Sullivan's criticism of hate crimes legislation is not surprising. He is a conservative who from time to time criticizes the so-called leftwing intelligensia of the gay rights movement.
Sullivan's criticisms shouldn't be viewed as some out of the ordinary event because the lgbt community is not monolithic. However in the eyes of the religious right and their supporters, where conspiracy theories about the lgbt community are rampant, anything that gives the impression that a gay person is "rebelling" against the so-called lgbt group think is treated like Arlen Spector defecting from the Republican party. Liberty Counsel's Matt Barber (and One News Now) is treating Sullivan's comments like some incredible revelation:
A surprising revelation from a homosexual activist over the purpose of the "hate crimes" bill is drawing kudos from at least one pro-family spokesman.
The activist is Andrew Sullivan, one of the movers and shakers in the international homosexual movement. "The real reason for hate crime laws is not the defense of human beings from crime. There are already laws against that," Sullivan writes on his blog, "and Matthew Shepard's murderers were successfully prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law in a state with no hate crimes law at the time."
. . . "He is to be commended for his candor," says (Matt) Barber. "He has admitted publicly now that the hate crimes bill...is, among other things, simply a money-making scheme drummed up by the organized homosexualist lobby."
S. 909 is called the Matthew Shepard Act to honor a young homosexual man who was tortured and killed in 1998 not because of his sexual orientation, but during the course of a robbery. As Barber notes, the murder has been used as a money-raiser, too.
"Andrew Sullivan points this irony out and points out how ridiculous it is that they are using [Shepard's] name, exploiting this poor young man's horrible death to try to push a money-making scheme...a social ponzi scheme," says Barber.
For the record, while Sullivan speaks out against hate crimes legislation, at no time did he give an impression that the lgbt community is falsely exploiting Matthew Shepard's murder.
While I find it funny that the religious right are designating who our leaders are, I am also offended by this constant repeition of the inaccurate talking point that Shepard's murder was not due to his sexual orientation. It has been proven consistently time and time again that Shepard's killers targeted him because he was gay.
Barber and company continue to refer a highly criticized episode of ABC's 20/20 that merely speculated other motivations behind Shepard's murder. The episode changed nothing because it proved nothing.
It's ironic that Barber accuses the lgbt community of exploiting Shepard's death when he's clearly the one doing the exploiting.
Editor's note - The constant repeating an inaccuracy about gays and lesbians even after the meme is exposed as a lie is distorton technique two of the six distortion techniques I've outlined as to how the religious right stigmatizes the lgbt community.
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