Matt Barber - 'Homosexuals are picking on me!'

My favorite religious right pet is at it again.

On Monday, the Liberty Counsel's Matt Barber made an absolutely ridiculous (even for him) comment that young lgbts are committing suicide because supposedly "they know they are committing a sin."

Needless to say Barber got some negative pushback - which he richly deserved - for such an irresponsible comment.

Today, he tried a little pushback himself. According to People for the American Way's Religious Right Watch, Barber spoke with another favorite religious right pet of mine, Peter LaBarbera, and proceeded to wax Biblical about the so-called wages of sin and homosexuality:

You know, scripture says ‘woe to those who call evil good and good evil.’ When homosexual activists and other ‘progressives’ in the pro-sin movement are exposed to biblical truth, their reaction is invariably visceral and loud. There’s ‘nothing new under the sun.’ This ‘kill the messenger’ strategy is age-old and knee-jerk. These folks, as a matter of course, call evil good and good evil. Of course their gripe isn’t with me. I’m nothing. I’m nobody. Their problem is with their Creator, the natural order and the fallen state of mankind. They’re just lost.

… Right, as you know I’ve never been one to mince words or sugarcoat things. That’s how God hardwired me. I also shared my opinion that many of those caught-up in the homosexual lifestyle intuitively know that such conduct is sin – that it’s both immoral and unnatural behavior. Objective truth is objective truth. God has written His laws on the hearts of every man, woman and child. We’re all spiritual beings created in the image of our sovereign Lord. We are also all sinners. Scripture says that not one of us is righteous. When we sin, we create separation between ourselves and God.

God’s word also says that when we sin sexually, it’s particularly egregious because our bodies are the temple of Christ. This separation from God – a natural result of sexual sin – can lead to depression and even despair. It’s a no brainer. I pointed out that such despair and inner conflict can logically be one factor that might contribute to teen suicide. It’s absolutely heartbreaking to witness, but it’s a very painful reality.

In reality, I doubt many of us in the lgbt community have a problem with Barber. I for one love it when he runs his mouth.  All the better for me to paint him as the personification of the religious right - seemingly organized and moral, much moneyed and highly connected. But in the very core of all of that "perfection" is a dark pit made up of deception and lies; naked hatred and foul homophobia.

So you will forgive me for laughing just a little. Okay a lot. It's always amusing to me how some folks  blame God for their hatred and call out Scripture to cover up their own homophobia. "Don't blame me," their mantra always seems to me." Blame God."

Yeah right. I'm sure it was God who led Barber to make ugly, vindictive remarks about members of the lgbt community, such as calling the transgender community "she-males" like he did in this tweet:

February 23, 2011: Today’s Army: Trannies, drag queens & she-males, oh my! http://tinyurl.com/6kcrssb

Or making uncalled-for remarks about our gay and lesbians fighting soldiers:

And I'm sure God is behind his constant and noticeable mentions of gay sex. I mean let's not forget his ruminations about anal intercourse - which shows he had obviously given it some thought:

There is nothing "conservative" about "one man violently cramming his penis into another man’s lower intestine and calling it 'love'";

That's right. The fact that Barber is a rabid homophobe who obsesses about gay sex is all because of God.  If this is the case, it would prove one thing - God has a seriously warped sense of humor.

EEOC calls HIV a disability and other Wednesday midday news briefs

Montana House Blocks Attempt to Decriminalize Homosexuality - Unbelievable.

DOMA is like a cobra - Nothing is more cute than a homophobe wearing earrings.

Cuomo to LGBT Leaders: I Expect Vote on Marriage Equality in ‘Six to Eight Weeks or Maybe Sooner’ - We will see.

New EEOC Regulations Include HIV as a Disability - I wonder how this will play out. I personally don't see any problems with it.

The Proper Way To Defend Marriage - Hilarious!!!!

