key reason why the organization is seen as a hate group by SPLC, i.e. the words of its director of analysis for government and policy Bryan Fischer:

The AFA seeks to support “traditional moral values,” but in recent years it has seemed to specialize in “combating the homosexual agenda.” In 2009, it hired Bryan Fischer, the former executive director of the Idaho Values Alliance, as its director of analysis for government and policy. . . Fischer claimed in a blog post last May 27 that “[h]omosexuality gave us Adolph Hitler, and homosexuals in the military gave us the Brown Shirts, the Nazi war machine and 6 million dead Jews.” (Ironically, the elder Wildmon was widely denounced as an anti-Semite after suggesting that Jews control the media, which the AFA says “shows a genuine hostility towards Christians.”) Fischer has described Hitler as “an active homosexual” who sought out gays “because he could not get straight soldiers to be savage and brutal and vicious enough.” He proposed criminalizing homosexual behavior in another 2010 blog post and has advocated forcing gays into “reparative” therapy. In a 2010 “action alert,” the AFA warned that if homosexuals are allowed to openly serve in the military, “your son or daughter may be forced to share military showers and barracks with active and open homosexuals.”

Gays aren’t the AFA’s only enemies. “Islam is a totalitarian political ideology,” Fischer said in August 2010. “It is as racist as the KKK. … Allowing a mosque to be built in town is fundamentally no different that granting a building permit to a KKK cultural center built in honor of some King Kleagle.” In late 2009, he suggested that all Muslims should be banned from joining the U.S. military.

The irony of Cass being interviewed in the article is that his group, the Christian Anti-Defense Commission, was profiled by SPLC but not considered as a hate group. Cass has called for an elimination of "taxpayers monies" to SPLC, something he has been advocating since April.

Cass also said in the article:

"To say that anybody who has a principled objection to homosexuality [and] the impact that that sinful lifestyle has on individuals and on society is somehow morally equivalent to overt racism and violence is absolutely defamatory."

However, he did not address SPLC's reasons for profiling his group. Nor did he address questionable things his organization has done in the past which may have contributed its profile, such as defending the work of the discredited Paul Cameron (a man who has in the past made up stories about gay men castrating children) or defending the actions of a church which sought to exorcise a "homosexual demon" out of a child.

Claiming to be victims of an "anti-Christian leftist conspiracy" may gain Cass and the AFA some initial support, but sooner or later they and members of other organizations profiled by the SPLC will have to answer questions regarding their actions.

You cannot continue to cry "victim" when there is a paper trail showing you to be a bully.


Related posts:

Concerned Women for America - endorsing hateful anti-gay comics and bad data

Why the National Organization for Marriage was profiled for its anti-gay hatred

Religious right learns the hard way - You can't win in court through fear tactics

While under the radar of many, the recent loss suffered by the religious right over hate crimes legislation should resonate due to why they loss:

The lawsuit, in which two pastors and the head of the American Family Association of Michigan sued Attorney General Eric Holder, was dismissed on technical grounds. Because of this, however, Ludington did not reach the ultimate question of whether the law's penalty enhancements are constitutional.

U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade, who serves as the federal prosecutor for the Eastern District of Michigan, where the case was brought, said in a news release about the decision, ''We are very pleased with the judge's ruling upholding the Hate Crimes Prevention Act. This law protects all of our citizens.''

The plaintiffs had argued that the law violates several of their constitutional rights, including their First Amendment speech and free exercise of religion rights, and the Equal Protection Clause, because, as Ludington characterized the argument, ''it creates an irrational distinction between different religious viewpoints on homosexuality.'' The plaintiffs also claimed that Congress lacked the ability to pass the law under the Commerce Clause.

The court, however, did not reach those issues because Ludington decided that the case could not be heard at this time, nor in a challenge brought by these plaintiffs.

The timing issue, called ripeness, relates to whether or not the harm claimed by the plaintiffs is timely enough to bring a court challenge. The issue of whether these are the appropriate plaintiffs was addressed by the judge in consideration of whether there is standing, which he found to be lacking.

Although the plaintiffs had not been charged with any violation of the act, which was signed into law by President Obama in October 2009, they sought a ''pre-enforcement declaration'' that the law was unconstitutional.

The court first addressed the standing question, noting, ''The Attorney General emphasizes that the Act prohibits only willful, violent conduct – 'willfully caus[ing] bodily injury to any person' or attempting to cause such injury 'through the use of fire, a firearm, a dangerous weapon, or an explosive or incendiary device.'''

