Anti-LGBT roundup of events and activities 6.12.17
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.
American Family Association*:
Sandy Rios of the American Family Association* (AFA) brought anti-immigrant and anti-refugee activist Ann Corcoran of Refugee Resettlement Watch* onto her June 2 radio show, broadcast on American Family Radio.
Corcoran founded Refugee Resettlement Watch in 2007 in response to what she perceived as a 鈥済rievous error鈥� 鈥� the U.S. government bringing in Muslim refugees. Since then, Corcoran has routinely touted white nationalist articles from sites like American Renaissance* and she has linked to white nationalist group Council of Conservative Citizens*, whose postings were an intrinsic linchpin to the radicalization of racist killer Dylann Roof. She has also been published in the anti-immigrant and white nationalist journal The Social Contract*.
Corcoran has also worked closely with Frank Gaffney, of the Center for Security Policy* (CSP), an anti-Muslim group that relentlessly promotes anti-Muslim conspiracy theories, including claims that the Muslim Brotherhood has infiltrated the U.S. government and civil institutions. Gaffney started the false claim that Huma Abedin, former aide to then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, was part of a Muslim Brotherhood 鈥渃onspiracy鈥� and that tax protester Grover Norquist was also part of some kind of Muslim conspiracy because Norquist鈥檚 wife is Palestinian-American.
Rios herself has promulgated anti-Muslim sentiment and conspiracy theories on her show, 鈥淪andy Rios in the Morning.鈥� She has also in 2016 when the two discussed Khizr Khan, father of U.S. Army Captain Humayun Khan, who died while serving in Iraq. Rios expressed outrage that Khizr Khan had lied about Islam, since 鈥渇aithful Muslims can鈥檛 embrace our Constitution.鈥� She has of Islamophobia and First Amendment rights of Muslims.
Family Action Council of Tennessee:
Tennessee attorney and former state senator David Fowler of the Family Action Council of Tennessee (FACT) with a lawsuit on behalf of a Bradley County, Tenn. minister and a county commissioner. A court ruling denied an attempt to dismiss the lawsuit and it can now proceed. The two challenging the 2015 Supreme Court ruling in Obergefell that legalized same-sex marriage nationally are trying to stop the county from issuing marriage licenses and invalidating the state鈥檚 marriage license law, which excludes same-sex couples.
Fowler filed the lawsuit through FACT鈥檚 , an initiative the organization recently launched. Its initial filings are in opposition to marriage equality, which Fowler and FACT have a long history of opposing.聽
FACT and Fowler are behind much of the past few years鈥� anti-LGBT legislation in Tennessee, state lobbying efforts in 2016 to pass a discriminatory bill that allows any counselor or therapist to deny service to LGBT people on the basis of 鈥渟incerely held principles.鈥�
The bill violated the ethics of all major counseling organizations in the country, among them the American Counseling Association, the National Association of Christian Counselors and the American Association of Pastoral Counselors. Tennessee governor Bill Haslam after reference to religious beliefs was removed and a provision was included that required therapists to treat people who are in imminent danger to themselves and others.
In early May 2017, Haslam signed another bill into law (HB 1111), which restricts the way words can be used under state law. According to , some of the law鈥檚 text reads, "Undefined words shall be given their natural and ordinary meaning without forced or subtle construction that would limit or extend the meaning of the language, except when a contrary intention is clearly manifest."
FACT, along with other conservative and anti-LGBT groups, lobbied for the bill, and said that it would help prevent same-sex spouses and LGBT parents from being treated the same as heterosexual families under the law.
FACT also opposes same-sex parenting, , falsely, that there 鈥渁re problems鈥� with same-sex parenting, and that evidence doesn鈥檛 support the contention that same-sex parents are as good as married, biological parents. Numerous studies, however, that children do just as well in households with same-sex parents as with opposite-sex parents.
Family Research Council*
Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council* had FCC chairman Ajit Pai on his Washington Watch to discuss net neutrality. Pai is trying to undo Obama administration regulations on internet service providers that guaranteed they . Net neutrality thus requires ISPs to charge equal rates and offer equal speeds for all data usage. In 2014 and 2015, the FCC was met by a torrent of outcry, overwhelmingly in support of the idea that the open internet should have basic protections under the law. It was considered a victory for the public over phone and cable lobbies.
Pai, a former lawyer with Verizon, as an ideologue聽and has opposed, for example, capping rate hikes on prison phones (which can cost up to $14 a minute for inmates), and opposed expanded broadband for low-income families and opposed broadband privacy.
With regard to net neutrality, he has opposed the Obama-era regulations on internet service providers, and claimed that they are part of an Obama 鈥渃onspiracy鈥� to regulate the internet when actually, the regulations are in place to keep broadband providers from preventing access. He has also , including that he plans to bring broadband internet to 鈥渁ll Americans鈥� but instead hobbled one of the main programs the FCC designed to do that, which helps low-income Americans especially.
