Anti-lgbtq hate group's prayer to God is heartless, self-serving tripe

FRC president Tony Perkins

While it's generally not my practice to mock anyone's prayer to God, I will make an exception when it comes to prayers from anti-lgbtq hate group the Family Research Council. The organization took it upon itself to ask God to the following:

Lord, Obergefell v. Hodges was an assault upon Your institution of marriage, the cornerstone of society. The effort to mainstream transgenderism is an assault on You as Creator and the heart of Your created order. Please help us to prevent the conferring of special rights and privileges for those who embrace aberrant sexual identities, and those who seek to re-engineer American society and law to require god-fearing Americans to submit to such moral subversion. Please stop parent's rights from being violated, the massive confusion of our youth and the effort to capture their souls. Intervene to waken us, our pastors, churches, families, neighbors, and friends to engage in this fight and win it! (Gen 1:27; 5:2;6:19; Dt 22:5; Josh 1:7; Neh 4:14; Dan 9:8; Mt 19:4; Rom 1:32; 1 Jn 3:8)

Now I could be upset at the above prayer, but I'm not. I will simply remind folks of the many times FRC has been caught and called out for using either junk science, cherry-picked information, or outright lies against the lgbtq community. With all of the Bible verses FRC cites, it's fascinating that the organization seems to have omitted the ones about not lying and not bearing false witness.

But I think it would be more apropo to point out another prayer FRC made before its anti-lgbtq soliloquy.  It speaks more to the organization's hypocrisy and preoccupation with social issues over basic kindness.

May God shepherd the Senate to improve and not damage the AHCA. May measures to prevent taxpayer funding of abortion and Planned Parenthood remain intact in the Senate version. Pray that reconciliation will produce an excellent bill that both Houses can pass. And may Americans look to God as their healer and not government. (Ex 15:26; 23:2; Dt 19:10; 2 Chr 16:12; Phil 1:10; 1 Tim 1:5; Jas 3:17)

You read right. FRC is praying to God that allows the Senate to pass that awful healthcare bill which is supposed to repeal Obamacare.  That's same bill which is extremely unpopular  because it would take healthcare away from millions of Americans, could increase premiums for older Americans, and generally plays havoc with defining what "pre-existing conditions" can be used to deny insurance coverage.

People are scared about this bill and have been letting their Congressional leaders know it in boisterously angry town hall meetings.

But to FRC, the only thing which seems to matter is that the AHCA defunds Planned Parenthood. And what about the people scared about what the AHCA could potentially do to their healthcare and thus their lives? One would think that in invoking God's attention, FRC would ask that He assuage their fears.

No such luck. Instead, FRC offers a flippant side comment about  Americans depending on God as their healer, as if God will float from Heaven Himself and lay hands on people whose healthcare would be taken away or premiums would go up.

Or even worse, it's as if FRC is asking God:

Dear God, please stop those nasty homosexuals and transgenders from getting married or getting any rights in general so they won't think that they are just as good as us heterosexuals. And about the AHCA, please let it pass so that Planned Parenthood can be totally defunded. 

Amen. 

Oh wait a minute. Those people who are scared that the AHCA would take away their healthcare, takemuch needed money out of their pockets, or basically cost them lives . . well do whatever to them. They rely on government too much anyway. 

For real this time amen.

So not only is the Family Research Council conveniently forgetting the Biblical verses which speak against lying and bearing false witness, the organization sounds like it is also abandoning the verses which speaks about kindness and compassion to others.


Hat tip to Right Wing Watch.

'The Advocate counts down the top 50 homopobes of the last 50 years' & other Thur midday news briefs

Kim Davis (top), Tony Perkins (middle), and James Dobson (bottom) all made The Advocate list of top homophobes.

The 50 Biggest Homophobes of the Last 50 Years - The Advocate creates a controversial but highly necessary list. Knowing your history includes knowing those who stood in the way of your equality and dignity. Poor Porno Pete LaBarbera. He didn't make the list.  But a gay man did.

Target doubles down on Pride celebrations despite anti-LGBT boycott - props to Target for sticking to its guns. The religious right has been using the chain like a basketball. 

Berkeley schools go beyond bathrooms to support gender non-conforming students - It's comforting to see schools not fall for the "bathroom predator' lie. 