After detailing the potential threats of prosecution claimed by the plaintiffs, the court concluded, ''Plaintiffs have not demonstrated that 'there exists a credible threat of prosecution' under the Act.''

In other words, portents of doom or claiming that pro-gay legislation will harm children, force people to "accept homosexuality, etc. may unfortunately work in school board meetings, on the editorial pages, and on The 700 Club or Fox News, but playing that game in court without proof just ain't gonna cut it.

And that's something to remember because based on my countdown clock on the right, it's almost a year anniversary since President Obama signed lgbt-inclusive hate crimes legislation into law and a pastor has yet to be arrested for "proclaiming homosexuality to be a sin." Remember the following poster:

I wonder if Peter LaBarbera, Matt Barber, Gary Glenn or the rest would accept a nice piece of crow if sent to them wrapped in that poster.

Related posts:

Why can't Matt Barber stop lying about hate crimes legislation?

How to scare the bejesus out of Christians with a failed game plan

It's just good for FRC that crimes against truth aren't tracked
  
Family Research Council brags about ability to fool 80,000 people 

They came, they protested, they got ignored: Anti-hate crimes legislation rally a huge disaster
  
Let the Christian Anti-Defamation Commission wallow in the filth of its own ignorance

Christian Anti-Defamation Commission defends exorcists and hate groups from the 'scary gays'

 

'Christian' organization doesn't know the difference between a pro-family group and a hate group

Yesterday, I mentioned that the Christian Anti-Defamation Commission (CADC) was miffed at the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) due to the designation of several organizations as "hate groups."

The CADC is also circulating a petition asking that the SPLC stop labeling so-called "pro-family" organizations as hate groups:

Apparently the SPLC has no tolerance for Christians who speak and act in accordance with their faith. This is the typical, liberal kind of tolerance that is a one way street for those who oppose traditional Christian morality.

This brand of Christian bashing needs to be stopped. Sign our petition urging the SPLC to stop slandering Christians for their biblical point of view. SPLC’s attempt to label pro-family organizations "hate groups" must to be renounced.

Interestingly enough, the CADC doesn't give the names of these groups it claims is being unfairly labeled as hate groups.

Here are just two:

The Family Research Institute - that is the organization run by discredited researcher Paul Cameron.

You remember him, don't you?

He is the guy who has been called out or censured by individuals and groups from diverse backgrounds including the American Psychological Association, The American Sociological Association, conservative leader Williams Bennett, and anti-gay group Exodus International.

He is the guy who makes up stories about gay men castrating children in bathrooms.

He is the guy who publishes phony studies claiming, amongst other things, that gay men eat feces.

He is the guy who said the following:

“If you isolate sexuality as something solely for one’s own personal amusement, and all you want is the most satisfying orgasm you can get—and that is what homosexuality seems to be—then homosexuality seems too powerful to resist. The evidence is that men do a better job on men, and women on women if all you are looking for is an orgasm.”

Then there is Abiding Truth Ministries - that is the group founded by Scott Lively. He is the guy who wrote that fradulent book The Pink Swastika which connects the gay community to the Nazi party. That's the book that has been repeatedly discredited. Presently, Mr. Lively is at a conference in Uganda, lending support to that country's very very strict anti-gay laws (those "convicted of homosexual acts" are given a life sentence).

In naming these organizations as hate groups, the SPLC said:

Anti-gay groups are organizations that go beyond mere disagreement with homosexuality by subjecting gays and lesbians to campaigns of personal vilification.

In addition, Mark Potok, director of the Intelligence Project at the SPLC said:

“we don’t ordinarily list groups that say homosexuality is wrong or see it as a sin; we list very few anti-gay groups. They have to be very extreme in their views. We see Lively the same way we see Paul Cameron; the two of them in our view consciously promote easily provable false defamations. They don’t seem to care at all what the truth is.”

Seems to me that anger shouldn't directed at SPLC for labeling these organizations as hate groups, but to CADC for calling them "pro-family."

That is if one cares about the integrity of such terms as "pro-family" and "Christian."

Frank Turek is a liar

The National Organization for Marriage has began a new project which it calls Marriage Anti-Defamation Alliance. This project will spotlight folks who are the supposed victims of imaginary gay intolerance:

“If you have been threatened, harassed, or made to feel afraid because you believe in the great, foundational truth of Genesis –we are born male and female and called to come together in love to give children mothers and fathers—Marriage Anti-Defamation Alliance is here to help you: you are not alone.