Marcia Walden - another religious right story of lies

One of the most effective strategies of religious right organizations is to take an incident which looks like Christians are being discriminated against because of lgbt equality and push it hard in the media before the truth is discovered.

And usually the truth turns out that the situation is a bit more complicated than the "innocent Christian vs. intolerant homosexual agenda" scenario set up by these groups.

We've seen this in the recent case of the British couple who were turned down as foster parents.

And now to fight ENDA, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, the Family Research Council is pulling out an old case - that of Marcia Walden.

From FRC's blog:

Marcia Walden, a licensed counselor in Georgia, explains why she was fired after referring a homosexual client to a colleague. Marcia referred the client to another colleague because offering counseling services would conflict with her Christian beliefs on homosexuality. Under ENDA legislation currently before Congress, Christian employers and employees across the nation would experience similar attacks on their Constitutional right to freedom of religion, speech and association.

FRC features a video of Walden tell her story. I won't embed that video because I think it's unfair. The purpose of the video is to gain sympathy for Walden. However appealing to emotions masks the fact that in this case, there are two sides to the story.

This is the real story according to court documents:

Walden's employer, Computer Science Corp had a contract with the CDC to provide counselors. Walden was counseling a CDC employee who told her about the problems she was having with her relationship with another woman. The employee had gotten emotional because it was a very sensitive situation involving a child in the relationship and forgery in order to steal credit.

It was then that Walden informed the CDC employee that her religious beliefs precluded her from providing counsel. Walden then sought another counselor to handle the client's referral.

Now even though the client was satisfied with the new counselor, she felt "judged and condemned" by Walden. She also felt that Walden's body language - her nonverbal communication - indicated disapproval of her relationship.

After an investigation, Walden's supervisor suggested another way she could refer clients to another counselor without mentioning her "personal values." Walden was specifically asked if she could tell clients in seeking same-sex relationship advice that she didn't have relationship counseling experience. Walden refused. Apparently Walden wanted to tell clients that her personal values precluded her from counseling them.

And this is the rest of the story via Pam's House Blend:

• The CDC later requested Walden's removal from the contract.

• With no other counseling positions available in the Atlanta area, CSC laid Walden off and noted that she would preserve her benefits if re-hired by CSC within a year.

• Walden refused to pursue further employment with CSC, believing that the inclusion/diversity policies made it hostile toward Christians.

So Marcia Walden's case is not about her being fired because of her Christian beliefs, but rather she handled duties. When people come in for counseling, it is generally a sensitive situation and they should not be made to feel like they have done anything wrong. Walden chose to express her beliefs in an unprofessional manner and was penalized for it.

By the way, the courts agreed because Walden lost her case.

But as we have seen on so many occasions with so many other cases, she lives on as a religious right cause celebre.

Seven ways the Family Research Council have lied about ENDA

Congressman Barney Frank (D-MA) will be introducing the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) in Congress this week. There is probably no way in hell with this rabid tea party Republican Congress that this will pass.

However, according to blogger Joe Jervis, the Family Research Council has chosen to take advantage of the situation anyway by relaunching their Stop ENDA campaign complete with a webpage of lies and fear stories.

I say I can do them one better by digging up past posts about how FRC has lied about ENDA:

Family Research Council deliberately misinterpret words of Obama official to discredit ENDA - The Family Research Council deliberately distorts the words of John Berry is President Obama's director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management to claim that the passage of ENDA will lead to an overturning of DOMA.


Family Research Council head misrepresents credible information to hurt ENDA - In testimony against ENDA, FRC head Tony Perkins uses anecdotes and distorts a study on lgbt health.


Family Research Council exploiting Amanda Simpson's appointment to stop ENDA - The Family Research Council exploits the presidential appointment of transgender Amanda Simpson to call ENDA a "Crossdresser Protection Bill."


Family Research Council getting extremely 'scary' about ENDA - FRC channels the image of the Grim Reaper to assist in its lies about ENDA.

