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News and commentary about the anti-gay lobby“Now you must raise your children up in a world where that union of man and box turtle is on the same legal footing as man and wife…”
News and commentary about the anti-gay lobbyOctober 7th, 2011
The Southern Poverty Law Center has taken out a full page ad in the Washington Post reminding readers why the two organization’s sponsoring the event, the Family “Research” Council and the American Family Association, have been included in their very short list of anti-gay hate groups. The ad reads:
SPLC’s full page ad in the Washington Post (Click to view PDF: 132KB/1 page)
Just whose values are represented at the Values Voter Summit?Prominent public figures will attend the Values Voter Summit in DC this weekend.
But what values are they promoting?
The summit is hosted by the Family Research Council and co-sponsored by the American Family Association — organizations that have mounted a long-running campaign of falsehoods that demonize the LGBT community.
They portray gay people as child molesters, deviants, public health threats and more. Their outrageous claims have been thoroughly debunked by numerous scientific authorities and respected professional associations such as the American Psychological Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Their words have consequences: Gay men, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people are far more likely than any other group to be victimized by violent hate crimes. Many have been driven by relentless demonization to seek a “cure” for their sexual orientation through dangerous therapeutic practices. Many have been driven to suicide by relentless bullying in our schools.
Whose values are these?
Is bearing false witness a “family” value? Is bigotry?
The ad goes on to list several quotes from the FRC and AFA equating homosexuality with pedophilia, criminality, Nazi’s, and Adolf Hitler. The SPLC and Wayne Besen’s Truth Wins Out held a joint press conference this morning to release a report on the AFA and FRC’s “false propaganda that demonizes the LGBT community.” FRC’s Tony Perkins is furious, and equates the SPLC’s exercise of free speech:
Perkins said the SPLC news conference reflected an attempt to prevent free discussion of ideas and noted that he doesn’t show up at SPLC events to protest the civil rights organization’s beliefs.
“Southern Poverty Law Center is obviously desperate to try to shut down public debate,” he said.
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Gus
October 7th, 2011
Psssst, Mr. Perkins. The full page ad is public debate.
Leo
October 7th, 2011
Debate? Since when are leaden pronouncements based on junk science and religious dogma “debate”?
Want debate Mr. Perkins? Where might we begin?
Should we start with the “Thousands and thousands” of people have left homosexuality just take our word for it we got no data and even if we did we wouldn’t let you see it debate?
Or shall we take on the gay Nazi connection? Any “experts” that aren’t associated with one of your 300 phony professional organizations able to verify that little nugget?
Got that data on the clear link between same sex marriage and increased rates of divorce and out of wedlock births?
Out gays destroying the military?
Religious leaders being forced to perform wedding against their beliefs?
Churches being sued?
What should we “debate”?
Diogenes
October 7th, 2011
Mr. Perkins is obviously deranged (and that makes him the perfect spokesman for his insane organization).
Where in the ad is anyone urged to disrupt this conference of bigots and ignoramuses? Where is there a threat to destroy the meetings with raging masses of anti-free speech individuals? No one is implored to: “attempt to prevent free discussion of ideas” while he notes sanctimoniously that he “doesn’t show up at SPLC events to protest the civil rights organization’s beliefs.”
These folks are begining to notice that they are losing the battle to win other folks over to their balmy “Love the sinner, hate the sin” screeds. The louder they shout and tear their hair and beat their breasts, the more obvious it is that their days are numbered.
Doug Indeap
October 8th, 2011
“Dogma voters†is the more fitting label. “Values voters†is a label invented by people who like to think of themselves as championing good human values. What many of them are pushing actually is dogma. “Values†are “the principles that help you to decide what is right and wrong, and how to act in various situations.†Cambridge Dictionary of American English. “Dogma†is “a fixed, esp. religious, belief or set of beliefs that people are expected to accept without any doubts.†Id. The two, we can only hope, overlap to some extent, but they are hardly the same. Some of what religious fundamentalists hold up as values others find plainly wrongheaded and even immoral. Labels count. Those pushing the “values voters†label hope it will help them pass off their dogma as values. If they want to push their dogma, that’s their right. But “dogma voters†they are, and that’s what I’ll call them.