We want to hear your story, connect you with others who share your deepest beliefs, with legal and other practical help, and with other Americans of good will, who (regardless of their views on marriage) want to put a stop to the shaming and the fearmongering of our fellow citizens. The goal of the Marriage Anti-Defamation Alliance is to create a supportive community for those who have been threatened for standing for marriage, to nip the climate of fear being created in the bud, to expose for fair-minded Americans on both sides of the debate the threats being made, to conduct high-quality qualitative and quantitative research documenting the extent of the harm, to develop legislative and community proposal to protect Americans right to engage in the core civil rights: to organize, to vote, to speak, to donate, and to write for marriage.

Isolated and alone, we can be suppressed and intimidated. Together we are too many to be treated as second-class citizens.“

In other words, this group will exploit controversies to create new religious right cause celebres who have been supposedly victimized because of their "morality" and push them hard on the American public before the truth comes out that these folks are not victims but individuals who think that their beliefs regarding homosexuality should shield them for normal consequences of acting like homophobic fools.

And first up in the MADA spotlight is a man called Frank Turek. Turek was consultant who lost several lucrative gigs because of his sidework of denigrating the gay community. Take the following video with a grain of salt.



Turek makes himself sound like a pitiful victim. I am of the belief that private companies - who employ gays - have every right to pick and choose who they have as consultants. Some may disagree.

But what we cannot disagree with is the simple fact that Turek is being highly misleading. He makes it seem that his dismissals and inability to get gigs is due to his stance on gay marriage. But he omits the time when he:

said that gays and "radical Muslims are teaming up to destroy Western Civilization because they hate "Judeo-Christian natural law"



Or the time he compared homosexuality to alcoholism and pedophilia:

[B]eing born a certain way is irrelevant to what the law should be. Laws are concerned with behaviors not desires, and we all have desires we ought not act on. In fact, all of us were born with an “orientation” to bad behavior, but those desires don’t justify the behaviors. If you are born with a genetic predisposition to alcohol, does that mean you should be an alcoholic? If you have a genetic attraction to children does that mean you should be a pedophile? What homosexual activist would say that a genetic predisposition to anger justifies gay-bashing? (Don’t blame me—I was born with the anti-gay gene!) Certainly, those that oppose alcoholism, pedophilia and gay bashing are not “bigots”—they are wise.

Or the time he compared gays to sociopaths and gay bashers:



 The question is why didn't Turek - or NOM for that matter - mention his other comments on the video.

But the real fact of the matter is this - Turek has every right to speak his mind, but no company is bound to hire him, particularly if the company has lgbtq employees.

Furthermore, if Turek had said the same awful comments about African-Americans or people of the Jewish faith, we would not be having this conversation.

Is Turek a victim of "gay intolerance?" No. He is a liar who tries to make himself out to be a victim. And he is a man who seems to think that he should be shielded from the normal consequences of being a homophobic bigot - i.e. ostracization from the job market.

NOM's latest 'victims of alleged gay agenda' following familiar script of lies

I knew it.

Sooner or later, the National Organization for Marriage's phony Marriage Anti-Defamation Alliance would feature Eunice and Owen Johns, the British couple who were allegedly told that they could not be foster parents because of their Christian beliefs:




NOM's blog even exacerbates the lie by saying the following:

NOM's Marriage Anti-Defamation Alliance just released this incredibly moving—and yet chilling—video interviewing Eunice and Owen Johns, a black Pentecostal married couple in Great Britain whose own government told them they were not fit to foster a child unless they were willing to advocate for gay sex.

Of course this is a lie. The Johns were denied the ability to be foster parents because their beliefs could intefere with the welfare of a child, especially if that child was gay or lesbian.

And according to Robert Pigott, BBC News religious affairs correspondent:

The case is likely to be seen as a landmark decision, as senior judges ruled so decisively against any idea that attitudes might be justified purely because they were Christian in origin.

The court discriminated between kinds of Christianity, saying that Christians in general might well make good foster parents, while people with traditionalist Christian views like Mr and Mrs Johns might well not.

Such views, said the judges, might conflict with the welfare of children.

Newly named anti-gay hate groups plead victimhood but do not address charges

Well that was quick. I just knew something would happen that I had to address.

