Anti-LGBT Activities Roundup 4/13/2017
The following is a list of activities and events of anti-LGBT organizations. Organizations listed as anti-LGBT hate groups are designated with an asterisk.
Alaska Family Action (AKFA) is supporting an that would force Alaskans to use public locker rooms and bathrooms that match the sex specified on their birth certificates. The initiative was introduced March 28 as a pared-down version of the earlier , that would have dismantled legal protections for LGBT people and allowed some businesses to refuse to serve same-sex ceremonies. It was by the Anchorage municipal attorney because it addressed too many different subjects.
Should this latest initative pass legal review, signatures will be gathered to place it on the April 2018 ballot. The language in the initiative is similar to the current debate over Texas鈥 anti-trans bathroom bill, SB 6.
One of the two sponsors for the Anchorage initiative is Kim Minnery, wife of AKFA president Jim Minnery, who has a long history of anti-LGBT activity and has helped spearhead two successful campaigns against anti-discrimination legislation that would have included LGBT people. His , , has a similar history. Retired now, Tom Minnery is president emeritus of Family Policy Alliance (formerly CitizenLink, which was affiliated with Focus on the Family). He was also a former senior vice president of government and public policy at Focus on the Family and a founding member of the board of directors and former president of the board of the anti-LGBT hate group Alliance Defending Freedom.
In 2012, Jim Minnery was a leader of the so-called 鈥淧rotect Your Rights 鈥 Vote No on Prop 5鈥 campaign in Alaska. Prop 5, which did not pass, would have extended anti-discrimination protections to LGBT people. The campaign ran an anti-trans cartoon ad, in which a 鈥渢ransvestite鈥 applies for a job at a daycare center. That ad was roundly denounced as stigmatizing and dehumanizing, including by former Alaska governor Tony Knowles. Minnery has also that there is a 鈥渉omosexual agenda鈥 to persecute and prosecute anyone who doesn鈥檛 endorse it. He also that the 2015 LGBT anti-discrimination ordinance 鈥渓egally invited men into public restrooms, locker rooms and dressing rooms鈥 used by women and girls because the men will claim to identify as female.
AKFA also on April 11 against the nomination of Drew Phoenix, who is trans, to the Alaska State Human Rights Commission. In a Facebook post targeting Phoenix鈥檚 nomination, AKFA noted Phoenix鈥檚 work in support of the anti-discrimination Prop 5, which AKFA says, 鈥減roposed that men should be able to use whatever showers, bathrooms, etc. they want, consistent with their self-declared 鈥榞ender identity.鈥欌 Conflating sexual predation with trans women is a peddled by anti-LGBT groups.
The American Family Association* (AFA) is conducting 鈥溾 in June and September. The tours include a Williamsburg, Jamestown and Yorktown visit and another to Washington, D.C. and Mount Vernon. AFA bills the excursions as tours that will 鈥渉elp you capture the deep, rich Christian heritage of our country and the people who founded it.鈥
AFA has a long history of anti-LGBT statements and activities. Last year it against Target stores for the latter鈥檚 trans-inclusive policies which, AFA claimed, would allow sexual predators into restrooms and changing rooms, a common and claim made by the anti-LGBT right. Earlier this month, AFA radio host Bryan Fisher from God, presumably as a response to the death of artist Gilbert Baker, who created the flag. Fischer has linked homosexuality to and and claimed that . He has also supported the of homosexuality.
The Family Policy Institute of Washington (FPIW) is holding a on April 28 in Bellevue, Washington. The keynote speaker is conservative author and radio host Dennis Prager, who that heterosexual AIDS and rape on campus are 鈥渓iberal hysteria鈥 and lies and that voting for Trump because it was like dropping 鈥渁tom bombs鈥 on Japan. The context then 鈥渕orally demanded it,鈥 he claimed, and the moral demand in our time is the defeat of the Left.
FPIW is also holding a in Washington state through April 21 under the title of 鈥淕ender Revolution鈥: 鈥淲e celebrate 鈥榃omen鈥檚 Day鈥, but no one can define what a woman鈥攐r a man鈥攁ctually is anymore鈥 and 鈥淸W]hy is my child鈥檚 school working so hard to convince them there are 56 genders and you can be any gender you want?鈥
In addition to the citizen meet-ups, the group is holding 鈥溾 trainings in Olympia on April 14 and 19. FPIW says the sessions are 鈥淔PIW鈥檚 signature citizen orientation training鈥 and prepare participants 鈥渢o have a meaningful impact on good public policy鈥 in Washington state. The trainings take place at the state capitol.
