Family Research Council says it will look into false claim made against EEOC's Chai Feldblum

Chai Feldblum

One of the main reasons for the success of a lot of these dreary "religious liberty" bills, ordinances, etc. is how the anti-gay right consistently brands the Obama Administration as anti-Christian.

Take, for example, part of this email I received last night from the Family Research Council:

So when the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS) announced today that it wants to strike a balance between sexual orientation and religious liberty, those of us closest to the issue understand how impossible that is. "Gays win; Christians lose." Those were the words of the White House's own Chai Feldblum. An open lesbian, Feldblum has been candid about the LGBT agenda and its impact on faith. When homosexuality clashes with religious liberty, she was clear: "I'm having a hard time coming up with any case in which religious liberty should win."

The claim that Feldblum, of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission uttered the words "gays wins, Christians lose" has been repeated by many religious right and conservative groups.

And - surprise, surprise - it's simply not true.   The meme was refuted in 2009 by Media Matters. Unfortunately, however, anti-gay groups kept repeating the story.

In 2012, this blog broke the story as to how this meme was brought to life.

 It was via conversation between Feldblum and former FRC employee Robert Knight. The following was reported by me in the blog post:

I was able to talk to Feldblum on twitter. She said that there was a conversation with Knight after a talk she gave to the Family Research Council. Feldblum said that the following is what took place:

I said to him -- just like the govt correctly requires religious people in commerce to serve black people, the govt can require religious people not to discriminate against gay people. HE transformed that into "Gays win, Christian lose."

It's a huge stretch between what Feldblum said and what Knight alleges she said. I feel safe in saying that Knight's condensing of Feldblum's statement to him had less to do with him mishearing what she said and more to do with him deliberately distorting her words

I tend to believe Feldblum here. Of course some folks will say I am biased, but it's more than that.. Knight has an ugly history of exaggeration and vicious anti-gay slurs.

Here is the interesting part of the entire story. Last night, I tweeted the Family Research Council:

@FRCdc At no time did @chaifeldblum ever say 'gays win, Christians lose.' Please correct that in your Washington Update.
— Holy Bullies (@holybullies) March 5, 2015

I also sent the organization a link to the 2012 blog post:

@FRCdc @chaifeldblum - http://t.co/yM06gaPvhY
— Holy Bullies (@holybullies) March 5, 2015

Today, I got the following reply:

@holybullies Thanks Alvin. We'll look into it.
— FRC (@FRCdc) March 5, 2015

I have no idea whether or not FRC was serious or merely stringing me along like bait. Probably the latter.

 It really doesn't matter for two reasons. I intend to periodically ask the organization about the meme. 2. If at any time the Family Research Council should repeat this claim about Feldblum without giving me an answer of whether or not it checked into the claim's veracity, I intend to put it on full blast as yet another example of the organization's hypocrisy and duplicity.

  
#Editor's note - Post initially labeled Feldblum inaccurately as EEOC head.