Religious right groups can't make up their minds when lying about ENDA - FRC falsely calls ENDA the Discrimination Against Christian Workers Act and uses one-sided anecdotes of people fired supposedly for their Christian beliefs.


FRC: Gays and lesbians shouldn't be employed in 'some' jobs - When FRC says "ENDA would mandate the employment of homosexuals in inappropriate occupations," are they implying the homosexuality = pedophilia lie?


Family Research Council gearing up to fight ENDA with distortions - blah, blah, blah, the "crossdressers" and liberals are trying to silence Christians.


Related posts:

Bathrooms,  Church Exemptions, and Lies: Five ways the religious right  misrepresents ENDA

A Gay Disney character? and other Tuesday midday news briefs

Mississippi Sheriff Reinstates Fired Gay Corrections Officer - This is good news indeed!

Truth Academy: Putting It All Together - If you have the stomach for it, Matt Algren breaks down Porno Pete LaBarbera's homophobic "truth academy."

WorldNetDaily screeches - Disney animator: 'Gay' characters only matter of time - This needs no introduction. It's World NUT Daily after all.

Tea Party Group Warns of White "Extinction" In America - SUUUURE it's not about racism.

Let kids access sites, ACLU tells school - I agree. Let students get adequate resources regarding their orientations

Catholic bishops don't want to give housing to lgbts

Some on the right tell us that lgbt equality will trump people's right to express their religious beliefs. In some cases maybe that's not a bad idea, such as the following:

U.S. Catholic bishops are urging federal housing officials not to adopt proposed rules that would bar groups that receive federal funds from discriminating against gays, lesbians or transgender persons in housing programs.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development said the new rules, proposed on Jan. 24, would “ensure equal access” to programs that help the elderly, sick, and impoverished find stable housing.

Citing recent studies, HUD said gays and lesbians face discrimination in the private housing market, and one in five transgender persons reports homelessness due to bias.

“In considering the mounting evidence of violence and discrimination against LGBT persons, the department is concerned that its own programs may not be fully open to LGBT individuals and families,” HUD said in January.

Lawyers for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops say the new rules would force some religious groups to compromise their beliefs or quit HUD housing programs.

“Faith-based and other organizations should retain the freedom they have always had to make housing placements in a manner consistent with their religious beliefs, including when it concerns a cohabiting couple, be it an unmarried heterosexual couple or a homosexual couple,” said Anthony Picarello and Michael Moses, lawyers for the bishops conference.

The lawyers’ remarks came in a letter to HUD as part of a public comment period that ended Friday (March 25). A spokeswoman for HUD could not be reached immediately for comment about when the new policy would take effect.

So in other word, these Catholic bishops would let people homeless rather than give housing to someone who may be an lgbt if that person is in a relationship but can't get married due to the anti-gay marriage laws. That doesn't strike me as very Christian.

The irony of the situation is that Jesus - whom these bishops claim to serve - was born in a manger because his parents were turn away from the inn on the night of his birth. Apparently there was no room.

Years later there is still no room, but this time it's in the hearts of those who claim to serve Him. There is no room for love or basic kindness.

Is this what Christianity has become? A selfish precept in which those needing love and support take a backseat to egos?  HUD is the last thing these bishops should worry about if they continue to be show such hatred and callousness in God's name.

Related post:


Catholic Church Urges HUD On LGBT Americans: “Let Them Go Homeless.”

Matt Barber - Jesus's Sleazeball

Apparently the disease of the mouth which affects the American Family Association's Bryan Fischer is spreading to other religious right figures.