Apparently some organizations who are on the Southern Poverty Law Center's list and profiles of anti-gay hate groups aren't happy about it and their spokespeople are addressing the issue.

But the venue that they chose to address SPLC's list and the way that they are saying (or rather what they are not saying) raises some questions as to the accuracy of their complaints.

Coral Ridge Ministries's Robert Knight, Concerned Women for America's Wendy Wright, and Christian Anti-Defamation Coalition head Gary L. Cass all responded in outraged tones over SPLC's either profiling or designating their organizations as anti-gay hate groups.

The venue where they choose to address the charges was on the pages of World Net Daily, an online publication which is infamous for its anti-gay rhetoric.

A writer on the site, Les Kinsolving, has in the past referred to the lgbt community as the "sodomy lobby."

In October of this year, he called a judge’s order to stop enforcement of the military’s ban on gay and lesbian troops in the military as a "disease ridden judicial decision."

In August of this year, the publication dropped conservative writer Ann Coulter as a keynote speaker from a conference it held because she earlier spoke at a conference held by a gay Republican group.

And in February of this year, another writer on World Net Daily, Molotov Mitchell, spoke out in favor of Uganda's "Kill The Gays" bill, even evoking Martin Luther King Jr's name in defense of it.

Joining Cass, Perkins, and Knight was Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council in an official statement which may not have been put out to World Net Daily specifically but was still picked up by the publication.

The irony of appearing in an anti-gay online publication in order to complain about being unfairly targeted as anti-gay seemed to have escaped Perkins, Wright, Knight, and Cass. This is probably because they were too busy pleading victimhood.

Knight - "Smearing legitimate groups merely for disagreeing about homosexuality is a very hateful act."

Perkins - "The Left's smear campaigns of conservatives is being driven by the clear evidence that the American public is losing patience with their radical policy agenda as seen in the recent election and in the fact that every state, currently more than thirty, that has had the opportunity to defend the natural definition of marriage has done so . . ."

Cass - "We are going to form a coalition of organizations to lobby Congress to withhold funds from SPLC."

Wright - "If they were to judge according to actions, they would have to have a special section for homosexual groups that vandalize and threaten people who oppose the homosexual agenda. We've had death threats against us posted openly on websites because of our work to uphold traditional marriage."

Of course Wright did not say just which lgbt groups were threatening her organization. Nor did she, Knight, Perkins, or Cass directly address any of the charges lodged by the SPLC, which are listed in a detailed report.

For the record, Knight, whose name pops up several times in the report, is inaccurate when he said that groups are being smeared for voicing a mere objection to homosexuality. SPLC said the following in the report:

Generally, the SPLC’s listings of these groups is based on their propagation of known falsehoods — claims about LGBT people that have been thoroughly discredited by scientific authorities — and repeated, groundless name-calling. Viewing homosexuality as unbiblical does not qualify organizations for listing as hate groups.

SPLC also gave a detailed description as to what these falsehoods are, including the claims that:

Gays molest children at a higher rate than heterosexuals,

Same sex parents harm children,

Gays have a lifespan shorter than heterosexuals, and

Gays controlled the Nazi party in Germany and helped orchestrate the Holocaust.

SPLC contends that these groups are knowingly pushing these falsehoods.

Now it would seem to me that through all of the whining and clinging to the cross of victimization done by Knight, Perkins, Wright, and Cass would be some type of declaration that these charges aren't true.

Maybe some type of short statement such as "we never said these things" or "we were misconstrued."

But none of the four denied the fact that their organizations are pushing these falsehoods.

So while it seems that these groups aren't ignoring SPLC's charges, it's obvious that they are doing a insanely poor job of refuting them.

2010 Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters Misinformer of the Year - Bryan Fischer

A lot of things happened this year. Some were good such as the repeal of DADT after 17 years, while others were simply awful, i.e. the suicides of several lgbt teens.

To me, though, a very significant thing was finally the recognition that religious right groups peddle in distortions and lies. The Southern Poverty Law Center added five new members of its list of anti-gay hate groups. The new groups were:

1. American Family Association
2. Americans for Truth About Homosexuality
3. Dove World Outreach Center
4. Family Research Council
5. Illinois Family Institute

This brings the total of anti-gay hate groups to 18 and all of them are profiled in exact detail by SPLC.

