Secretary of State Pompeo raising eyebrows for appearance at anti-LGBTQ hate group conference' & other Wed midday news briefs

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will be appearing at anti-LGBTQ group hate group Family Research Council's 'Values Voter Summit' this weekend. Among other things, FRC has falsely claimed the LGBTQ community are 'recruiting' children.

Hate groups from around the nation will meet to plot ways to harm LGBTQ people - The Family Research Council will hold its yearly and oxymoronically named Values Voter Summit this week.

Pompeo raises eyebrows with appearance at politically charged event -  Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is going to appear. And folks aren't happy about that. I first noticed this because of the myriad of conservative sites rushing to play whataboutism regarding his appearance. That means it's going to be a big problem.

10 things you need to know about Tony Perkins and the Family Research Council - More details about the Family Research Council.  - Some folks may buy the whataboutism game, but these are the facts about the Family Research Council, the group whose summit Pompeo is choosing to address:

• FRC was designated an anti-LGBT hate group in 2010 for decades of demonizing LGBT people and spreading harmful pseudoscience about them. Over the years, the organization has published books, reports and brochures that have linked homosexuality to pedophilia, claimed that LGBT people are dangerous to children and claimed that LGBT people are promiscuous and violent.

• In 2010, FRC senior fellow for policy studies Peter Sprigg appeared on Hardball with Chris Matthews where he voiced support for the criminalization of homosexual conduct, stating that, “I think there would be a place for criminal sanctions against homosexual behavior.” In a 2008 Hardball appearance, Sprigg stated, in reference to legislation that would allow same-sex partners of U.S. citizens to be united legally through the immigration process, that he preferred that homosexuals be exported from the United States rather than imported, “because we believe that homosexuality is destructive to society.” Sprigg apologized a week later after an outcry.

• FRC is currently fighting a subpoena to release its “external communications between January 20, 2017, and September 1, 2017” between FRC and the Heritage Foundation and officials in the Trump administration “concerning military service by transgender people and/or any restriction of military service by transgender people.”  

Transgender military ban’s ‘unit cohesion’ claim fails spectacularly in court - Another domino of Trump's ridiculous military trans ban falls. It's easy to lose interest but we shouldn't.

#UsToo: Raising Awareness Of LGBTQ Survivors - Very much needed.