FPIW is extremely active in anti-choice and anti-LGBT state and local politics and conducts trainings on getting involved. It has battled domestic partnerships, access to birth control for poor women, and a telemedicine bill, claiming that it would allow 鈥渨ebcam abortions.鈥 FPIW president has compared same-sex marriage to two siblings re-defining their bond and said that 鈥渢olerance is not something to be pursued.鈥
FPIW 鈥淛ust Want Privacy鈥 campaign, which was gathering signatures in 2016 for Initiative 1515, which would have repealed a state human rights commission law and made it legal for businesses to discriminate against trans people by allowing them to refuse to allow trans people to use the restrooms and locker rooms in accordance with their gender identity. The measure didn鈥檛 make the November ballot.
The Family Research Council* (FRC) will be holding its Watchmen on the Wall (WOTW) in Washington, D.C. May 24 through 26. WOTW is FRC鈥檚 . Confirmed speakers include , anti-LGBT pastor and activist , anti-Muslim Lt. Gen. (ret.) Jerry Boykin, and anti-LGBT speaker and activist .
On May 2, FRC is holding on the Free Speech Fairness Act, which is, according to FRC, 鈥渁 bill that restores free speech and religious liberty to churches and other nonprofits by allowing them to make political statements鈥 under certain conditions. Georgia congressman will be speaking about the bill. Hice, who serves on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and the House Natural Resources Committee, served as a pastor and conservative talk radio host.
In 2012, Hice his book It鈥檚 Now or Never, in which he alleges the gay community has a plot to recruit and sodomize children and that homosexuality causes shorter life spans and that same-sex couples cannot raise healthy children. He also states in the book that abortion rights supporters are worse than Hitler and calls for Muslims to be stripped of their First Amendment rights.
The Minnesota Family Council (MFC) will be holding its , featuring conservative evangelical author, speaker and radio host as its keynote speaker.
MFC has long , claiming that the latter . The group has promoted falsehoods about homosexuality and LGBT people as well. In 2011, for example, the group posted a 鈥渓egislative handbook鈥 on its website that claimed, among other things, that "the homosexual population includes a disproportionate number of pedophiles," that "some homosexuals have become urolagniacs (ingesting urine and feces) and engage in bestiality as well as other deviant behaviors," and that LGBT people are abnormal and disordered鈥攁ll claims that have been roundly rejected by credible scholarly researchers. The manual also pushed for removing sexual orientation from the state鈥檚 Human Rights Act because there was 鈥渘o evidence that a significant number of homosexuals are discriminated against.鈥 After bloggers started publicizing the manual, it from the site.
In 2014, MFC joined fellow anti-LGBT groups the Minnesota Child Protection League and the Minnesota Catholic Council in a in the Minnesota Star-Tribune. The ad targeted a school policy aimed at inclusion of trans students in sports, and painted trans students as dangerous.
The Liberty Counsel* is planning a in partnership with Christians in Defense of Israel from October 2 through 11. According to one of the Counsel鈥檚 鈥淟iberty Alerts,鈥 the VIP tour occurs over the holiday of Sukkot and the Feast of Tabernacles and the fiftieth anniversary of the Six-Day War and the seventieth anniversary of the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls. The tour will include the opportunity 鈥渢o meet with political and community leaders.鈥
The Liberty Counsel is a hardline anti-LGBT group that bills itself as a non-profit litigation, education and policy organization providing legal counsel and pro bono assistance in cases that deal with 鈥渞eligious liberty鈥 and issues around abortion and LGBT rights. The group has linked homosexuality to pedophilia and believes homosexuality is dangerous. It is currently defending anti-LGBT activist Scott Lively in that claims Lively engaged in human rights violations because of his work in Africa, in which he allegedly spread falsehoods about homosexuality that helped create a dangerous climate for LGBT people in Uganda.
In the wake of the mass shooting last June at Orlando鈥檚 LGBT Pulse nightclub in which 49 people died, Liberty Counsel president Mat Staver memorial gatherings, claiming they turned into 鈥渉omosexual love fests.鈥 Earlier this year, Staver that the Pulse shootings had nothing to do with targeting LGBT people and that first responders were traumatized again because they had to 鈥済et tested for AIDS-related conditions鈥 because of all the blood at the scene.