Other groups profiled by SPLC but not designated as official hate groups were:

1. Christian Anti-Defamation Commission
2. Concerned Women for America
3. Coral Ridge Ministries
4. Liberty Counsel
5. National Organization for Marriage

Naturally this caused a huge controversy with the Family Research Council attempting to lead a fight against the designation, including a huge ongoing campaign with over 150 Congressional leaders vouching for it and other religious right groups. Now FRC contended that SPLC was unfairly attacking religious right groups because their "Christian" stance against homosexuality.

However, thanks to the efforts of one man, we know that FRC's claims was a lie. While FRC played the innocent victim, this man did more to destroy their credibility than anything dug up by any blogger or news reporter.

Ladies and gentlemen, because of those efforts, the 2010 Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters Misinformer of the Year award goes to:

Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association.

Fischer has a long history of making astoundingly homophobic comments which alienated him from everyone across the political spectrum. However, his comments served the lgbt community well in reminding everyone that the SPLC had very good reason in calling out religious right groups, especially considering the fact that while these groups went on and on about being "victimized" for their Christian beliefs, not one of them vocalized any disagreement with Fischer's words. Hell, he was even given a place at the religious right's Values Voters summit.

There are just so many comments from Fischer which stand out that perhaps its better to just showcase the most egregious via video:



Who would have that such a rabid homophobe would actually serve as the lgbt's community best friend and the religious right's worse enemy?

Family Research Council already weaponizing Jeff Sessions' 'religious liberty' task force to target SPLC

If you want to know why so many folks are alarmed with Jeff Sessions' so-called religious liberty task force, this tweet sent out today by the Family Research Council should clue you in. Folks on the right are already attempting to weaponize the task force to attack the Southern Poverty Law Center.

"When you've got an organization in the U.S. that is illegitimately targeting groups because of their Christian views and you have agencies in the federal government that are legitimizing that data, that is a recipe for disaster." @GenBoykin @PJMedia_com https://t.co/B9F9cAlX9e

— FRC (@FRCdc) July 31, 2018

The article in question, which contained the following quote from FRC official Jerry Boykin, is nothing but drivel. It is yet another attack on SPLC for accurately designating organizations like the Family Research Council as anti-LGBT hate groups.  What makes this particular situation very problematic is how the article implies that the full weight of the United States Justice Department would fall on SPLC's head under the guise of "protecting religious liberty."

And the drama isn't even about religious liberty or religious beliefs.

Thursday news briefs

I know everyone is chomping at the bit regarding the Proposition 8 court hearing today, but I thought I would provide a little bit of other news . . .

Where Did You Get Them? - First comes love, then comes marriage (despite the religious right), then comes somebody in a baby carriage.

Christian Pro-Family Organizations Labeled "Hate Groups" - The Christian Anti-Defamation Commission (it's always amusing to me how the folks on the other side give themselves these "titles") are urging folks to sign a petition against the Southern Poverty Law Center for naming various anti-gay groups as official hate groups. Interestingly enough, while the C.A.D.C. are outraged about these groups being labeled, they never get around to giving out their names. And I don't think that was a typo. If you want to see the groups, go here.

If the C.A.D.C. considers Paul Cameron's group (the Family Research Institute) and Mass Resistance as "pro-family" organizations then they have a very screwed-up concept of the word "pro-family."

Hat tip to Rightwing Watch .

Rush Limbaugh’s Top Anti-Gay Quotes - Everyone is beating up on Rush and I wanna get my shots in. Seriously this is from a new addition to my links and blogroll - The New Civil Rights Movement.

IL school hosts homosexual dance - Apparently according to phony gay expert Laurie Higgins, holding a school dance for gay youth and their allies is a political act. I wonder how she feels about humming a Judy Garland song? This article is interesting in that in the comment section, a lot of responders give Higgins hell. I couldn't believe it when I saw it.

Hat tip to Openly Gay.

And now for something completely different . . .

Alfred Hitchcock Presents: And the Desert Shall Blossom - This is a long link so watch it at your leisure. When I told a friend about this, he said that maybe I see a gay connection in things that do not have them.

But bear with me when I explain the premise - two old prospectors who live out in the middle of nowhere are in danger of being forced into a retirement home by the town council unless they can prove that they are self-sufficient. Now you may disagree but I still say that despite the fact that this episode took place in the 1950s, one can infer that the two men are in a relationship.

Look at the episode and see for yourself.

Don't worry - it has a happy ending.

