Religious right group helped to craft NC anti-gay legislation

Alvin McEwen is one of my favorites for so many reasons. I read his site every day and often pass along his hard work and reasoning. Thank you Mr. McEwen. 

 

BlackTsunami

Columbia, South Carolina, United States

Alvin McEwen is 40-year-old African-American gay man who resides in Columbia, SC. McEwen is the author of Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters: Exposing the Lies of the Anti-Gay Industry.

Some people - specifically in the gay community - underestimate the religious right. They fail to see how much power these groups have in spite of the wild words coming out of the mouths of their representatives. If you want a clue to the power of these groups, the following tidbit should give you an indication. The North Carolina legislature is presently debating an anti-marriage equality amendment. If it pass the legislature, it will be voted on in Nov. 2012. There has been a lot said about this amendment, which has just passed the House and now moves on to the Senate. But here is something you should remember:

Majority Leader Paul Stam (R) said the “public won’t get to speak because they will get to speak at the ballot box.” The proposed ballot initiative has been rescheduled to a May vote because Speaker Thom Tillis (R) wanted to remove the argument that the amendment was politically motivated by being on the November ballot.

During the Rules Committee debate, Stam acknowledged that he worked with lawyer Austin Nimocks in developing the language of the amendment. Nimocks works for the Alliance Defense Fund, an anti-gay Christian group, and he recently testified before Congress in defense of the Defense of Marriage Act.

According to Think Progress, the Allied Defense Fund has been known to spread falsehoods about marriage equality, including how it supposedly harms children and will lead to religious persecution.

But that doesn't matter, does it? All that matters is that the Alliance Defense Fund was able to work with NC legislators on this awful amendment in spite of its propensity to lie.

That's why it's necessary that the gay community work to expose the lies of religious right groups every chance we get. We need to make this exposures public and not assume that the public won't care. Sunlight is always the best disinfectant.

We need to start making the argument about them rather than us. The question should never be is the gay community deserving of equality. The question should be why are these supposed Christian groups engaging in lies and deception to keep that equality from becoming a reality.

Related post:

It's not enough to call them bigots