Sign the Petition to get Congress to call out false anti-gay testimony

crossposted on Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters In June of this year during a Congressional hearing on the Defense of Marriage Act, Sen. Al Franken exposed Focus on the Family’s Tom Minnery's attempt to inaccurately cite a study to defame same-sex households. Earlier this year during another Congressional hearing on DOMA, National Organization for Marriage’s Maggie Gallagher committed the same distortion – i.e. inaccurately citing a study to defame same-sex households. Gallagher’s group (NOM) has also been called out twice by the Pulitzer Prize winning site Politifact for inaccurate negative statements it has made about the gay community. The Family Research Council was declared as an official anti-gay hate group last year by the Southern Poverty Law Center for its tendency to spread propaganda about the gay community such as gays molest children at a high level and same-sex households harm children. However, the head of the Family Research Council - Tony Perkins - is frequently called as a Congressional witness on many occasions from discussing issues of gay equality to the selection of Supreme Court judges. In addition, there are at least 11 incidents of legitimate researchers and physicians complaining that morality groups such as Focus on the Family and the Family Research Council have specifically and intentionally distorted their work to demonize the gay community. While there is a need for levity and a desire for all sides of issues involving the gay community to be heard, the constant calling upon of these “morality groups” for Congressional testimony in spite of their irregularities mentioned does present a problem in terms resolving the issues of the gay community in a fair manner. Therefore I have created a petition on Change.org asking that if ever these groups are called before Congress again, their testimony be given the highest level of scrutiny because said testimony could fraudulent. To sign the petition (and I highly advise folks to do so), go here. I decided to forgo a press release and let what I've written speak for itself. But allow me to elucidate further. Last year, the Southern Poverty Law Center broke down the lies of the religious right and how they demonize the gay community. Before SPLC's expose, the last time there was a thorough article about the religious right was in 1999 by Rolling Stone magazine. Both exposes (Rolling Stone's and SPLC's) featured almost the same cast of characters and the same accusations of lies. That means that in over 10 years time, the religious right has not altered the lies it tells about the gay community. And this is simply because the gay community has not confronted these so-called morality groups on the level that we should. The purpose of this petition is to garner attention and start a much needed confrontation with religious right groups. Their lies permeate so many aspects of our lives, from our right to marry, to our right to raise families, to our right to freely live with dignity and self-esteem.

Alvin McEwen :: Sign the Petition to get Congress to call out false anti-gay testimony