Attorney General Sessions refuses to release transcript of his speech to anti-LGBTQ hate group

Attorney General Jeff Sessions

UPDATE - Sessions's speech has been posted and it's not that controversial (for now). Dominic Holden of Buzzfeed breaks it down

From Mediaite:

Attorney General Jeff Sessions has a much deserved record of both casual racism and outright attacks on civil rights, but his latest actions reveal he’s hardly concerned about his reputation for bigotry. Sessions opted to speak to members of the Alliance Defending Freedom, identified by the Southern Poverty Law Center as an “anti-LGBT hate group” in 2016, at an event closed off to reporters on Tuesday night, and now, Sessions is refusing to release his remarks to the group to the public. ABC News reports that the Department of Justice confirmed that Sessions spoke to the group on Tuesday, but didn’t respond to multiple requests for Sessions’ remarks to the group. Instead, the department released transcripts of Sessions’ remarks from speeches made in Dallas and Las Vegas this week. A spokesperson for the Alliance Defending Freedom told ABC News the group was “working through channels” to release his remarks, but did not specify when they would be released, nor did the group comment on the nature of its relationship with Sessions.

According to SPLC:

Founded by some 30 leaders of the Christian Right, the Alliance Defending Freedom is a legal advocacy and training group that specializes in supporting the recriminalization of homosexuality abroad, ending same-sex marriage, and generally making life as difficult as possible for LGBT communities in the U.S. and internationally. Despite its regular defamation of LGBT people, the group has managed to win special advisory status at the United Nations, in the European Union, and with the Organization of American States.

. . . The ADF has several initiatives that help train conservative Christians. These include a variety of programs designed for young lawyers, including the Young Lawyers Academy, which schools new U.S. attorneys and provides opportunities to “engage the culture and join a network of Christian attorneys around the globe,” and the Areté Academy, which “launches highly accomplished university students and recent graduates on a path to future leadership in law, government, business, and public policy.”

The ADF Academy is a training program that purports to equip participants to “effectively advocate for religious liberty, the sanctity of life, and marriage and family.” The ADF claims more than 1,800 lawyers have participated. The organization also offers the secretive Blackstone Legal Fellowship, through which Christian law students study under prominent scholars, participate in internships, and prepare for life and leadership in the legal profession. Since 2000 (the year of Blackstone’s inception), the ADF claims it has trained over 1,600 law students from 225 law schools in 21 different countries.

Media Matters pointed out how ADF uses these resources to create a homophobic octopus whose tentacles stretch not only across America, but several foreign countries

GLAAD campaign demands better media accountability for anti-gay pundits

When it comes to discussing gay issues, the media  sometimes handles anti-gay pundits with kid gloves.

It's not because of any bias, really. I think that a lot of it has to do with these pundits having the ability to disguise their anti-gay animus.

When they speak on news programs, folks like Tony Perkins, Maggie Gallagher, or Brian Brown are careful to dress their responses up as reasonable. They are even able to portray themselves as supposed defenders of traditional values, leaving the interviewer and audience unaware of the comments they make when not in front of the cameras; comments which reveal that their animus against the gay community have less to do with preserving traditional values and more to do with exploiting ignorance.

And at the rare times in which they are pressed about these comments, they play the victim by claiming that they are unfairly being labeled as bigots.

It's a very dishonest thing to do because it taints the debate over gay equality. And its not just me who has a problem with it.

Today, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation will launch the Commentator Accountability Project which seeks to educate the media on the wool pulled over its eyes by anti-gay pundits:

The GLAAD Commentator Accountability Project (CAP) aims to put critical information about frequent anti-gay interviewees into the hands of newsrooms, editors, hosts and reporters. Journalists or producers who are on deadline often don't have the time to dig into the histories of a commentator. Audiences need to be aware that when they’re not talking to the mainstream media, these voices are comparing the LGBT people to Nazi Germany, predicting that equal treatment of LGBT people will lead to the total collapse of society, and even making accusations of satanic influence.

The Commentator Accountability Project is bringing all of these statements to light, while calling attention to the sentiments behind them. We will show that the commentators who are most often asked to opine on issues like marriage equality or non-discrimination protections do not accurately represent the "other side" of those issues. They represent nothing but extreme animus towards the entire LGBT community.

GLAAD's Commentator Accountability Project will include anti-gay pundits and certain statements they have made when not in front of the camera, such as:

Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council

   - Says about gay people: “They are intolerant. They are hateful. They are vile. They are spiteful...pawns of the enemy.”