The Political Network for Values (PNV) is holding its of policymakers in Brussels April 27 through 28. PNV is an anti-choice and anti-LGBT network of groups and individuals whose board of directors includes Brian Brown, president of the anti-LGBT hate group World Congress of Families and Benjamin Bull, director of the international arm of Alliance Defending Freedom.*
According to its website, PNV formed as a result of efforts initiated by former Minister of Home Affairs in Spain and former European Parliament member, Jaime Mayor Oreja. He, along with legislators from Europe, the United States and Mexico, are working 鈥渢o create Trans-Atlantic cooperation among legislators on the issues of life, marriage, family and fundamental freedoms.鈥
The second summit includes Travis Weber, director of the Center for Religious Study for the Family Research Council*; Sharon Slater, director of Family Watch International*; Sophia Kuby of Alliance Defending Freedom* and听Katalin Nov谩k, Hungary鈥檚 Secretary of State for Youth, Family and International Affairs. She is serving as a local organizer for the upcoming World Congress of Families* gathering in Budapest in May (see below).
According to the program, the summit will 鈥渃reate a forum spotlighting topics regarding the institution of marriage, family, human life, human dignity, religious freedom and freedom of conscience in international organizations.鈥 A proposed agenda will be discussed by policy makers based on the risks and challenges identified by experts, and will set the ground for its implementation.
The ex-gay Restored Hope Network (RHN) is holding its annual in San Diego June 16 and 17. RHN claims to be a network of 鈥渕ore than 55 Christian ministries, pastors and counselors in the US.鈥 It is dedicated to restoring hope 鈥渢o those broken by sexual and relational sin especially those impacted by homosexuality.鈥
RHN鈥檚 doctrinal statement includes the belief that 鈥渟exual purity is a life and death matter鈥 and claims that 鈥淢arriage between a man and a woman prefigures the union of God and his people or Christ and the church and has as its highest purpose the self-giving integration of the two sexes into a single sexual whole.鈥
RHN in 2012 after splintering from ex-gay juggernaut Exodus, which in 2013. RHN is helmed by veteran ex-gay activists like Stephen Black, who often worked with virulently anti-LGBT Oklahoma lawmaker Sally Kern (no longer in office) and Andrew Comiskey, who headed up the ex-gay Desert Stream Ministry, which in the past of sexual abuse.
The pseudoscience of ex-gay therapy (also referred to as 鈥渃onversion鈥 and 鈥渞eparative鈥 therapy) has a long history of demonizing and attempting to 鈥渃ure鈥 homosexuality through a range of discredited and often dangerous practices. Ex-gay therapy has been rejected by virtually every mainstream and legitimate medical and mental health organization for years. In 2012, the Pan American Health Organization鈥攖he North and South American representative of the World Health Organization鈥 and in 2016, the World Psychiatric Association to it, as well.
World Congress of Families* (WCF) is gearing up for its May 24 through 28 in Budapest. The local organizing committee is led by Katalin Novak, Hungary鈥檚 Secretary of State for Youth, Family and International Affairs.
WCF conferences often include local government officials, and the gathering serves as an important nexus of networking for international anti-LGBT and anti-choice groups. They are often rife with anti-LGBT and anti-choice rhetoric and conspiracy theories, as demonstrated at last year鈥檚 gathering in Tbilisi.
WCF, under the umbrella of the International Organization for the Family (formerly the Howard Center for Family, Religion and Society), often colludes with government and religious officials abroad with regard to policy and legislation and works to push its ideology of 鈥渢he natural family.鈥 The latter considers families that are made up of one cisgender man in a lifelong marriage with one cisgender woman and their children as the only valid type of family. According to 奥颁贵鈥檚 Eventbrite page for the Tbilisi conference last year, this construction of the 鈥渘atural鈥 family 鈥減recludes incompatible constructs of the family as well as incompatible behaviors among its members.鈥 There is no room in society for family structures other than that, according to this view.
奥颁贵鈥檚 may have provided impetus for the anti-LGBT laws there that essentially criminalize homosexuality and have fostered an often brutal anti-LGBT climate. Both the IOF and WCF are currently headed by Brian Brown, who is also the president of the National Organization for Marriage.
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