 The Census Won’t Collect L.G.B.T. Data. That’s a Problem. - Damn right it's a problem. 

 West Virginia Supreme Court Rules Anti-Gay Assaults Are Not Hate Crimes - Excuse me?

Anti-lgbtq right conveniently quiet after exoneration of teacher they targeted

Last month, anti-lgbtq organizations and personalities targeted a high school teacher, Lora Jane Riedas, of Riverview High School in Florida. They claimed she bullied Christian students. The fact that she is openly gay was the proverbial icing on the cake to these folks as they implied all sorts of ugly things about her, particularly the story that she made students remove cross necklaces while in her classroom. That specific gem was hyped extensively by various religious right and conservative news sources, facebook pages, and discussion boards. Anti-lgbtq hate group The Liberty Counsel began the chaos against Riedas by sending a letter to the Hillsborough school district detailing the charges. Naturally, the school district investigated..

Via People for the American Way's Right Wing Watch, came news last week that the investigation ended and Riedas has been totally exonerated:

 . . . the school released the results of its investigation and found Liberty Counsel’s claims to be without merit: 

 A teacher at Riverview High School who was accused by a conservative organization of banning crosses while advocating for gay rights has been cleared of wrongdoing after a school district investigation. Lora Jane Riedas, who teaches freshman math and is faculty advisor of Riverview’s Gay Straight Alliance, said she did not allow rosaries, as they are considered gang symbols and not allowed in the school dress code. She said she did not discuss lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues in class. All 10 students interviewed by district investigators backed her up on that point, although some contradicted her on the issue of the crosses.  

A letter released by the school examined the allegations made by Liberty Counsel and found no evidence to support any of them.

 Here is the interesting, or rather not to be unexpected part, of this entire controversy. All of these organizations and personalities who made Riedas appear as if she was bullying Christian students have been conveniently silent regarding her exoneration. To my knowledge, there has not been any mention of Riedas's exoneration by any of the groups, figures, or conservative news sources which portrayed her as a huge anti-Christian bigot.

Their convenient silence gives you an actual perspective of their supposed Christian mindset, doesn't it? Seriously, it looks to me that the Liberty Counsel targeted this teacher to create some type of moral panic about lgbtqs targeting Christians. Had it not blown up in the organization's face, my guess is it and several other conservative organizations and groups would have continued to hype the situation up to give a degree of credibility to their "religious liberty" talking points, i.e. justifying discrimination against lgbtqs on religious grounds.

That being the case, we shouldn't be so quick to celebrate just yet. The Liberty Counsel and its cohorts were unsuccessful this time, but I bet they are, probably even as I write this, moving on to a new situation which they hope to exploit the false boogeyman of "anti-Christian gay bullies."

'TX adoption discrimination bill could especially harm lgbtq children' & other Wed midday news briefs

Texas advances bill allowing discrimination against LGBTQ kids and families - Texas again. And this is really bad. Not only could a 'license to discriminate' bill allow adoption agencies to discriminate against same-sex families, but according to Think Progress, this bill could also allow agencies to subject lgbtq children under their care to "religious education." I'm so not liking this.

Discrimination in Texas: House Passes Anti-LGBTQ Bill HB 3859 - More info about that awful bill.

Texas bill could keep transgender kids out of high school sports - Seriously, why has Texas declared war on lgbtq children? 

MT Republican: Protecting LGBTQ Americans Is Bad For Business - The intense stupidity of homophobia is such that folks can claim that we don't need anti-discrimination laws because we are rich and well-educated while simultaneously claiming that we are drug-addicted alcoholics. 

Trump’s Army Secretary Pick Is Victim Of ‘Gay Gestapo,’ Right Wing Activists Claim - I thought we were the 'Gay Mafia.' I was kinda favorable to that description of us.

Five years ago, Obama became first president to support marriage equality

I think I'm slightly a day late on this, but I'm still going to note this historical event. Five years ago, President Obama  made a wonderful announcement supporting marriage equality. It's worth remembering, particularly when one thinks of the monstrosity in the White House at the present.