According to People for the American Way's Right Wing Watch:

Liberty Counsel’s Matt Barber took to the airwaves to bash President Obama and organizations working towards bullying-prevention, joining other Religious Right opponents of anti-bullying programs. Along with Shawn Akers, who like Barber works for both Liberty University and Liberty Counsel, Barber railed against the alleged use of “a ‘Trojan Horse’ strategy, using language of bullying and violence and creating safe schools” to implement “a homosexual activist political indoctrination agenda and a curriculum of pro-homosexual propaganda.” Barber also said that Obama is “furthering a separate but equal policy” that supposedly favors gay and lesbian students and employs an “Alinsky-style, homo-fascist tactic to stifle any dissent.” Barber concluded by claiming that “kids who are engaging in homosexual behavior often look inward and know that what they are doing is unnatural, is wrong, is immoral, and so they become depressed and the instances of suicide can rise there as well.”

Just in case you have the stomach for it, here is the video:




This isn't the first time Barber has made negative comments about young lgbts. In October of last year, he referred to young gay men  who had recently committed suicide as "sexually confused."

By the time I've gotten home today, Barber's comments had been discussed and vilified by several other blogs. Subsequently, that leaves me racking my brain trying to think of a new angle.

But I can't. Matt Barber is a sleazeball. He is the very worst of those who would call themselves Christian. Is this what the body of Christ is about; a bloated, ignorant man who makes his money off of attacking and stigmatizing a community of Americans simply because he doesn't like their sexual orientation?

For the record, Barber is not a physician nor is he a researcher. He is a failed boxer and a failed insurance salesman who weasled his way into a prime post with the religious right. His entire career has been a lie and a mockery to all that's is truly moral.

Now those who have a background in such things say that when lgbt children are bullied and picked on, they are more likely more to be depressed and more likely to commit suicide.

Barber doesn't know what the hell he is talking about and what's worse is the phony pity he displays for lgbt youth in light of the fact that his comments and actions regarding the lgbt community in general resemble that of a schoolyard bully.

Among other things, he

criticized Home Depot for daring to acknowledge that same-sex households exist,

slurred the name of an Obama appointee in a pitiful attempt to be clever,

defended countries that persecute lgbts,

told a highly dubious story about a gay man sexually assaulting men in his military unit, and

compared lgbts and progressives in general to idol worshippers and child sacrificers of Biblical times.

But it is in the area of "criticizing," i.e. talking about gay sex where Barber has made a, shall we say, niche for himself.

During one of those annoyingly dreary "God is telling us to take back America" conferences in September of last year, Barber reportedly urged attendees to

. . .focus on the “ick” factor around gay sex and on claims that homosexuality is a health threat, which he called the movement’s “Achilles heel.”

This is not even counting the vindictive comments he has made about members of the lgbt community via his tweets:

•  January 14, 2011: “Look pal, you won’t be able to ‘ask’ or ‘tell’ if you don’t get your hand off my knee! http://yfrog.com/h4d67zoj
•  January 25, 2011: Soldiers, does your foxhole buddy have your back or want to rub it?
•  January 29, 2011: Drudge:”Man Subjected To Body Cavity Search At Traffic Stop.” Other News: “Barney Frank Waves Down Police in Traffic.” http://tiny.cc/spo05
•  January 30, 2011: DADT repeal implementation underway. “Slap fighting” & “tickle parties” to be added to special forces training. http://tiny.cc/jfcdx
•  January 31, 2011: She-male model stirs Brazil fashion show. In other news: Man buys Rolex & discovers it’s a knock-off. http://bit.ly/gxcfVW
•  January 31, 2011: SNL skit mocking Tranny inanity has homosexual activists fuming (warning: a little crude) http://bit.ly/ewYd0A
•  February 1, 2011: Queering the Marines: From morally upright 2 immorally down-low. From semper fidelis 2 limp-wristed fellas http://bit.ly/fBcuqH
•  February 23, 2011: Today’s Army: Trannies, drag queens & she-males, oh my! http://tinyurl.com/6kcrssb
•  February 25, 2011: The homofascist bullying & brainwashing begins: “Combat troops to get gay sensitivity training:” http://bit.ly/dKqh4b

Seems to me if Matt Barber really cared about lgbt youth, he would put a gag in his mouth.  And if he really cared about the integrity of his Christianity, he would keep the gag in his mouth.