| At the crossroads to the world in Times Square, Christmas shoppers and New Year's Eve revelers will be greeted by Citizens for Transparency's "No Gays Allowed" billboard. The gay rights champions implore people to STOP Alliance Defending Freedom by visiting NoGays.org. |
Gay rights champion Citizens for Transparency shines a light on the gay hating Christian legal beagles who represented the aggrieved baker in the Masterpiece Cakeshop case, with a big prominent billboard in Times Square. Laura Ingraham and Fox Snooze aids and abets this dark and sinister organization, by amplifying their message and spreading their insidious brand of anti-LGBT hate.
Washington, D.C. – From the ‘gimme a gay break department’... The lesbian gay bisexual and transgender community is outraged by the verbal attacks and manufactured anger exhibited by a homophobic television entertainer and her guest, the double talking senior counsel for a Christian hate group. (The hypocrisy is stunning)
Watch the video (embedded below) and judge for yourself. It’s a political attack ad commercial masquerading as a news story. You'll see a hate group's anti-LGBT propaganda go unchallenged, and yet another Fox Snooze show is a fact free zone.
Critical thinking is “the objective analysis of facts to form a judgment.” Whether we see a story on a television newscast, or read it in a newspaper, if verifiable FACTS are missing from the reporting, we must conclude that a story isn’t credible. That's what fake news is, and that’s exactly what we see here.
Laura Ingraham’s Ingraham Angle continues to magnify anti-gay right-wing propaganda and hate speech, and doesn’t allow gay activists to respond and appear on her show. She doesn't allow anyone to challenge her LIES.
Ten days ago Fox Snooze entertainer Laura Ingraham began an outrageous segment on The Ingraham Angle by alleging a conservative group was targeted with a smear campaign by a nasty leftist political group (of gay rights activists).
Ingraham has a series called ‘Defending the First’ where she supposedly exposes individuals and groups opposed to the First Amendment. The ‘First’ guarantees free speech, a free press, freedom from religion, freedom of religion, and bans the government from establishing a state religion.
I have no idea how often The Ingraham Angle airs the ‘Defending the First’ series. Consider that the biggest opponent of the First Amendment currently resides at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, and we know the Trump News Channel disallows criticism of their patron saint. So much for free speech.
The program guide described the clash like a lover’s quarrel. “Progressive activists label the conservative legal organization Alliance Defending Freedom as a hate group to shut down any debate.”
What’s this brouhaha really about? What does this Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) group do? I never heard of them.
The LGBTQ rights organization Citizens for Transparency placed a prominent billboard in Times Square that says “NO GAYS ALLOWED” and “STOP Alliance Defending Freedom – Learn more at NoGays.org.”
Visitors to the NoGays.org website will find extensive research and documentation about Alliance Defending Freedom’s lengthy anti-gay and transphobic record, with links to research and news articles (aka facts) to support their conclusion that this organization actively promotes hate.
Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) is a Christian-based legal organization founded in 1994 by thirty self-proclaimed ‘Christian leaders’. The list of founders reads like a who’s who list of prominent anti-gay purveyors of hate.
ADF’s work has largely flown under the national radar until recently. They assembled the Christian legal army that represented the Colorado baker in the Masterpiece Cakeshop vs. Colorado Civil Rights Commission case, before the Supreme Court.
ADF is an anti-equality organization. They oppose equality for women, and actively campaign to restrict a woman’s ability to make her own healthcare decisions. In spite of the Obergefell marriage ruling, they’re still against gay marriage and civil unions, adoptions by same-sex couples, and any anti-discrimination legislation to protect LGBTQ people from discrimination in employment and public accomodation.
The billboard in Times Square highlights Alliance Defending Freedom’s long record of opposition to LGBT rights, and ADF doesn’t like it.
LAURA INGRAHAM: Time now for our ‘Defending the First’ series where we expose enemies of the first amendment, free expression, and free thought.
They played a role in 54 victories in front of the Supreme Court and have defended families and marriage, but now they’re being targeted by forces on the left in an effort to blunt their effectiveness.
The conservative Alliance Defending Freedom was targeted by this DISGUSTING billboard campaign in New York City’s Time Square.
She said they played a role in 54 Supreme Court victories. What does 'played a role' mean? Criminal defendants sometimes 'play a role' and win Supreme Court cases. Does 'playing a role' in a case legitimize their mission? Nope.
In ADF’s marketing and promotional materials, they claim to have “played a role” in 54 Supreme Court victories. If “playing a role” includes filing amicus briefs (any individual or organization can a file friend of the court brief in a Supreme Court case) to support or oppose a case, they’re inflating and overstating their influence. I suspect that’s what’s happening here, and Ingraham gets an 'F' for not explaining where this number came from.
Ingraham isn’t a journalist and isn’t held to the same standards as a journalist (just like entertainer Sean Hannity). She doesn’t feel any responsibility to stick to the facts, and said the Times Square billboard is disgusting. What most LGBT people find disgusting is any organization that believes we are second-class citizens without any rights. That's what ADF believes.
When she introduced ADF’s senior counsel Jeremy Tedesco, she told him she has a gay brother. I don’t know if she was trying to establish credibility with viewers at home, or if she was warning him. Who was she was pandering to? (If you have an idea or want to speculate, let us know in the comment section)
She said “Jeremy I have a gay brother and I love him very much, so I didn’t like that sign at all. I thought it was hideous. That was a group opposing your group – what’s going on here.”
