Hate group leader's attack on The Equality Act backfires

The Liberty Counsel's Mat Staver

It's like I've said from time to time - when we give spotlight to some who oppose our equality instead of ignoring what they say, they tend to make our case for us.  The latest example of this is anti-LGBTQ hate group the Liberty Counsel and its head, Mat Staver.

I don't know which urban vernacular to use in describing the Liberty Counsel's list of reasons why people should oppose the Equality Act. Staver is either too extra or does too much.

Take a look at this, for example (Editor's note - I apologize for Staver's transphobic language. I'm printing it as if to demonstrate his ignorance)

"This [situation] involves a young lady, Ann*, who is getting married in May," says Mat Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel. "She was shopping for a bridal dress with her mother and sister and she's been saving herself for her husband." According to Staver, the store employee helping "Ann" in and out of dresses in the dressing room turned out to be a man dressed as a woman. "This young woman felt completely violated and deceived by the bridal store," says Staver. "This day was [supposed to be] a day of celebration and joy – and it turned into a disaster. And it should never have happened."

Seriously? Talk about pushing going heavy on fear tactics from the get-go. What does being helped by a transgender woman have to do with the bride "saving herself for her husband?"  Also, one would think that the store would ask if she needed help, regardless. Lastly, it stands to reason that if her mother and sister are with her, she would already have help in trying on dresses.

On his group's webpage, Staver turns the dial up with a litany of reasons why the Equality Act is "dangerous," each one more ludicrous than the last:

1. This bill destroys bathroom privacy. It would welcome both genders into every bathroom in America. 

Uh no it doesn't. Bathroom privacy still exists even in unisex bathrooms. Just mind your business while doing your business.

2. It directs religious K-12 schools and daycare centers to force children to obey adults who show up at work one day as a man and the next day as a woman. These children are at a highly impressionable age. When kindergarteners have seen such events in the past, many have gone home shaking and crying, worried that they could wake up with a different gender!

Of course Staver provides no link to any incident in which kindergarteners were scared because of transgender teachers. I think he got the claim about children being scared from a 2017 article about an incident in a CA school. However, in reading the article I can see why Staver didn't link to it.  The incident had to do with a teacher reading two books about transgender children. She said the books were given to her by a transgender child going through transition . And according to the article, one parent claimed that her child came home crying. and shaking. Furthermore, while some parents were upset, other parents and teachers praised the decision to talk about the issue in the classroom.

And what's with the phraseology Staver uses? "Children will be forced to obey" transgender teachers? What is Staver implying? That transgender teachers will make children do things? Like what? Watch episodes of Pose?

3. And, this bill gags counselors from giving professional help to those facing unwanted same-sex desires or actions. It even criminalizes those who share their own story of finding freedom in Christ from homosexuality in a book or speaking engagement. This bill literally sets the stage for banning the Bible, which offers the power to free those wanting to turn away from homosexual conduct.

Oh heaven forbid that counselors are barred from using a debunked and fraudulent therapy.  And no, people telling their personal stories of supposed "ex-gay" deliverance will not be criminalized. The First Amendment still protects lies.  Lastly, if us LGBTQ people couldn't criminalize the Bible via being added to hate crimes legislation or criminalize Christianity in general through legalizing marriage equality, what makes Mat think the Equality Act will do it?  People like Staver like to claim that gays are trying to criminalize the Bible and Christianity almost more times than they like to imagine how we have sexual intercourse.

Which is a lot.

5. Further, this bill demands that every religious adoption agency place innocent children in homes with adults involved in same-sex conduct

Uh no. That particular issue is about tax dollars. Some folks, Staver included, feel that religious adoption agencies should be allowed to discriminate against LGBTQ people while helping themselves to our hard earned tax dollars.  But check out the pivot in the next point.

6. And it also demands that religious families be willing to accept practicing LGBT minors in their home as a prerequisite to being approved as foster parents. 

In case you missed the point -"straight children are innocent. LGBTQ children are dirty and oversexed."  I guess Staver feels that heterosexual children deserve a home while LGBTQ children don't.

7. Under HR 5, property owners would be forced to accept renters whose actions violate their religious beliefs, including renting out a room in their home or their private vacation home. 

Wow! It's the old "gay is not who you are, but what you do" argument. So I guess this means property owners should be able to practice religious discrimination, huh?

In listing these ridiculous reasons why the Equality Act shouldn't become law, Staver actually makes the case for the bill. No doubt he thinks his reasoning is intelligent and well-thought out. He attempts to make the argument that pro-LGBTQ legislation will do harm great harm to Christians, but fails. But in reality, he demonstrates the animus and hate which LGBTQ people have to deal with on a daily basis. 

In doing so, he makes himself Exhibit A as to why the passage of the Equality Act is so crucial.