- Says that gay young people “have a higher propensity to depression or suicide because of that internal conflict; homosexuals may recognize intuitively that their same-sex attractions are abnormal.”

- Despite what health experts have said, insists that pedophilia is “a homosexual problem.”

- The Family Research Council has distributed a pamphlet that erroneously depicts gay men and lesbians as physically and mentally ill pedophiles who can be “cured.”

Brian Brown, president of the National Organization for Marriage

- Recently attempted, via his national newsletter, to raise a link between marriage equality and pedophilia: "Will pedophiles become "minor-attracted persons" in our culture? Will courts which endorse orientation as a protected class decide down the road that therefore laws which discriminate against "minor-attracted persons" must be narrowly tailored to a compelling government interest?”

- Has advocated for gay people to change their orientation. Said of a faith-based study on self-identified so-called "ex-gays": "Even those who disagree with us about gay marriage (or Christian sexual ethics) should feel good about this this scientific verification of the possibility of free will triumphing over desire. We are all more than our instincts, sexual or otherwise."

 - Encouraged parents to attend a Love Won Out so-called "ex-gay" conference, calling it a way to "prevent your child from embracing this destructive way of life."

Maggie Gallagher, founder of the National Organization for Marriage

- Referred to being gay as “a sexual disability preventing certain individuals from participating in the normal reproductive patterns of the human species.”

- Compared winning the fight to ban marriage for gay couples with the fall of communism and believes that if it is made legal, it will mean “losing American civilization.”

- Said “I oppose extending anti-discrimination laws to gays.”

Bob Emmerich, Northeast Field Ambassador of the Family Research Council

- In 2009, while the debate over the so-called "Kill The Gays Bill" was being debated in Uganda and worldwide, Emrich -- who had just returned from the African nation -- sent an email to his supporters wherein he pushed an article that praised a "brilliant MP" for coming up "with a Bill against homosexuality." The referenced bill calls for the death penalty as punishment for being gay.

- Routinely proves that his advocacy goes beyond marriage and into "changing" gay people: "Those who want to redefine marriage want us to believe that we show love and support for homosexual family members by encouraging them to remain in their sin. Christian people will remember that true love and support helps people overcome, not surrender."

- Accuses his state's pro-equality lawmakers of mocking God: "It was the most shameful, most embarrassing thing for my state that I have seen.  I listened to Senator after Senator stand up and mock God, mock the word of God, mocking the people of God…I was so angry hearing the way they were speaking about my God."

And these are just a few of the anti-gay pundits GLAAD rightfully calls out for their dishonest rhetoric.

Now knowing religious right organizations, their spokespeople are going to whine that GLAAD is trying to silence them. This is a lie and GLAAD has made sure to make clear the goal of this project:

“Hate is not an expert opinion,” said GLAAD spokesperson Herndon Graddick. “In most cases, news outlets invite reputable experts to speak on the subject at hand, but when talking about LGBT issues, open hostility and anti-LGBT bias seems to be all the credibility required. This project holds these so-called ‘pundits’ accountable for the extreme anti-LGBT rhetoric they continue to spread.”

"These activists have the right to recite their anti-LGBT talking points, but it is important to expose the questionable and often hostile rhetoric that passes as punditry when so-called 'experts' speak out against the lives of LGBT people on the air or in print," explained Graddick. "If networks are going to continue to invite those with incendiary anti-LGBT views on their programs, show runners should know the full picture of who these individuals really are so that critical context can be relayed to the audience."

In other words, this project is not about silencing anyone but having an honest debate. And you can't have an honest debate when one party is being deceptive in terms of their goals and their true feelings about the community they oppose.

It's a matter of laying all your cards on the table and it's high time that these so-called morality groups and their spokespeople did just that

GLAAD will utilize the resources of the Commentator Accountability Project in future meetings with editors, writers, network executives, producers, and guest bookers -- providing the mainstream media with a tool by which to hold commentators accountable.

GLAAD encourages individuals to alert the organization when these virulently anti-LGBT activists appear on local or national news. To report an incident visit: http://www.glaad.org/cap

View the Commentator Accountability Project here: www.glaad.org/cap

Follow the conversation on Twitter: #glaadcap

Talk with GLAAD about the project here: www.facebook.com/glaad

Huge kudos to  Jeremy Hooper of Good As You for working as a consultant with GLAAD on this project.