'GOP leaders to appear in wacky, offensive anti-gay documentary' & other Thursday afternoon news briefs

Editor's note - Sorry about the delay on today's news briefs. Long story. Anyway . . .

Anti-gay activist Janet Porter is apparently making the anti-gay version of "Around The World in 80 Days." That is to say the documentary she is working on (in which she AGAIN claims that gays are working to criminalize Christians) will feature cameos from almost every anti-gay activist in the business and some Congressional leaders, including:

 Rep. Steve King, Rep. Trent Franks, Rep. Louie Gohmert, Rep. Tim Huelskamp, Sen. Rand Paul, Mike Huckabee, David Barton, James Dobson, Mat Staver, Phyllis Schlafly, Scott Lively, Alveda King, Brian Camenker, Frank Pavone, Robert Knight, John Stemberger, and, of course, Porter herself, who can been seen walking around in the woods with a lantern, warning that gay activists are seeking to turn Christians into criminals. 

As the above video preview shows, the documentary would be hilariously bad except for the fact that these folks are serious with their false claims.  And Porter wants churches to see it. Notice the African-American man at 2:27 who claims that gay/straight alliances are clubs about sex. He is John R. Diggs, yet another phony "expert," who published a seriously flawed, vulgarly inaccurate paper on supposed gay sex habits. Apparently,  Porter seems to also attempting to cram every homophobic stereotype in this documentary.


Republican Leaders Join Anti-Gay Extremists For Insane Documentary - As mentioned above, there will be some Congressional leaders who will be joining Porter in this documentary. And possibly some prospective Republican presidential candidates. And just who is Porter you ask? Well I've featured her many times but Right Wing Watch has this excellent break down of her "exploits." You are going to have read about her "activities and claims for yourself because all of that crazy would make my blog self-destruct. Needless to say there will be some Republican presidential candidates who may have lots of explaining to do.

Mike Huckabee had no reason to link pedophilia to homosexuality in his new book—he just did. - Speaking of Republican presidential candidates, Jeremy Hooper just gave me a good idea for a question reporters need to ask Huckabee - "Mr. Huckabee, why is it that when you talk about the gay community, often times a mention about pedophilia doesn't seem to be far behind?"

Pope Francis Announces Support For Banning Same-Sex Marriage And Adoption - Why is the Pope running hotter and colder than my last boyfriend?

The Ugly, Hateful Result Of The Anti-Gay “Religious Liberty” Debate - or how one can attempt to play the 'religious liberty' card to excuse just about any negative thing said about lgbts.

Attack on same-sex families reaches new low with so-called 'poster children'

Robert Oscar Lopez

Zack Ford from Think Progress has given us a window into the very definition of  desperation and evil.

Anti-marriage equality groups know that they failed to stop marriage equality in the courts in part because of our families. Therefore as a part of a new tactic, they drudged up four individuals who claimed that they were harmed by being raised in same-sex households.

However, there is nothing new or outstanding about these four folks. In fact, they are known, particularly Robert Oscar Lopez,  for their unsubstantiated accusations and ridiculously vindictive comments about lgbts and particularly same-sex families.

I doubt the tactic will work, but it emphasizes the desperation and unbridled ugliness that some so-called moral groups and individuals will stoop to in order to keep gays from marrying and having families:

As the Supreme Court prepares to take up the issue of same-sex marriage for perhaps the last time, opponents are scrambling to make their final stand against marriage equality in the public square. This month, they are rallying behind four individuals who had a gay parent but who argue against marriage equality. Called the “quartet of truth” and heralded by anti-LGBT groups like the Family Research Council, these adults spin a tale of trauma that they claim is representative of all children of same-sex couples.

 . . .  Each of the four, however, has a reputation that belies the LGBT-friendly facade of their connection to a gay parent. Klein uses multiple pseudonyms, including B.N. Klein, B.A. Newmark, and Rivka Edelman, to publish attacks on the LGBT community, particularly viciously anti-transgender rhetoric. Katy Faust runs a blog called, “AskTheBigot,” where she openly identifies as an evangelical Christian and espouses that “True Christianity” will “oppose the narrative that homosexuality is a ‘positive and normal’ variation of human sexuality.” Dawn Stefanowicz has happily shopped her story to anti-gay hate groups leaders like Peter LaBarbera and Matt Barber. And Robert Oscar Lopez, who identifies as bi but has disowned his same-sex attractions, regularly compares same-sex adoption to slave ownership and cultural genocide. In fact, all four indicate that their negative ideas about homosexuality presuppose their experience having a gay parent, and in some cases, the very reason they felt traumatized by having a gay parent was the idea that they would have to accept it.

 . . .  All four also tell stories of parents who divorced or separated — a parent entered a different-sex relationship, had children, then later began having same-sex relationships. Though some of them were raised for some period of time by a same-sex couple, it was only after the trauma of their birth parents’ separation. This is an identical tactic as was used in the widely-debunked study conducted by Mark Regnerus, which claimed to demonstrate inferior results for same-sex parenting by using the experiences of kids from split parents to implicate committed same-sex couples raising children together. Some of their stories also prey on anti-gay stereotypes because of experiences of physical and sexual abuse from their gay parent. In reality, because same-sex families are more likely to be planned, studies suggest those couples are actually less likely to abuse their children.

For the full story, see  The Full Story Of The ‘Poster Children’ Conservatives Are Using To Oppose Gay Marriage