Sen. Rubio, speeches are cheap. Let's hear you denounce anti-gay groups like the Family Research Council

Take as much time as you need, Sen. Rubio.

Dear Sen. Marc Rubio,

If you are going to whine about marriage equality supporters being "intolerant," perhaps you need to take a look at those who defend your rhetoric. I have said this twice and now will make the third time. But this time is really special because the Family Research Council is defending your comments:

 The Senator then went where many of his colleagues fear to tread -- the very nature of marriage itself. "The union of one man and one woman is a special relationship that has proven to be of great benefit to our society, our nation and our people, and therefore deserves to be elevated in our laws." However, he said, "there is a growing intolerance ... towards those who continue to support traditional marriage ... and I promise you that even before this speech is over, I will be attacked as a hater, a bigot, or someone who is anti-gay. The intolerance in the name of tolerance is hypocrisy."

Just for the edification of my readers, this is the SAME Family Research Council who has been called an anti-gay hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center  in 2010 for its insistence of spreading hateful lies about the lgbt community:

 Headed since 2003 by former Louisiana State Rep. Tony Perkins, the FRC has been a font of anti-gay propaganda throughout its history. It relies on the work of Robert Knight, who also worked at Concerned Women for America but now is at Coral Ridge Ministries (see above for both), along with that of FRC senior research fellows Tim Dailey (hired in 1999) and Peter Sprigg (2001). Both Dailey and Sprigg have pushed false accusations linking gay men to pedophilia: Sprigg has written that most men who engage in same-sex child molestation “identify themselves as homosexual or bisexual,” and Dailey and Sprigg devoted an entire chapter of their 2004 book Getting It Straight to similar material. The men claimed that “homosexuals are overrepresented in child sex offenses” and similarly asserted that “homosexuals are attracted in inordinate numbers to boys.”

That’s the least of it. In a 1999 publication (Homosexual Behavior and Pedophilia) that has since disappeared from its website, the FRC claimed that “one of the primary goals of the homosexual rights movement is to abolish all age of consent laws and to eventually recognize pedophiles as the ‘prophets’ of a new sexual order,” according to unrefuted research by AMERICAblog.

'Sen Rubio's lie about 'tolerant debates' Part 2' & other Thursday midday news briefs

Sen. Marco Rubio no doubt won the news cycle yesterday with his deceptive whine that those who oppose marriage equality are the so-called victims of intolerance. I really wish folks would look into this man's background to see how much his claim is indicative of the false tone of victimhood of those who make the same claim. It only takes a little googling. For example, according to Right Wing Watch, in November of last year:

The Florida Family Policy Council announced today that it will host Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) at its 2013 Annual Dinner. The FFPC is led by John Stemberger, the anti-gay activist who most recently helped launch a Boy Scouts splinter group that will ban openly gay youth, and the fundraiser will honor Liberty Counsel head Mat Staver.

 Stemberger and Staver are far outside of the mainstream, but with Rubio preparing for a possible presidential run in 2016 he may use this event, much like his speech at the Values Voter Summit, to soothe any doubts about his right-wing credentials. Stemberger previously chaired Florida for Marriage, which spearheaded the campaign to pass a state constitutional amendment banning same-sex unions, and founded the anti-gay Boy Scout alternative Trail Life USA.

Stemberger has a long record of incendiary anti-gay rhetoric. He:

Claimed that being gay is an “artificial, social construct” that is “dangerous.”

Warned that the Boy Scouts will experience widespread sexual abuse as a result of including gay members under the age of eighteen.

Said that people are gay because they think it is “hip” and “cool.”

Alleged that affirming LGBT youth is “tantamount to abuse” and “an abuse to that child.”

And let's not forget Staver:

Mat Staver is the head of the Liberty University School of Law and its legal affiliate, Liberty Counsel, a sponsor of the Values Voter Summit. . . .  At a previous Values Voter Summit, Staver claimed that progressives are using LGBT rights and secular government in order to “ultimately implode America” and that the “agenda of the homosexual movement” is to destroy freedom and western civilization.

Through his role at Liberty Counsel, Staver has:

Argued that President Obama “does not respect America” and wants to intentionally cripple America so he can have global power and create his own personal army of Brownshirts.

Defended Malawi’s law criminalizing homosexuality and said U.S. opposition to criminalization was “immoral.”

Urged schools to prohibit students from holding a “Day of Silence” to protest anti-gay bullying and said teaching LGBT history in schools amounts to “sexual assault.”

Alleged that the Employment Non-Discrimination Act will lead to child molestation, sexual assault, and even death and “harm women and children” if passed. 

The sad thing about all of this is not what was said, it's that the Beltway media will most likely exclude any talk of the circles Rubio runs with in their attempt to gain "access." 

In other news: