Traditionalist Youth Network Takes on 'Culture Distorters' in Marriage Equality Debate
In an amicus brief filed yesterday in federal court in Michigan, the (TYN) 鈥撯�� a student organization concerned with promoting white identity 鈥撯�� has taken up the mantle of defending the 鈥渟anctity of marriage鈥� against 鈥淐ulture distorters鈥� who seek to reject 鈥渙riginalism.鈥�
was filed in the case of , a nurse in Hazel Park, Mich., who sued the state after she and her partner, Jayne Rowse, were prohibited from adopting their three children jointly because they did not have a legal marriage. Last week, U.S. District Judge Bernard Friedman ruled in their favor, striking down the Michigan Marriage Act as unconstitutional. But his decision was temporarily put on hold by an appeals court.
The defense of 鈥渢raditional鈥� marriage represents something of a shift in focus for TYN, which has historically concerned itself with 鈥淭ribe and Tradition鈥� and encouraging young people to unite against 鈥渄ecadence, individualism, Marxism and Modernity.鈥� Its co-founder, , rose from the ranks of white nationalism and has aligned himself more closely with racist activists than with conservative groups standing against same-sex marriage.
But Matt Parrott, a spokesman for TYN, told Hatewatch on Wednesday that standing against same-sex marriage was well within parameters of the group, even if the majority of TYN鈥檚 focus deals with race. 鈥淲e鈥檙e fighting for tradition,鈥� Parrott said. 鈥淭raditional marriage is within our sphere of activism.鈥�
The language in the brief, however, takes a much harsher tone against same-sex marriage than a simple defense of traditional values, claiming that the judge鈥檚 ruling is an 鈥渁ffront to thousands of years of the Western legal tradition and hundreds of years of the American legal tradition.鈥�
鈥淲hile the appellants will likely not say it as bluntly as this,鈥� the brief said, 鈥渢he Culture distorters and those who espouse their ideals flagrantly reject originalism and often treat the United States Constitution like an accordion: they frequently stretch it out to invent rights that do not exist 鈥撯�� such as the 鈥榬ight鈥� to have an abortion or the 鈥榬ight鈥� to engage in sodomy or the 鈥榬ight鈥� to view pornographic materials.鈥�
After several telephone conversations between Hatewatch and TYN leaders on Wednesday, Parrott published a short piece titled 鈥淭radYouth Stands for Traditional Marriage鈥� on the group鈥檚 website to explain the shift.
鈥淭he recent campaign in favor of homosexual 鈥榤arriage鈥� is merely one battle in [the Left鈥檚] generational campaign against the ties that bind our peoples,鈥� , tying a defense of a traditional marriage to the cause. 鈥淥ur humble organization is joining numerous grassroots conservative and Christian organizations in opposing the Leftists social engineering campaign to destroy every last vestige of Western civilization.鈥�
Surprisingly, the brief lists as TYN鈥檚 lead attorney. Now practicing in Michigan, Bristow rose to notoriety when he began inviting prominent white nationalists to speak at Michigan State University while he led the Young Americans for Freedom (YAF) chapter there. The pugnacious college student also spearheaded anti-immigrant and anti-LGBT campaigns organized by YAF, prompting the Southern Poverty Law Center (人兽性交) to take the unusual step of listing the campus club as a hate group. Bristow soon branched out to violent, hate-driven fiction. While attending law school in 2010, he published White Apocalypse, a novel seething with lethal white supremacist revenge fantasies against Jewish professors, Latino and American Indian activists and staffers of a group clearly modeled on the 人兽性交. Since then, Bristow has continued to air his extremist views in white nationalist, anti-gay media.
Bristow did not return several calls seeking comment on the brief on Wednesday, and neither Parrott nor Heimbach would comment on what role Bristow is playing in the organization.