'Family Research Council spokesman wants Senate to question lesbian candidate about her 'homosexual conduct'' & other Tue. midday news briefs

FRC spokesman Peter Sprigg

Peter Sprigg Urges Senate To Grill Lesbian Air Force Nominee About Her ‘Homosexual Conduct’ - Just to be clear - a spokesman of anti-lgbtq hate group Family Research Council- the group which whined about anti-Christian persecution when a candidate for Army secretary faced a backlash for homophobic and transphobic comments he made - is now demanding that the Senate make a candidate for commandant of cadets at the U.S. Air Force Academy go into detail about her sexual history simply because she is a lesbian. This situation ALONE raises questions as to why the media calls the Family Research Council a "Christian advocacy" group. 

How The Media Covered Hate Groups Last Week, 5/1/17- 5/7/17 - Speaking of which - some news sources have been really good at calling out these groups. Others? Not so good.  

Another Religious Right Claim Of Anti-Christian Persecution Gets Utterly Debunked - A while back, I posted about how the Liberty Counsel was targeting a lesbian teacher by claiming she was bullying Christian students. Guess what? Another anti-lgbtq lie down the drain.  

Trolls Come For Debra Messing Following Her Message To Ivanka Trump - I HATE trolls . . . they never come for me. All of this "shade" is going to waste.

Mark Green controversy not anti-Christian bias, just 'foot-in-mouth' disease

As to be expected, anti-lgbtq evangelical groups are play the martyr and beating the somber tambourine over Trump's former nominee for Army Secretary, Mark Green. Green withdrew his name last week after a firestorm over comments he made in the past, include comments bashing the transgender community, the Islamic community, and evolution.

However, leave it to anti-lgbtq hate group the Family Research Council to claim that Green was a "victim" of anti-Christian bias:

What does evolution theory have to do with the Army? A lot, if you want to be the branch's secretary. That's just one of the fights the Left picked over Donald Trump's choice to lead the Army. Dr. Mark Green's beliefs on everything from creation to sexuality became the subject of a nasty campaign to discredit the respected flight surgeon -- a campaign, unfortunately, that ended Friday when Green withdrew his name from consideration.

"Due to false and misleading attacks against me, this nomination has become a distraction," Green said. "Tragically, my life of public service and my Christian beliefs have been mischaracterized and attacked by a few on the other side of the aisle for political gain."

LGBT activists, in particular, were upset that Green supported privacy laws like North Carolina's and the view of marriage that Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, and even Barack Obama held at one point. To them, that was an unacceptable change from former Army Secretary Eric Fanning -- who not only identified as gay, but openly used his power to advance that agenda in the military. (How convenient that Fanning wasn't put under the same scrutiny when he was nominated!) Green, on the other hand, was maligned, misquoted, and mistreated by liberals desperate to keep a pro-family, pro-gun, pro-freedom, pro-marriage leader from a position of military authority.

But if being a conservative disqualifies Green from public service, then Washington is going to be a pretty empty place. A group of 11 congressmen, led by Marine vet Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.), tried to defend Green, writing in a letter to Senate leadership that "Any attempt to politicize personal statements or views that have been expressed by Mark at any point throughout his career must not be allowed to supersede his qualifications or be conflated to create needless uncertainty with his nomination." But it was too late. The Left's crusade against the West Point grad, Tennessee state legislator, and longtime conservative had already taken its toll.

"I think there is a movement to target people of faith who are being nominated," Tennessee Lt. Governor Randy McNally told the Washington Examiner. "They want their own, either agnostics or people who are non-Christians. 'They' being the Democratic Party." FRC's own Army vet, Lt. General Jerry Boykin (Ret.) knows what it's like to be in the cross-hairs because of your Christian views. Sadly, he said, liberals have become "so powerful, and so vicious, that it's getting hard to find good people like Mark Green to run for office or engage in public policy because of the lies and hateful attacks they will have to endure." And the military in particular needs strong leaders with the stomach to stand up for what's right.

Just stop it already. The controversy over Green was not a case of anti-Christian bias. It was, in fact, a case of "foot in mouth" disease. Let's be honest about this situation. Green basically said dumb things which rightfully caused people to question his ability to lead.  Green wasn't done harm by anyone except for his inability to keep his ego in check. He practically made it easy for people to call him out, as the videos below prove. When viewing them, ask yourself is this the type of person you want leading the Army?  A man who inaccurately characterizes a group of people as a "disease." and says he wouldn't follow a SCOTUS ruling simply because he didn't like it?