Anti-lgbt hate group wants 'religious liberty' for Kim Burrell but not for Carrie Underwood

The American Family Association pushes the idea that criticizing Kim Burrell (first picture) for her homophobic sermon is anti-Christian persecution. But at the same time, the group criticized the selection of marriage equality supporter  Carrie Underwood (second picture) as a singer for a recent Christian festival. Why does AFA believe that Burrell deserves 'religious liberty' for her beliefs, but not Underwood?

 Under the Trump Administration, there will probably be a Congressional battle regarding the so-called concept of "religious liberty." When that time comes, I expect there to be a huge inundation of horror stories about "Christian"business owners being "forced" to act in opposition of their faith and serve members of the lgbt community. No doubt, the focus will be on bakeries, flower shops, and other wedding businesses. Of course the effects of "religious liberty" bills becoming law will be the allowance of discrimination against the lgbt community in a wide variety of places other than wedding businesses (because those individuals and groups supporting these bills have neglected to say where a line should be drawn) under the guise of religious expression.

We all know that when the religious right talks about "religious liberty," they are pushing anti-lgbt discrimination in terms which make it sound more palpable. My guess is that they don't really mean "religious liberty" for everyone.

Two recent incidents and a hate group's response to these incidents prove my point.

Popular singer Carrie Underwood has been criticized because she recently sang at Atlanta's Passion, an evangelical conference for youth. The reason? She supports marriage equality in accordance to her religious beliefs.  Leading the charge against Underwood is the anti-lgbt hate group, the American Family Association.

Via its online phony news site, One News Now, AFA focused two articles on criticizing Underwood and the founder of the conference, Louis Giglio. Both articles highlighted a letter written to Giglio by Wesley Wildmon, AFA's director of Outreach. The letter itself appeared Engage Magazine, another online project of AFA.

'Sessions says he will uphold pro-lgbt laws, lgbts of color done with black church hypocrisy,' and other Wed midday news briefs

Jeff Sessions Says He’ll Uphold LGBTQ Protections - So in his hearing yesterday, Trump's pick for attorney general Jeff Sessions claims that a woman's right to choose and marriage equality are "settled" laws. That s until the religious right and their allies attempt to drudge up challenges. He may become our attorney general, but Sessions will be watched intensely.

Jeff Sessions Deflects Questions About His Anti-LGBT Record - More details from yesterday.

 Kim Burrell Reminds Us How The Black Church Uses, Abuses Gay Christians - Kim Burrell's attack on the gay community is the last straw to many of us lgbts in color. As Irene Monroe says in this wonderful piece, the conciliatory attitude lgbts of color take when attacked by the Black church has been thrown out of stained glass window. We have had it up to our necks with helping to create the ambiance of black church worship behind the scenes while being called sinners in public. And we've are SO OVER scenes like in the above video. Remember him?
 

‘Visionary’ Religious Right Activist Mike Farris Takes Over Alliance Defending Freedom - An anti-lgbt group has a new leader who is as odious as the old one. It's important that we keep tabs on these folks and groups.

Don’t Forget Exxon’s Lousy Record On Gays And Women - Today, Trump's pick for Secretary of State, former Exxon Mobil CEO, has his hearing. I wonder will questions about Exxon's crappy record on lgbt rights come up?

President Obama's Farewell Address

He is the first African-America president and came into office hoping to repair a bad economy without the help of the GOP, who chose to oppose everything he pushed.

But he was successful, loved, and will be remembered as one of this country's greatest presidents. AND his administration was scandal-free. He redefined humility, love of country, and helped to bring lgbt equality to the mainstream. Enjoy President Obama's farewell address:

'Religious right leaders thrilled that Dept. of Justice 'will no longer be obsessed with this civil rights issue'' & other Tue. midday news briefs

Editor's note -  The hearing of Sen. Jeff Sessions to be the next Attorney General is happening this morning. It has been interesting, particularly what he said about marriage equality. He tried to be general but I don't think he answered the question. If anything, it may give us a clue as to how religious right groups will attempt to dial it back. There will be more on that later. I'm guessing that since the GOP is the majority of the Senate, he will get through. However, do not despair. He is just a player put in place. He is neither the game nor the end of the game.