On 鈥淲ashington Watch,鈥� Perkins and Pai reiterated Pai鈥檚 talking points, claiming that the Obama-era regulations are somehow hurting businesses despite evidence . They also attempted to paint opposition to Pai鈥檚 attempts to remove net neutrality as leftist; in , Pai staffers have taken to trolling social media in attempts to paint net neutrality supporters as members of the 鈥淏lack Bloc鈥� anarchist movement, known for masking their identities and vandalizing public property in demonstrations. In fact, there is broad support for net neutrality, across many demographics, and including such giants as Google, Netflix and Facebook.
In April, Pai from an industry-backed front group to support his claims that net neutrality is a burden on ISPs. Regardless, Pai鈥檚 attempts to rollback net neutrality are seen as a major win for conservative media outlets, which have been peddling it as a 鈥済overnment power grab.鈥�
FRC Radio roundup: FRC president Tony Perkins hosts a daily radio show, 鈥淲ashington Watch.鈥� Guests May 26-June 7 have included Rep. Mark Walker (R-NC); Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO); Bill Bennett; Rep. Steve Russell (R-OK); FCC Chairman Ajit Pai; director of broadcast operations for Bott Media Eben Fowler; Rep. Ralph Abraham (R-LA); attorney Jeremy Tedesco (Alliance Defending Freedom*); Liberty University鈥檚 founding dean of the School of Communication and Digital Content Bruce Kirk; Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC); Robert Spencer (of the anti-Muslim Jihad Watch*); Chris Smith (R-NJ); Rep. Ted Poe (R-TX); Sen. Luther Strange (R-AL).
Faith and Freedom Coalition
The Faith and Freedom Coalition (FFC) held its annual June 8-10 in Washington, D.C. Confirmed speakers included President Trump, Vice President Pence, and several other lawmakers, including Rep. Jody Hice (R-GA); Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA); Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA); Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN); Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX); Texas attorney general Ken Paxton; president of Americans for Tax Reform Grover Norquist; singer Pat Boone and founder of Focus on the Family James Dobson.
The Road to Majority conference is considered one of the premiere events for 鈥減eople of faith and conservative activists,鈥� serving as a locus for Christian Right networking with fellow activists and government officials. According to , 鈥淭he purpose of the conference is to energize, train, and equip our top activists and chapter leaders on voter registration, voter education, get-out-the-vote, lobbying their legislature, dealing with the media, building a precinct organization, and utilizing social media to mobilize supporters.鈥�
FFC was founded in 2009 by long-time Christian Right activist and operative Ralph Reed, who is also the chairman. Reed, head of the Christian Coalition in the 1990s, was one of the primary architects of the GOP takeover of Congress in 1994. He was on a meteoric rise on the Christian Right, culminating in a campaign for lieutenant governor of Georgia in 2006. But his campaign imploded after investigators revealed his work with GOP lobbyist and con man Jack Abramoff.
In that scandal, that Reed worked for Abramoff to mobilize Christians who were opposed to gambling to help close casinos down, but that Reed was being paid by other casinos who wanted their competition shut down. To protect Reed from discovery, Abramoff laundered the money he was paying Reed through other organizations, including Norquist鈥檚 Americans for Tax Reform. Reed was never charged with a crime, and he claimed he didn鈥檛 know where his money was coming from, though emails, according to The Atlantic, demonstrated this was not the case.
In the years since, Reed has continued his activism and organizing within the Christian Right, including the launch of FFC. He is staunchly opposed to LGBT equality, claiming over the years that same-sex parents are bad for children, that federal workplace protections for LGBT employees a 鈥渄agger aimed at the heart of religious freedom for millions of Americans.鈥�
He also made an appearance in the notorious 1993 anti-LGBT film Gay Rights/Special Rights: Inside the Homosexual Agenda, which was released by the virulently anti-LGBT Traditional Values Coalition*, of anti-LGBT propaganda and falsehoods about the dangers LGBT people pose to children, families, churches and business owners. In the film, Reed referred to 鈥渟pecial rights鈥� 鈥� a common refrain then in the anti-LGBT right to convince people that LGBT people already had rights and their push for equality was actually giving them more rights than others. Reed : 鈥渘o one should have special rights or privileges or minority status because of their sexual behavior.鈥�
National Organization for Marriage
The National Organization for Marriage (NOM) announced the 2017 , which will be held Saturday, June 17. The event, started in 2013 in Washington, D.C. on the National Mall to the Supreme Court to protest marriage equality and, according to an announcement sent around by Brian Brown, NOM president, 鈥渢o restore marriage in the public eye.鈥� We will not rest, the announcement says, 鈥渦ntil this illegal, unjust ruling is reversed,鈥� which references the Supreme Court鈥檚 that legalized marriage equality in the United States.
