Thursday, October 29, 2015

NOM's Brian Brown - use religious liberty laws to undermine marriage equality

Brian Brown
Supporters of religious liberty laws contend that these laws protect the businesses, livelihoods, and integrity of Christians by keeping them from facing possible legal consequences of discriminating against married gay couples.

However, some of us believe that these laws have a more sinister purpose than merely "protecting Christians," and thanks to National Organization for Marriage President Brian Brown, we have a bit of confirmation about this.

Where else but yesterday at the World Congress of Families (i.e. Legion of Homophobia) conference did Brown put his foot in his mouth.

From Right Wing Watch:

Brian Brown from the National Organization for Marriage followed (Cathy) Ruse (of the Family Research Council) and matched her tone of defiance against “our unelected masters.” The Supreme Court didn’t change the definition of marriage, he said, it “put a lie into the law” — just like slavery and the Dred Scott decision. Brown said that there’s no time for activists to be depressed. Citing the history of Christian martyrs, abolitionists and civil rights activists, he mocked people who don’t want to take a stand because some of their Facebook friends might say mean things about them.

“Instead of being depressed, we should savor the fact that we live at a point in history, like those times before, in which we can stand for the truth, make a difference, and God has put us here for some reason. This fight is not over. It has just begun.” 

 Brown proposed four goals for the anti-marriage-equality movement:

Affirm continually and publicly that marriage is by nature a union of a man and a woman.

 Reject the Supreme Court’s decision as illegitimate

Overturn the decision, perhaps through decades of struggle or perhaps with new Supreme Court justices appointed by a Republican president elected in 2016

Contain the damage in the meanwhile by passing laws that allow public officials and businesspeople to refuse to have anything to do with gay couples’ marriages.

Brown's goals are laughable, but number four is the one we should pay attention to because it confirms all of the negatives lgbts and allies have been saying about religious liberty laws.

Religious liberty laws are not about protecting faith. Faith has nothing to do with it but be a diversionary ploy. When you strip the diversion away, you are left with the same message segregation gave African-Americans, i.e. that they are inferior and have no right to dignity.

By that same token, religious liberty laws are not to designed to keep a bakery or a flower shop from participating in something that's against the owners' faith.  Rather, these laws are designed to send a message to gay couples that their marriage is and will always be inferior or nonexistent in the eyes of some people.  Now anyone can have this personal opinion about marriage equality, but attempts to enshrine this nastiness by way of law is just plain wrong.

And exploiting faith to undermine any couple's love and legal rights is simply ugly.

'Peter LaBarbera admits anti-gay movement sees him as a liability' & other Thur midday news briefs

LaBarbera
Peter LaBarbera Laments That He's Too 'Anti-Gay' For Rest Of The Politically Correct Anti-Gay Movement - I've heard rumors about this for a long time and now "Porno Pete" just confirmed it. To a movement attempting to drift away from blatant homophobia and a direct reliance on junk science and cherry-picked science to  very false portrayals of "persecuted Christian family advocate victims," activists like LaBarbera are now liabilities. Much like racists claimed not to be "anti-black, but pro-white," the anti-gay industry is now claiming that they aren't "anti-gay, but pro-family," but LaBarberas of that bunch are helping to ruin the game because they are too stubborn to change or move out of the way." Stand your ground, "Porno Pete!" 

Dear Ben Carson: Actually, You Are a 'Homophobe' If You're Opposed to Marriage Equality Now - An answer to Ben Carson's mea culpa that the lgbt community has heard SO MANY TIMES from anti-gay folks.  

Spotted: Ben Carson’s PAC Joins Anti-LGBT World Congress of Families Conference - And then there is this teaming up with the "Legion of Homophobia" which NO ONE in the media will probably EVER ask him about.

 Wherever does Robert George find the time to do anything for Princeton University? - Speaking of well connected anti-lgbt groups and personalities, while we fix too much attention on public faces, people like Robert George are building nasty alliances behind the scenes. We need to pay attention to stuff like this.

Lesbian Couple Files Lawsuit After Hawaii Cop Arrested Them For Kissing - Not the last we will be hearing of this case.