Ingraham does indeed have an estranged gay brother. If she has an ounce of respect for him or his friends, or LGBT people at all, she’d be disgusted by ADF. Why was this ADF promotional video so one-sided? Why didn’t she invite someone with an opposing view to challenge them? I guess "fair and balanced" no longer applies.
We must expose ADF's lies to reveal the truth. Groups like ADF HATE the sunlight.
The senior counsel said the "sign is preposterous” (not a factual statement – merely his opinion). Then he falsely asserted his legal organization is the most successful respected supreme court advocate in the country. That's completely UNTRUE. Hellooo! Ever heard of the ACLU?
Then he claimed they “protect everybody’s freedoms.” Aside from this being untrue too, if he’d said they protect a Christian individual’s right to discriminate, it would have been an honest answer.
Then he declared the billboard “completely misrepresents everything our cases are about.” Actually, the billboard is accurate and Tedesco's misrepresenting ADF’s record. He can say anything since every statement he makes goes unchallenged.
He described their client's as “creative professional clients” and falsely asserted “they serve everyone.” If that were true there wouldn’t have been the Masterpiece Bakery lawsuit and Supreme Court case. After saying ADF protects everybody’s freedom, their clients serve everyone, and we don’t discriminate, the doublespeak started.
JEREMY TEDESCO: They just can’t create art promoting every message. And that’s the most important thing. Jack Phillips we just won his case at the Supreme Court. He’s a cake artist. He declined to create a cake celebrating same-sex marriage.
LAURA INGRAHAM: Would you represent a gay group if their first amendment rights were being violated.
JEREMY TEDESCO: Well absolutely. We we we we we (note: he stutters and stumbles here) support the rights of everybody. Our wins...our wins are for everybody.
LAURA INGRAHAM: They should know that.Who is they? Who should know what? I nearly wet my pants from laughing at this point.
ADF does NOT support gay people’s right to marry, or any LGBT rights at all. Our community knows about ADF. We’re aware of their mission to dehumanize and denigrate us. Hence the charge “No Gays Allowed” is more than appropriate.
Hate groups and anti-LGBT rights organizations are very much alive and they keep fighting to deny us our rights.
It’s sad but true that there are dark forces opposed to gay rights, transgender rights, women’s rights, gender equality, racial equality and social justice. They are against equality period. ADF is one of many anti-equality organizations in the United States.
The biggest mistake we make today is to allow these political organizations to define these arguments as right versus left, because it’s a false representation of the issues. How we treat and respect people is a moral issue, not something to debate in the public square.
Equal rights and equal protection under the law is guaranteed by the Constitution. If anyone mistreats someone or discriminates and denies someone service due to sex, race, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, or gender identity, they’re breaking the law and there are consequences for that.
Tedesco maintains that the “free speech and free exercise and conscience rights we protect, are rights that we all benefit from.” That statement goes unchallenged too. ADF fights for a Christian’s rights - not gay rights. They demand tolerance for their religious views, while they’re intolerant of our very existence.
LGBT people don’t benefit from anything ADF stands for. In fact, ADF is opposed to First Amendment rights for the gay community. It’s fascinating that Fox Snooze and Ingraham fail to recognize their hypocrisy.
LAURA INGRAHAM: The Southern Poverty Law Center figures in here.Some Republicans despise the Southern Poverty Law Center, because they’ve rightly classified several right-wing organizations as “hate groups.” Ingraham clearly has no respect for the SPLC.
The Southern Poverty Law Center largely put the Klan out of business, and both the ADF and the Klan are hate groups. Does Fox Snooze give the Klan free air time? Nope. But they give it to ADF.
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is one of the most prominent civil rights organizations in the country. SPLC has opponents and detractors on both sides of the political spectrum, because they track and expose political extremists.
SPLC rose to national prominence in the late 1970’s and 1980’s because of their overwhelming success in courtrooms to fight and eliminate racist organizations affiliated with white supremacists and the Klu Klux Klan.
That work led to the creation of their Intelligence Project to monitor and track hate groups and extremists. If an organization has “beliefs or practices that attack or malign an entire class of people, typically for their immutable characteristics,” they might be classified as a hate group.
In addition to their legal work related to civil rights, the SPLC is considered to be an authority on extremism and hate in America, and they work with the FBI and train law enforcement agencies about extremism. A recent Christian Science Monitor news article noted the “Southern Poverty Law Center’s annual list of extremist groups in the United States is often seen as an authoritative survey of racist and anti-government activity.”
Right-wing organizations who object to their inclusion on SPLC’s list of extremist organizations falsely claim an anti-conservative bias. The SPLC publishes their criterion for being classified as a hate group, and being “conservative” isn’t one of them.
What now Batman?
When will people accept it’s impermissible to attack a sexual minority? No one chooses to be gay. Our choice is to live an unfulfilling and oppressive life in the closet, or to come out and live out loud.
ADF may find limited success in a courtroom, and I can promise we’ll fight them tooth and nail for as long as they oppose our existence and humanity. Their singular pursuit to deny us our rights under the guise of religious freedom will further alienate them from mainstream thought.
Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness isn’t preserved for just Christian folks, it’s for all Americans, and that’s a fact I can prove.
Too bad ADF can’t do the same. They’re pretty pathetic. Find out the facts when you visit nogays.org and you’ll see what I’m talking about.
Stand up and fight back against Christian terrorists. People's lives depend on it.
This post first appeared on Jive 415 Gay LGBT Blog | News Analysis Political, please read the originial post: here
