Liberty Sunday Sham!

The anti-gay industry is having a huge simulcast event this Sunday entitled Liberty Sunday. To put it in the words of Family Research Council head Tony Perkins, the event is taking place because:

"The expansion of non-discrimination laws to include homosexuality inevitably constricts our right to express and act on our religious beliefs. Recently, there has been a string of incidents involving government intolerance against those who live out their faith in the public square. "

In other words, Mr. Perkins is saying, "yes we believe that gays should be denied jobs, housing, etc because of their orientation. Our religious beliefs that homosexuality is a sin should supersede any rights that gays have as U.S. citizens. In addition, we are going to either manipulate current events or make up stories about gays are keeping Christians from expressing their beliefs."

Indeed on the Liberty Sunday webpage, people are encouraged to write in and tell stories of how they have been discriminated against. These stories, unsubstantiated of course, will no doubt be peddled in future mailings of anti-gay industry groups or on news programs by their spokespeople.

This is yet another tactic of the anti-gay industry: Dire Consequences.

One of the most effective tactics of the anti-gay industry is to claim that pro-gay laws will lead to "dire consequences." They say that laws created to protect gays would either a: cause homosexuality to be “forced” on everyone, particularly children or b: cause those who supposedly speak out against homosexuality to be jailed. Possible coercion by an “aggressive homosexual lobby” is a constant theme in anti-gay industry data.

The “dire consequences” argument is an old fear tactic that was used in other battles. Just as white racists claimed that any elimination of Jim Crow laws would lead to mixed couples and “mongrelization,” the anti-gay industry claim that any law or ordinance that protect gays and lesbians from discrimination or give them any form of visibility is a capitulation that would lead America down a pathway to destruction.

In April 2005, several hundred people gathered together at the state house in Maine. Michael Heath, executive director of the Christian Civic League of Maine, called what was going on “an hour of deep crisis.” Several individuals, Heath included, talked about how they were angry at the legislature and how marriage is a sacred institution.

Heath even said, “Gone forever will be the definition of marriage as between one man and one woman for life. Marriage will have been destroyed, the family as we know it will disappear, and the long-desired goal of social disintegration will be complete.”

So what exactly were these people angry about?

Believe it or not, they were angry at a bill that had nothing whatsoever to do with same sex marriage. The bill, which was signed by Governor John Baldacci, prohibited discrimination in employment, housing, credit, and other areas based on sexual orientation. Nothing in the bill addressed same sex marriage.

Heath and his supporters attached same sex marriage to the argument because they were seeking to overturn the bill via a referendum. However, none of them said how the prohibition of housing, credit, or job discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation could lead to same sex marriage.

Robert Knight from the Concerned Women for American attended the same rally. He claimed the following:

“If the gay activists succeed at everything they do, you will see the criminalization of Christianity.”- Politics, religion simmer at anti-gay rights rally, Bangor Daily News, April 29, 2005

By threatening that the anti-discrimination bill would lead to gay marriage, the Christian Civic League was able to get enough signatures to force a repeal referendum.

Luckily Maine’s voters did not fall for this subterfuge. By a large majority, they voted to turn back the referendum.

Liberty Sunday is what the anti-gay industry tried to do in Maine on a larger scale.

I noticed that one of the speakers of this simulcast will be David Parker. Last year in Massachusetts, Parker was arrested at his son's elementary school for not leaving a school meeting. He was angry that his son brought home a book that talked about same sex households.

Parker tried to claim that any conversation about same sex households constituted a talk about sexual behavior and pressed that his son be opted out of such discussions, even if they happened by chance.

No doubt he will talk about how he was handcuffed and put in jail merely for being a concerned parent.

I go into detail about Parker in my upcoming book. I won't give away much of what I dicovered, but I will say this: Parker's claim is a lie. Not only did he intentionally get arrested but a year later, he falsely claimed that his child was beaten up because of his stand against the school. When it was discovered that this was not the the case, neither Parker nor the so-called "pro family" groups apologized for the press releases they sent out.

The entire story is here (http://www.lexingtoncares.org/ChildsAltercationUnrelated.html)

I hope Parker recounts the lie of his son getting beaten up because if he does, then I know what my post will be on Monday.