San Diego Rob
October 8th, 2011
Sorry Mr Perkins, but none of your homophobes won the straw poll, instead Ron Paul did, and as a liberal he has my vote.
mikeksf
October 9th, 2011
SD Rob…Ron Paul is not a liberal. He is a Libertarian and that is truly a horse of a different color. While many of his ideas dovetail very nicely with Liberals, some of them (particularly economic) are just plain backward. That’s why he’s a Republican candidate. Think twice about promoting him.
Donny D.
October 9th, 2011
Is this the biggest thing that the SPLC has done so far against anti-gay hate groups?
Donny D.
October 9th, 2011
Diogenes wrote:
It’s not due to virtuousness that Tony Perkins doesn’t show up at SPLC events to attack them. It’s because that would be a public relations nightmare for FRC. The SPLC has moral authority, and FRC has to be careful how they go about discrediting it.
When the SPLC first certified FRC a hate group, the FRC said they were going to go on a bus tour against the SPLC. Apparently wiser heads in the organization prevailed, because we’re still waiting for that bus tour.
Timothy Kincaid
October 11th, 2011
In Tony’s strange little Orwellian world an ad in a newspaper and a press conference are not “public debate”, but a lecture to a select audience is.
Timothy Kincaid
October 11th, 2011
Doug,
Actually I don’t object to the term “Values Voters”.
For one thing, it kinda sounds like something you’d get in the mail offering 25 cents off at the local dry cleaners – and not the clean one but the one with dead flys between the glass and the picture signed “love your pressing, Lesley Ann Warren.”
And secondly it speaks to what one values. These folk value social conformity and religious orthodoxy. Neither of these are necessarily bad things to value, both are useful for social stability and structure. But the way in which they practice those values, and which values they exclude, result in policies that place an undue burden on anyone who does not share their strict adherence.
And here’s the important part: by focusing on values rather than policies, they subject themselves to total acceptance or total rejection. They have assigned their policies as proxy for themselves and everything they stand for.
And increasingly Americans are rejecting these policies. DADT died with significant support. Marriage equality now is favored by a majority.
But having backed themselves into a “values” corner, they can’t “evolve” like the president or the populace. One’s core values don’t evolve.
The only logical response is total rejection. And I rather suspect that they are discovering this to be true and will continue to do so at a rapid pace.
Désirée
October 12th, 2011
@mikeksf
actually, “liberal” used to mean what libertarian does now, until it was taken over by “progressives”
Of course, your calling his economic views “backwards” is very telling. I hardly think allowing people the freedom to conduct transactions without the heavy hand of government is what I would call “backwards” but hey, being gay doesn’t mean being “progressive”
Priya Lynn
October 12th, 2011
Desiree said “actually, “liberal†used to mean what libertarian does now…”.
Not at any point in history that I’m familiar with.
Timothy said “Doug, Actually I don’t object to the term “Values Votersâ€.”.
I do, but for different reasons than Doug. First, its non-descriptive, everyone’s a “values voter”, we all vote for what we value. Secondly, the reason why the bigots use this term is its a veiled attempt to paint anyone who doesn’t vote like them as having no values, as being immoral.
Désirée
October 12th, 2011
@Priya
You might want to get more familiar with history then
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_liberalism
Priya Lynn
October 12th, 2011
You haven’t convinced me Desiree, it says that is what some people call liberalism, which is not what anyone I know defines “liberal” as.
As your link says:
“It is not always clear which meaning is intended” – its highly debatable that liberal ever meant libertarian to any but a minority of people.
Désirée
October 13th, 2011
I’ll take a page from Timothy:
You’re welcomed to your opinion.
I’ll stick with facts. We’re talking history. That should make it clear that no one *now* uses the word “liberal” to mean “libertarian,” so the “no one I know” comment is useless (unless you know people who were alive 120 years ago and have discussed political philosophy with them) but that at some point in the recent past “liberal” did in fact mean limited government and support of free-market capitalism (as it was in opposition to the conservative positions which supported monarchy and mercantilism). It’s really not debatable at all except to people who don’t want to acknowledge that the meaning of words can change over time.
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