This morning, the Family Research Council announced a huge campaign complete with full page ads in Politico and the Washington Examiner attacking the Southern Poverty Law Center for "daring" to call them and other religious right groups out on their anti-gay propaganda and deceptions.
FRC trumpeted the fact that over 20 Congressional leaders and conservatives gave their support to the campaign.
By this afternoon, both FRC and those Congressional leaders may want to do a rewind for two reasons.
First, the Southern Poverty Law Center issued a what can only be described as devastating response to the campaign. This is my favorite part:
Despite the claims made in today’s statement, the SPLC’s listings are not in any way intended to suppress these groups’ free speech. We’re not asking that these groups be silenced or punished in any way. What we are doing is calling them out for their lies. There is nothing wrong with labeling an organization a hate group based on what they say. A simple example illustrates the point: If a neo-Nazi group said all Jews are “vermin,” no one would argue with our characterizing it as a hate group.
Neither are we mounting an attack on individuals or “groups that uphold Judeo-Christian moral views,” as today’s statement suggests. In fact, as we say in our article dissecting the views of these groups, “Viewing homosexuality as unbiblical does not qualify organizations for listing as hate groups.” Instead, as we explained there, “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.”
The second reason is a bit more practical.
Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association (one of the groups SPLC named as an anti-gay hate group) had a radio interview today on the David Pakman Show and in less than 30 minutes, he proceeded to totally wreck any claims by the FRC that religious right groups don't peddle anti-gay hatred through junk science and propaganda, giving new meaning to idea of giving someone enough rope to hang themselves:
Among the highlights according to David Pakman:
“The Southern Poverty Law Center belongs on its own list [of hate groups]...for peddling falsehoods about homosexuality”
“We're the ones telling the truth about the link between homosexuality and pedophilia.”
“Active participation in the homosexual lifestyle will deprive a male of anywhere between 8 and 20 years of his life expectancy” - a Paul Cameron lie.
“There is ‘no such thing as a monogamous homosexual relationship’”
“The rectal wall is one cell thick” - now Fischer is quoting Paul Cameron almost verbatim.
“We need to take our cue from gay porn actors”
“Those homosexual activists that are so intent on normalizing homosexual behavior...they must be harboring some deep seated longing to be straight”
“...homosexual activists must be latently heterosexual”
It's funny except for the fact that over 20 Congressional leaders signed a letter saying that this sort of thing isn't hatred but an example of "Judeo-Christian" moral views.
Whatever you do, don't tell Jesus. I think He may get rather upset over this.