The 2015 march garnered perhaps 6,000 people, while the seems to have attracted around 250 participants.
NOM has a long history of battling marriage equality since its founding in 2007 to push for the anti-LGBT Proposition 8 in California. Though Prop 8 passed, it was later found to be unconstitutional but NOM soon became a clearinghouse for anti-LGBT marriage initiatives throughout the country.
It also has repeatedly run afoul of election laws, even for running political campaigns without disclosing donors to election officials. In 2014, the Maine Ethics Commission fined NOM more than $50,000 for violating state campaign laws in 2009 during a campaign against marriage equality. The commission report suggested that NOM had violated campaign disclosure laws in New Hampshire and Iowa and lied about its malfeasance to a government agency.
World Congress of Families*
The World of Congress of Families* is allegedly holding in Athens, Greece, June 14-15. The gathering does not appear to be advertised, but the contact listed is Alexey Komov, who is WCF鈥檚 representative in Russia. his own anti-LGBT and anti-choice organization, FamilyPolicy.ru.
Komov, as , spent years studying yoga with a renowned guru. He traveled the world and claims he was liberal. But when the guru was diagnosed with cancer, it shattered the guru鈥檚 belief that yoga would fend off disease, so he declared the practice 鈥渟atanic,鈥� was baptized in the Russian Orthodox Church and became a monk.
Komov claimed that he began to study theology when he was at the former guru鈥檚 funeral and a year later, ended up part of the inner circles of the Russian Orthodoxy. A year after his conversion, Komov was dispatched to the 2010 WCF planning meeting at the Colorado Springs offices of Focus on the Family, where he put in a bid for Moscow but the WCF for the next year went to Madrid. Instead, WCF officials asked Komov to organize a different event, the Moscow Demographic Summit, which was held nine months later and hosted over a thousand attendees.
The as one of the first to address the right wing鈥檚 myth about an 鈥渋nternational crisis of rapidly declining birthrates,鈥� which WCF and its adherents promote as 鈥�,鈥� and use as a means to attempt to curtail access to abortion and other reproductive healthcare.
The day after that summit, Russian lawmaker Elena Mizulina introduced the first set of anti-abortion laws in Russia since the USSR鈥檚 collapse. Mizulina is perhaps best known as the lawmaker who pushed to get Russia鈥檚 draconian anti-LGBT laws passed, which criminalize 鈥渉omosexual propaganda.鈥�
Legislation and Lawsuits
Scott Lively
A lawsuit filed in 2012 against anti-LGBT activist Scott Lively, head of Abiding Truth Ministries*, June 5 on a narrow jurisdictional ground. The lawsuit had been filed by Sexual Minorities Uganda and the Center for Constitutional Rights, suing Lively for human rights violations under the Alien Tort Statute. The lawsuit alleged that Lively鈥檚 actions and rhetoric in Uganda fueled anti-LGBT violence and legislation.
Federal judge Richard Ponsor cited a 2013 ruling that was issued by the Supreme Court after the initial lawsuit against Lively had been filed. Though the court dismissed the lawsuit, Ponsor鈥檚 25-page ruling excoriated Lively and his anti-LGBT activities, stating that the 鈥淒efendant鈥檚 position on LGBTI people range from the ludicrous to the abhorrent,鈥� and that, 鈥渉e has tried to make gay people scapegoats for practically all of humanity鈥檚 ills.鈥�
The ruling further stated that the record demonstrates that Lively worked with elements in Uganda who share some of his views to repress freedom of expression of LGBTI people in that country, 鈥渄eprive them of the protection of the law, and render their very existence illegal,鈥� noting that Lively proposed 20-year prison sentences for gay couples in Uganda 鈥渨ho simply lead open, law-abiding lives鈥� and that Lively actions were in violation of international law.
Liberty Counsel*, which served as legal counsel for Lively, at first the ruling, that they were filing an appeal to strike Ponsor鈥檚 language in the ruling that was 鈥渘ot necessary to the disposition of the case.鈥�
Texas Legislature
Texas governor Roy Abbott that could include the anti-trans 鈥渂athroom bill鈥� that in January by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who has worked closely with the Family Research Council*. The bill restricted use of bathrooms in government buildings and public schools to 鈥渂iological sex.鈥�
Abbott told a news conference that the session would begin in July (HuffPo July 18) and the first item of business would be approving a bill that would keep some state agencies open. If that bill is approved by the state Senate, then he would allow for consideration of nearly twenty other items, and those could include a bathroom bill.
The 鈥渂athroom bill鈥� had stalled, but was revived and , H.B. 2899, bans local regulation of discrimination and prohibits cities, counties, and school districts from passing any anti-discrimination measures to protect people already protected under state law. The bill would also nullify extant policies in San Antonio, Dallas, and other Texas cities that allow transgender people to use public restrooms in accordance with their gender identities.