Jordan Sekulow: Under Sessions, DOJ Will No Longer Be ‘Obsessed With This Civil Rights Issue’ - Okay this makes NO sense. But these are the Sekulows who, for those who don't know, have made an obscenely large amount of money suing in the name of Jesus. Apparently they missed the story about Jesus and the rich man. 

A day in the life after you've been kicked out for being LGBTQ - A sad occurrence which needs more attention paid to it.

 Anti-lgbt hate group caught in lie about incident in MA public restroom - My post from this morning demonstrating how the American Family Association lied when smearing the transgender community for a recent incident in Massachusetts.

Kerry apologizes for past LGBT discrimination at State Department - We needed to hear this even though it took so @#$! long!

The White House LGBT Liaison Is Worried Trump Will Scrap The Position - If we hear that Trump tries to do this, we should make lots of noise. We need this White House Liasion.

Anti-lgbt hate group caught in lie about incident in MA public restroom

The American Family Association just got caught in a lie.

An attack on the rights of transgender men and women exploiting the "bathroom predator" myth demonstrates just how eager religious right groups are when it comes to telling lies and smearing lgbts.

One News Now, the fake news publication of the anti-lgbt hate group American Family Association ran an article yesterday which claimed that transgender women put other women at risk in the public restrooms in Massachusetts. In order to justify this claim, the publication referenced a recent event:

A woman who requested anonymity was in a women's bathroom at a T.J. Maxx in Plainville, Massachusetts and recalls her experience in an interview with WCVB TV:

"I looked down and I saw a man's shoes, and as I looked up, there was the camera. His cell phone camera was in my stall."

She left and asked store personnel to call police, and when they let her know they were forbidden to do so, she made a 9-1-1 call herself. Police soon arrived and arrested 48-year-old Gabriel Muniz, who has pled not guilty. But Chanel Prunier of Keep MA Safe tells OneNewsNow this woman may not have been the only victim.

"When security later viewed the footage, they found that he had been in the bathroom for over a half hour, so it's entirely possible that he videoed and photographed other women without their knowledge," Prunier reports.

Similar incidents have been reported throughout the country, especially at Target stores. But in Massachusetts, the problems stem from a state anti-discrimination law that includes transgenders. That means a man can say he is transgender, whether or not it is the truth, and pose privacy and safety dangers for women.

Unfortunately, the incident did take place, so One News Now's rendition of the situation was accurate EXCEPT for the last part:

  . . . in Massachusetts, the problems stem from a state anti-discrimination law that includes transgenders.

Nothing in the original story (the link was provided by One News Now itself) said anything about the transgender community. And no one indicated that the suspect pretended to be a transgender woman. Not the victim, not the police, and definitely not the suspect himself. Basically there nothing to indicate that the incident had anything to with the state's anti-discrimination law.

No doubt, One News Now and the American Family Association hoped to scare its readers by pushing a horror story. What they succeeded in doing is demonstrating just how low they will stoop to attack the transgender community.

 
Related post: - 'Bathroom bills' are cynical exploitation of parental fears

'Don't get distracted by Meryl Streep's dragging of Trump' & other Mon. midday news briefs

Streep's dragging of Trump shouldn't distract us from this week's cabinet hearings.

Editor's note - Meryl Streep's dragging of Trump during last night's Golden Globe Awards was truly sweet. However, don't let it - and especially Trump's ridiculous response to it - distract you from the fact that the GOP is trying to push in multiple confirmation hearings of his cabinet nominees this week. And these nominees have NOT been thoroughly vetted. A distracted people cannot unite to oppose wrongdoing.

Lambda Legal: Jeff Sessions Would Put LGBT Rights at Grave Risk if Confirmed - For example, THIS guy Trump wants to appoint as Attorney General. 

