Family Research Council's newest attempt to connect homosexuality with pedophilia proves SPLC's 'hate group' argument

Tony Perkins and the Family Research Council can't stop trying to connect gays to pedophilia

Back in 2010 when the Southern Poverty Law Center named the Family Research Council as a hate group, the organization was quick to play the martyr by claiming that it was being targeted simply for its "Christian beliefs."

And it plays that hand repeatedly. On many occasions (too many to count), SPLC said that FRC deserved the "hate group" designation because of how it demonizes the LGBTQ community with lies, cherry-picked, and junk science. A serious bone of contention, which always seemed to be ignored by FRC and its defenders, is how the so-called Christian group falsely claims that gay men make a high number of pedophiles and there is a connection between pedophilia and homosexuality.

On Thursday, the Family Research Council published a Washington Update item proving SPLC's argument yet again.

First, a little background. According to a right-wing publication LifeSite News, a German medical student,Mirjam Heine, gave an online lecture in May supposedly advocating that pedophilia be seen as an unchangeable sexual orientation.

According to the medical student, pedophilia is just another “unchangeable sexual orientation just like, for example, heterosexuality.” Heine asked her audience to differentiate between sexual attraction to children, which she believes should be accepted and tolerated as involuntary “feelings,” and child sexual abuse, which she underscored was always wrong.

So what does that have to do with LGBTQs, particularly those of us in America? Not a damn thing. I would suspect that a lot of us never even heard of this woman or her lecture except for reading this post.. However, in the hands of the Family Research Council, a lecture by a German student about pedophilia  is very connected with the progress of LGBTQ equality in America simply because the organization can bullshit its way through a bizarre conspiracy theory-laden Washington Update post saying so.

The key words here is bullshit. No matter how intelligent or totally rational the Family Research Council pretends to be,  we are still dealing an organization which once claimed that Planned Parenthood and the transgender community are using the Girl Scouts,  gay youth commit suicide because they know they are "abnormal," and the LGBTQ community are infiltrating Star Wars video games

But folks can read the piece from FRC president Tony Perkins and be the judge (Editor's note -  you can read the full piece by clicking on the link):

To most people, July 19th is just another day. If you asked them what happened on this date 25 years ago, only a handful would probably know that President Bill Clinton made "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" the policy for America's military. Even fewer would know that the summer of 1993 help set into motion a quarter-century war on marriage and the family. 

Looking back on those days, most Americans are probably nostalgic for the days when sexuality wasn't something people broadcasted. Back then, even the most liberal activists just wanted to "get the government out of their bedroom." How far we've fallen. Now, two decades later, they want to take what happens in the bedroom and force Americans to celebrate it -- at work, church, school, even (and especially) in government. Who knew 25 years ago that Christians would long for the days when everyone just went about their lives?

'Did alleged Russian spy Maria Butina infiltrate the religious right?' & other Thur midday news briefs

Did alleged Russian spy Maria Butina infiltrate the religious right?

Y'all know how much I despise the religious right because of their deliberate actions to demonize and dehumanize the LGBTQ community through lies, cherry-picked and junk science. And how they attempt to strip us of our dignity and erase our families from the American mindset.

But while I present these two articles, I don't rejoice, nor do I encourage any conspiracy theories. I only hope that we will find out more because this is HUGE. And if something comes from this, I wouldn't be the least bit surprised. The situation with alleged Russian spy Maria Butina who was arrested (and may have wooed several conservative groups including the NRA) last week is now causing questions to be asked about the religious right:

Alleged Russian Spy Was Working to Infiltrate Religious Right As Well As Gun Groups 

In 2016, according to a timeline compiled by the Washington Post, Butina emailed a Prayer Breakfast organizer to suggest that Putin might attend the following year. That didn’t happen, but she and Torshin attended. “A new relationship between two countries always begins better when it begins in faith,” Butina emailed an organizer afterward, thanking him for a gift and for the “very private meeting” after the breakfast. Butina was also part of a group that attempted to secure a meeting with the Trump campaign in May 2016 to talk about the persecution of Christians around the world, a topic of great interest to many American evangelicals. 

Earlier, in 2015, Butina and Erickson also appeared on the radio show of conservative evangelical superstar (and big-time Trump promoter) Eric Metaxas to discuss gun rights and religious freedom — topics that are strangely congruent in the conservative Christian circles in which all these birds flew. 

The affection with which many Christian right figures hold Russia and specifically the gay-bashing Putin is hardly a secret . . .

Mariia Butina’s Cozy Relationship With the Christian Right Makes Total Sense 

 Much of the Christian right views contemporary Russia with a surprising fondness, and it’s a coziness that predates the Trump administration. Christian conservatives including Pat Buchanan and Bryan Fischer have fawned over Putin in recent years.  

Along with having an instinctual affinity for authoritarian leadership, these men respect Putin’s yearslong rollback of gay rights and abortion access. Franklin Graham, for example, gave an interview to a Russian newspaper in 2015 in which he praised Putin for “protecting Russian young people against homosexual propaganda.” 

 Other cultural conservatives see Russia as “Christianity’s front line” against Islam. Presumably, then, it wasn’t hard for Butina, a friendly Russian gun-rights activist, to curry favor in these same Christian conservative circles. 

 In other news: 

At age 25, kids in the longest-running study of same-sex parenting are doing just fine - Yet the religious right are still attempting to erase these families. 

Scarlett Johansson’s Film Exit Puts Struggle For Trans Actors In Spotlight - The possible resolution of this situation can yield good things for transgender actors. More roles.