Hate group leader joins Manhattan Declaration

Don't be fooled by the Manhattan Declaration. It's creators would like for you to think that it's a document that is the last line of defense in the so-called spread of anti-Christian bigotry.

But like so many public things, what is said should be judged by those those making the statements.

In this case, the motivations behind the Manhattan Declaration is best served by observing who signed it.

A while back, it came out that one of the signers, Rev. Peter J. Akinola of the Anglican Church of Nigeria supported laws that would imprison lgbts or anyone who would support lgbt rights.

According to the blog Goodasyou.org, there is another person signing the document whom attention should be paid - Lou Sheldon of the Traditional Values Coalition.

I've talked about Sheldon and his phony group many times, most recently about how the group distorted marketing statistics to make a case against ENDA.

Jeremy Hooper from Goodasyou.org puts Sheldon's inclusion on the Manhattan Declaration in better perspective:

Mr. Sheldon's group is one of only eleven organizations in America whose rhetoric is overheated has been enough to earn the Southern Poverty Law Center's anti-gay hate group designation. In recent months, TVC has accused President Obama of hating America, dishonored the 9/11 anniversary by Photoshopping a smiling Obama over images of the burning World Trade Center, repeatedly accused proponents of LGBT-inclusive hate crimes legislation of supporting pedophilia, and gone so far with their anti-gay detestation to suggest that sodom laws should be back on the books. In terms of extremist rhetoric, Lou Sheldon may not be in the same ballpark as Fred Phelps, but they could certainly see each others' scoreboards.

Supposedly over 150,000 people signed this document but the major backers have yet to address the inclusion of Akinola.

My guess is that they won't talk about Sheldon either.

So by my count, that's two signers of the Manhattan Declaration who favor jailing lgbts. Maybe some will say that it's only two out of 150,000. But to me that's too many.

I wonder how many other signers of the Manhattan Declaration favor jailing lgbts.