 Ted Cruz Lost, But Trump Is Giving the Religious Right His Cabinet - AND the rest. 

 In other news:

 Moonlight wins Golden Globe Award for Best Picture-Drama - In a huge coup last night, Moonlight, a movie about being a black gay man in America, nabbed the Golden Globe for Best Picture - Drama. I think this makes it the "dark horse" (apologies) for Best Picture at the Oscars. Double sweet! I would be happy for several nominations.  

"Moonlight" Director Explains The Need For Diverse Storytelling In Trump’s America - Speaking of which . . . AMEN!!  

Percy Jackson author snubs Texas lawmakers over ‘nonsense’ bathroom bill - I own two of his books! Good for him! 

 Gordon Klingenschmitt: Gay People ‘Should Be Disqualified Immediately’ From Being Teachers ‘Because Of Their Immorality’ - Gurl, sit your behind down! 

Anti-lgbt hate group removed from list of Connecticut approved charities for payroll deductions.

AFA gets smacked down by Connecticut

It's no doubt that the following item will be exploited as an example of how Christians are supposedly being "persecuted" in America:

From the Hartford Courant:

Mississippi-based Christian organization is being dropped from a list of approved charities for state employees after the group failed to provide a copy of its anti-discrimination policy.

Timothy K. Newtown, chair of the Connecticut State Employee Campaign Committee, wrote to the group's president, Tim Wildmon, on Thursday notifying them they were being removed. The program allows state employees to direct payroll deductions to a charity of their choice.

"I am grateful for the committee's unanimous vote to remove AFA from the state charitable campaign – and I'm proud to live in a state that broadly prohibits discrimination, whether based on an individual's race, color, religion, age, sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, marital status, familial status, national origin, ancestry or disability," Lembo, who is openly gay, said in a written statement.

Apparently, this was a unanimous vote of the Connecticut State Employees’ Campaign (CSEC) Committee. But before the vote, the AFA chose to focus on Lembo's sexual orientation:

 Lembo had asked the group for information regarding its non-discrimination policy and the group responded by asking its members to contact Lembo for attacking their group’s Biblical beliefs and what they saw as his attempt to diminish those beliefs by asking for information about discrimination. Lembo has said most of the communications were uninformed.

Not that I'm telling anyone anything that they aren't aware of but for the record, the American Family Association is a Southern Poverty Law Center designated hate group. According to SPLC:

The AFA has been extremely vocal over the years in its opposition to LGBT rights, marriage equality and allowing gay men and lesbians to serve in the military. The group's arguments are filled with claims that equate homosexuality with pedophilia and argue that there's a "homosexual agenda" afoot that is set to bring about the downfall of American (and ultimately, Western) civilization. In one October 2004 article, the AFA Journal suggested that gay influences are leading to a "grotesque culture" that will include "quick encounters in the middle school boys' restroom."

For years, until 2010, the AFA had a section on its website that supposedly exposed "The Homosexual Agenda." There, a reader could find articles and other AFA publications that claimed LGBT people were trying to force the acceptance of homosexuality on children through sex education programs in schools; condemned companies like Disney for supporting LGBT rights and programming; and, also until 2010, featured a particularly noxious booklet the AFA had published in 1994. That booklet, Homosexuality in America: Exposing the Myths, included the bogus research of thoroughly discredited psychologist Paul Cameron as a source. One of the publication's authors, Richard Howe, used Cameron's "research" to claim that LGBT people don't live as long as heterosexuals, that they're more promiscuous and that the "disgusting details of the homosexual lifestyle explain why so many diseases are present in the homosexual community." Another claim was that "[p]rominent homosexual leaders and publications have voiced support for pedophilia, incest, sadomasochism, and even bestiality."

The question shouldn't be should the AFA be included on the list of groups Connecticut employees can donate to via payroll deductions. The question should be how in the world did the AFA get on this list in the first place.