[Commentary] [USA] Is It Christian to Be Anti-Gay?

[Stephanie Stevens]

Huffington Post, USA


Jamie McGonnigal

Founder, TalkAboutEquality.com

Is It Christian to Be Anti-Gay?

Posted: 08/21/2012 1:40 pm


Between the Chick-fil-A controversy
<http://talkaboutequality.wordpress.com/2012/08/08/what-if-this-whole-thing-wasnt-about-chick-fil-a-at-all/>
and last week's despicable shooting
<http://talkaboutequality.wordpress.com/2012/08/15/guard-shot-at-anti-gay-hate-group-dc-offices/>
at the Family Research Council's (FRC) offices, there's been a lot of
discussion about something called a "hate group."

Groups such as the FRC, the National Organization for Marriage, Focus
on the Family, Public Advocate, the American Family Association, and
many others frequently refer to themselves as "pro-family,"
"pro-marriage," and sometimes "Christian" organizations. And when
asked, the leaders of these groups will be the first to tell you that
they hold nothing against the gay community. It's their actions,
though, that you need to take a look at. If you call a duck a cow, it
doesn't make it a cow.

While these groups may do some excellent work with Christian
charities, their primary focus is on fighting to have the rights of
lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people denied. But over the
years they've been able to frame what it is they do with those
"pro-family" and "Christian" modifiers. It's a frustrating fight for
those of us seeking nothing more than equal treatment under the law
when these incorrectly identified groups lie by claiming that they are
being attacked by people who are "anti-Christian" or "anti-family."

When a person hears the term "Christian" organization, a particular
image comes to mind. That image probably features nuns and priests
serving food to the poor, running orphanages, or hosting a winter
clothing drive for the homeless. One doesn't necessarily think of men
in business suits being paid handsomely to lobby congressmen to pass
anti-gay legislation. One doesn't think of of Fred Phelps and his clan
picketing soldiers' funerals with neon "God Hates Fags" signs. One
doesn't think of rallies where people scream that gays are "worthy to
death <http://talkaboutequality.wordpress.com/2011/05/15/noms-anti-gay-rally-speaker-screams-gays-are-worthy-to-death/>
." Yet these and "Christian" organizations like them are doing just
that.

That's where the Southern Poverty Law Center
<http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-report/browse-all-issues/2010/winter/the-hard-liners>
(SPLC) comes in. According to their website, "SPLC is dedicated to
fighting hate and bigotry, and to seeking justice for the most
vulnerable members of our society. Using litigation, education and
other forms of advocacy, we work toward the day when the ideals of
equal justice and equal opportunity will be a reality." One of the
ways they do this is by exhaustively researching the work of groups
like the Ku Klux Klan, neo-nazis, racist skinheads, black separatists,
and border vigilantes and identifying them as "hate groups."

Identifying an anti-gay group as a "hate group" is based on their
propagation of known falsehoods
<http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-report/browse-all-issues/2010/winter/10-myths>
-- claims about LGBT people that have been thoroughly discredited by
scientific authorities -- and repeated, groundless name-calling.
Viewing homosexuality as unbiblical does not qualify organizations for
listing as hate groups. This is not and never has been about a
disagreement of beliefs; this is about groups using lies to
disseminate hatred toward a group of people.

While identifying themselves as "pro-family" groups, they are actually
fighting against more than 1 million American families with more than
2 million kids <http://www.americanprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/issues/2011/10/pdf/all_children_matter.pdf>
who are being raised by LGBT parents. Without marriage protections,
some of these families are legal strangers to one another. Anti-gay
adoption laws, which were lobbied for and won by these organizations,
keep kids from ever finding "forever homes." And anti-gay-marriage
laws assure that these families will suffer from a crippling lack of
legal protections. There is nothing "pro-family" or "Christian" about
allowing families to be ripped apart or seeing children raised by a
foster care system when there are thousands of loving couples ready to
adopt.

In addition to the work of these groups in the U.S., some of them have
been linked to anti-gay legislation in other countries. The Ugandan
"kill the gays" bill would penalize acts of homosexuality with life
imprisonment, or, in cases of "aggravated homosexuality," with death.
While the U.S. Congress was preparing to pass a resolution condemning
the Ugandan legislation, the FRC spent $25,000
<http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20006856-503544.html> on
lobbyists to stop them from denouncing the law. They claim that they
were only trying to change the language of the resolution, but in
prior lobbying documents from FRC, they'd indicated that they were
attempting "to amend"
<http://influenceexplorer.com/organization/family-research-council/8f354e34200e4c3da6bec2609ff3ef42?cycle=-1>
legislation, whereas the tax documents for this action contained no
such itemization of amendments. Additionally, the FRC's Tony Perkins
has gone so far as to say that the "kill the gays" bill "upholds moral
conduct <http://www.goodasyou.org/good_as_you/2012/08/audio-tony-perkins-claiming-heinous-uganda-bill-upholds-moral-conduct.html>
."

These groups have painted themselves with bright colors to make people
think they are fighting for tradition, for family, for morality, and
for freedom. But the truth of the matter is they don't fight for
anything. They are only fighting against LGBT people so that we can't
experience the same freedoms they do. How else can you explain the
National Organization for Marriage, whose mission statement is "to
protect marriage and the faith communities that sustain it," attacking
things like gender-identity protections for children
<http://www.nomblog.com/9240/> , or children being taught that gay
people even exist
<http://www.politifact.com/rhode-island/statements/2011/feb/10/national-organization-marriage/national-organization-marriage-says-massachusetts-/>
. They've even worked to falsely link gay people to pedophilia
<http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-report/browse-all-issues/2012/summer/shading-the-truth>
. None of those things have anything to do with "protecting marriage,"
so why are they doing them? Because they are not pro-anything; they
are anti-gay.

And while nearly every group pro- and anti-LGBT group took time to
condemn last weeks' deplorable shooting and call for sanity and
nonviolence in this debate, one group made the active decision to
politicize the discussion. The National Organization for Marriage
released 13 statements and blog posts in the first 24 hours following
the shooting (starting long before anything was known about the
shooter), attacking the SPLC for identifying the Family Research
Council as a "hate group." At a time when many people's thoughts are
with the victim of the shooting, NOM is once again spending their time
on something other than marriage. If there was ever a question about
their true motivations, that question has been answered.

The FRC followed suit by placing the blame on organizations who are
calling out the FRC for their lies. At a press conference following
the shooting, Tony Perkins said
<http://www.cnn.com/2012/08/16/us/dc-shooting-blame/index.html> ,
"Corkins was given a license to shoot an unarmed man by organizations
like the Southern Poverty Law Center that have been reckless in
labeling organizations 'hate groups' because they disagree with them
on public policy."

Perkins also blamed
<http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/perkins-clear-link-shooting-obama-administration-policies>
-- wait for it -- the Obama administration:

Well, I think as we witnessed this past week at the Family
Research Council, clearly linked to that same atmosphere of hostility
that's created by the public policies of an administration that's
indifferent or hostile to religious freedom, and groups like, as I
mentioned, the Southern Poverty Law Center that recklessly throws
around labels giving people like this gunman who came into our
building a license to take innocent life.

As Americans we have the right to believe what we want. We have the
right to publicly express those beliefs without fear of reprisal. And
we have the right to call someone out -- nonviolently -- when they are
spreading lies. These so-called "pro-family," "pro-marriage" and
"Christian" groups are none of those things. They exist solely to keep
lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender families from receiving legal
protections that should be afforded every American. Say what you will,
but please stop calling a duck a cow.


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