Thursday, October 12, 2017

Values Voter Summit promises to be an orgy of hypocrisy and hate

Don't let them fool you with their false piety and flowery language about protecting faith, God, and country.

The Family Research Council's upcoming weekend event, Values Voter Summit, will be nothing more than a bunch of self-righteous, hateful folks giving both Christianity and conservatism bad names as they gather to lick the boots of a madman and plan what mayhem they will cause for those of us who don't fit their definition of purity.

Kinda like a Nazi rally without the ugly battleship grey uniforms.

Trump will be giving the keynote address Friday night, no doubt leaving the crowd drooling over what they can get away with his Administration. And, according to Right Wing Watch, the following are a few of the other attendees (aside from the usual cast of vile characters - Tony Perkins, James Dobson, Todd Starnes, Michelle Malkin, etc):

Roy Moore:

Moore is likely to get a hero’s welcome in spite of revelations this week that he took more than $1 million from the nonprofit he founded, the Foundation for Moral Law, between 2007 and 2012, which the Washington Post reported “far surpassed what the group disclosed in its public tax filings most of those years.” On top of that, Moore’s political career has been funded in part by Michael Peroutka, who has been active in Christian Reconstructionist and neo-Confederate groups and promotes the idea that a certain interpretation of biblical law should trump civil laws. Moore has repeatedly put his own religious beliefs above the law. He is intensely hostile to legal equality for LGBT Americans, arguing that homosexual relationships should be criminalized. And his avowed devotion to religious liberty seemingly extends only to those who share his faith.

 David and Jason Benham:

 Anti-LGBT activists David and Jason Benham have parlayed a cancelled television show into a career as supposed martyrs to political correctness. They said last month that hurricanes striking the U.S. were a warning for the U.S. to repent for “breaching the boundaries” of God on gender, sexuality and marriage. The Benhams, who portray themselves as champions of free speech, once urged the city council in their home town of Charlotte, North Carolina, to ignore the First Amendment rights of LGBT activists and deny them permits to hold pride events. This summer they asserted unequivocally, “Discrimination against gay people simply does not exist.”

Travis Weber:

 Travis Weber, director of the Family Research Council’s “Center for Religious Liberty,” took part in a trans-Atlantic summit this year in which anti-LGBT and anti-choice culture warriors asked, “How far can we get?”

 Everett Piper:

 Piper gave a rousing culture warrior’s closing keynote to the 2015 summit of the World Congress of Families, which works to restrict LGBT rights and reproductive freedom around the globe. Piper has described WCF’s critics as “a hateful people who hate anyone who dares stand in their way of hating God.” At a 2015 conference organized by anti-gay activist Jim Garlow, Piper described the Obama White House as “seemingly more aligned with the Muslim Brotherhood than Franklin Graham.” Piper was listed earlier this year as a member of the education committee of the secretive far-right Council for National Policy.

The Southern Poverty Law Center calls FRC's event a "peak convergence of anti-LGBT and anti-Muslim movements"

 At least 10 of the speakers are representatives of anti-Muslim organizations or have a well-documented history of espousing anti-Muslim rhetoric. These include figures like Brigitte Gabriel head of ACT for America, the largest anti-Muslim group in the country who has said that practicing Muslims “cannot be loyal citizens of the United States” and conspiracy theorist Frank Gaffney, head of the anti-Muslim think tank Center for Security Policy (CSP) who said of Somali refugees in 2015, “I don’t know about you, but it kind of creeps me out that they are getting jobs in the food supply of the United States.”  
The anti-LGBT individuals participating at the 2017 event also have a history of bashing Muslims, many from the VVS pulpit. At the 2016 summit, Gary Bauer proclaimed “America was not founded on the Quran and thank God for that.” Jerry Boykin, an FRC vice president who acts as a major bridge between the anti-Muslim and anti-LGBT movements, has argued that Islam should not be protected under the First Amendment. 

SPLC also suggests the following steps for anyone who wants to combat the bigotry and lies put forth by the summit and especially FRC:
Let people know that President Trump is lending the legitimacy of his office to a hate group that relentlessly demonizes LGBT people and works to deny them of their equal rights.  
Share this message on social media. Expose the Family Research Council's true values.  
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Educate yourself. Read our profile on the Family Research Council.  
Take action against hate in your community. Follow our 10 Ways to Fight Hate guide.

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