Like ISIS, US Christian Extremists Advocate Killing Gays – But ISIS Is Actually Doing It

ISIS executes a gay man by pushing him off  of a rooftop
ISIS executes a gay man by pushing him off of a rooftop

While ISIS has been barraging the world media with horrific images — burning a Jordanian pilot alive and beheading journalists, aid workers and, most recently, 21 Egyptian Christians — it has also been executing gay men by hurling them to their deaths off of rooftops and other high places. Two men were also reportedly crucified for being gay.

ISIS appears to be handling these two kinds of public murders differently. By releasing videos of its executions of hostages, ISIS seeks international publicity as a gambit to stoke outrage, fear and horror in order to lure the civilized world into an Armageddon-like conflagration in the Middle East. The executions of gay men are handled with less fanfare, however, because ISIS views these murders as simply carrying out God’s judgment for the sin of homosexuality, based on scriptures in the Koran.

Most Americans view this sort of barbarism toward gays with detachment — it’s a faraway Muslim death cult acting out its extremist views. In fact, on the issue of homosexuality, ISIS is aligned with Christian extremists right here in the United States, many of whom also interpret God’s law as calling for the execution of gays.

There is a key difference, of course. While Christianists advocate killing gays, ISIS is actually doing it.

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GOP Hate Group Leader Tony Perkins Cites Research from Dr. George ‘Rentboy’ Rekers’ Phony Group to Justify Anti-Gay Smears

It’s apparent now that the corporate media has chosen to ignore the fact that that the Family Research Center, a group that is openly affiliated with the mainstream Republican Party, has been named to the official list of U.S. hate groups by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Don’t hold your breath waiting for some ace reporter to ask Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.), winner of the FRC’s Value Voters Summit presidential straw poll, if he stands by his endorsement by a high-profile hate group.

Unlike representatives from, say, the Ku Klux Klan, Aryan Nation and other race-based hate groups on the list, FRC openly consults with and lobbies Republican members of Congress. It also sponsors the GOP-oriented “Values Voter Summit” in Washington, which features a must-do presidential candidate cattle call that is open only to Republicans.

Christine O’Donnell made her first public appearance at the Summit after winning the Delaware primary this year, and Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind., won the presidential straw poll. But don’t hold your breath waiting for some ace reporter to ask him if he stands by his endorsement by a high-profile hate group.

In a just world, corporate media would shun the FRC, just as it shuns race-based hate groups. After all, it’s been decades since the media felt an obligation to give the Klan or Aryan Nation a national platform for their views. That’s because the media — and our society as a whole — reached a consensus long ago that there really are not two legitimate sides in the debate over civil rights for racial minorities.

Unfortunately, we’re apparently a decade or two away from reaching the same consensus about the gay rights debate.

Case in point: Last night, MSNBC gave a national platform to FRC Pres. Tony Perkins on “Hardball with Chris Matthews,” ostensibly so Perkins could defend his organization and explain why its designation as a hate-group is wrong.

Instead, Perkins chose to double-down on some of the same lies and smears that led to the FRC being named to the hate group list:

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Southern Poverty Law Center Adds Anti-Gay Organizations with GOP Ties to Hate Groups List

Leaders of newly named hate groups: 1. Tony Perkins, Family Research Council; 2. Beverly La Haye, center, with former Nevada Republican Senate candidate Sharron Angle and Angle's husband; 3. Maggie Gallagher, NOM; 4. Tim Wildom, American Family Association; 5. Mathew Staver, Liberty Counsel
Leaders of newly named hate groups: 1. Tony Perkins, Family Research Council; 2. Beverly La Haye, center, founder of Concerned Women for America, with former Nevada Republican Senate candidate Sharron Angle and Angle's husband; 3. Maggie Gallagher, National Organization for Marriage; 4. Tim Wildom, American Family Association; 5. Mathew Staver, Liberty Counsel

Apologists Demand Govt Stop Funding SPLC – But Quick Check Confirms SPLC Accepts No Govt Funding

You may have missed it in the pre-holiday buzz last week but the Southern Poverty Law Center has added some of the Republican Party’s most prominent interest groups — all of which promote anti-gay agendas — to its official list of hate groups operating in the United States:

Generally, the SPLC’s listings of these groups is based on their propagation of known falsehoods — claims about LGBT people that have been thoroughly discredited by scientific authorities — and repeated, groundless name-calling. Viewing homosexuality as unbiblical does not qualify organizations for listing as hate groups.

One thing that ties together the newly named hate groups is their connection to the evangelical base of the Republican Party. While it’s true that long-standing groups on the hate list — organizations that promote racial and ethnic hatred like the KKK and Aryan Nation, for example — are part and parcel of the conservative movement, the GOP has largely shunned interaction with these groups, at least publicly.

But many of the newly named hate groups are openly affiliated with the GOP. Unlike, say, the KKK, representatives of these hate groups openly lobby Republican members of Congress. They produce voter guides on which all the candidates listed are Republicans. Through their political action committees, some of them endorse and contribute to GOP candidates. One of them, the Family Research Council, even hosts a candidates forum that exclusively includes Republicans.

Five of the newly named hate groups that have particularly strong ties to the Republican Party include:

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Michele Bachmann Tells a Slanderous Lie about Speaker Pelosi at ‘Values’ Conclave

As lying politicians go, few can top Minnesota GOP Rep. Michele Bachmann. But she outdid herself on Friday — in front of an annual meeting sponsored by a Christian-oriented hate group, no less — when she claimed that Speaker Nancy Pelosi had spent $100,000 of taxpayer money on booze.

At the Values Voter Conference, sponsored by the anti-gay activist group Family Research Council, in Washington, Bachmann took the podium and made this outrageous statement:

BACHMANN: “Unlimited credit cards for our elected leaders have become an in entitlement. like Speaker Pelosi, who has been busy sticking the taxpayer with her $100,000 bar tab for alcohol on the military jets that she’s flying.”

Facts sourced below but here are the basics:

  • Pelosi does not drink. (Bachmann have confused Pelosi with Republican Speaker Wanna-Be John Boehner who is famous in the capital for doing nothing but boozing, schmoozing and playing golf with lobbyists.)
  • Bachmann’s lie is based on propaganda from two right-wing outlets with zero credibility, Judicial Watch and World Net Daily.
  • The original “research” looked at expenses official government trips called “congressional delegations” or CODELs, in which members of Congress go on fact-finding tours and inspections.
  • Judicial Watch deceptively did not compare Pelosi’s spending with her predecessor’s. Speaker Hastert’s spending was slightly higher.

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