Matt Barber

Last week, the Associated Press ran an article about new sexual education guidelines that were released by a coalition of health and education groups.  The guidelines had various requirements based on grade level and in paraphrasing the suggestions for second graders, the AP wrote that "students should use the correct body part names for the male and female anatomy, and also understand that all living things reproduce and that all people have the right to not be touched if they don't want to be."

And that, of course, was proof to Matt Barber that liberal groups are trying to sexually indoctrinate young children:

The guidelines say that students should use the correct body part names for the male and female anatomy. How dare they! That's up to parents to decide!

And understand that all living things reproduce and that all people have the right not to be touched - okay, that's good. I sit down with my children and I teach them at. Again, this is for parents. Now, educating children about potential sexual abuse, that's a good thing, but listen to this: the right not to be touched if they do not want to be touched. Again, don't you love how they inject the poison pill into that. So again, this is the values neutral notion.

Children as young as second grade, you have the right not to be touched unless you want to be touched. If you want to engage in sexual behavior and you're in second grade, why, more power to you, second grader. No time to watch SpongeBob, you want to go hook up with some other second grader? It's disgusting, it's despicable what they're doing and I don't know about you folks, but it makes me angry!

Of course, if anyone is "sexualizing" these recommendations, it is Barber, as he is the one assuming that telling children that they have the right to tell people not to touch them "if they do not want to be touched" is really some nefarious plot to encourage second grade students to engage in sexual behavior.

The right-wing legal foundation Liberty Counsel is representing a former Macy’s employee who was fired when she violated company policy and refused to allow a transgender woman to use the woman’s changing room to try on clothes. In the weeks since the incident, Liberty Counsel chairman Mat Staver has made the rounds to disparage and attack transgender Americans as well as Macy’s for respecting the rights of LGBT customers.

Staver has previously warned that Macy’s policy could lead to rape by enabling male rapists to claim they are female and then assault women in changing rooms. Today on Faith & Freedom, Staver went even further by repeating accusations made by an unnamed tipster that Macy’s is actively covering up a string of sexual assaults, including rape, at its stores. Staver did not seem to know much about the tipster or his claims, but that did not stop him from repeating them. Staver’s deputy, Matt Barber, went on to say that he wasn’t surprised by the accusations. After all, Barber said, the “homosexual activist lobby and people who are trapped in the homosexual lifestyle” are “in constant rebellion with order, with their natural order, with natural law, with biology.”

Watch:

Staver: We also have another individual that contacted us, Matt, who said that he was sort of a trouble shooter, I forgot the exact title that he was working in in Macy’s, and he brought to Macy’s the issue of these men going into the women’s fitting rooms.

Barber: Probably working in corporate security or loss prevention.

Staver: Loss prevention or something of that nature. He brought to their attention articles from around the country where people had gone into Macy’s, and some other stores but specifically Macy’s, women had gone in and they had been sexually assaulted in these fitting rooms by men that have been coming into those fitting rooms, and even rapes. He brought this to the attention of Macy’s to address this policy and he said rather than address it he was terminated.

Barber: Not surprising, they are pulling the wool over their own eyes here. That’s the hallmark of the homosexual activist lobby and people who are trapped in the homosexual lifestyle, they are in constant rebellion with order, with their natural order, with natural law, with biology, obviously a man can’t be a woman and a woman can’t be a man. Groups like the Human Rights Campaign are constantly raising the bar, moving the goal posts if you will, they have their Corporate Equality Index and they use that in order to strong arm companies into signing off on every single one of their demands.

It is fascinating to watch all the Religious Right activists who have jumped on the Tim Tebow bandwagon fume that not everyone shares their adoration for him.  It is even more fascinating to watch them try to come up with explanations as to why the Denver Broncos quarterback has become such a polarizing figure.

The question of why so many people dislike Tebow was the topic of Liberty Counsel's "Faith and Freedom" program today where Matt Barber offered up a new explanation that we had not heard before - people hate Tebow because he is saving himself for marriage:

Tim Tebow is proud to acknowledge that he is saving himself, respecting God's design for human sexuality between a man and a woman within the bonds of marriage. He also is an advocate for purity. This young, good looking, strapping, athletic man is defying our pop culture today, so that drives them crazy even further.

...

We need to be praying for Tim Tebow because the Scripture also says we fight not flesh and blood but powers and principalities and Tim Tebow's going to be in the enemies cross-hairs right now because he is being salt and light as we're commanded to do, so he's going to be under assault. There's going to be tremendous temptation on him with young women throwing themselves at him and so forth. We need to pray that Tim Tebow will remain strong.

After Secretary of State Hillary Clinton delivered a speech announcing a new administration directive to protect the rights of LGBT people abroad, the Religious Right reacted with the predictable rage and vitriol. Pat Robertson warned that God will punish America with a “horrible” blow and the Family Research Council accused Obama of “imposing an alien ideology on other countries” for trying to stop countries from criminalizing homosexuality.

Conservative commentators ignored well-documented evidence of pervasive anti-LGBT violence around the world, as radio talk show host Janet Mefferd railed against the directive as “crazy” and dismissed reports of violence against gays and lesbians, and Liberty Counsel’s Matt Barber denied reports of persecution against the LGBT community as “nonsense” and “Orwellian New Speak.” In fact, they readily defended the seventy-six countries which criminalize homosexuality:

Last week, the United Nations even released a new report [pdf] chronicling “violations for close to two decades” of killings, rape and physical attacks, torture, arbitrary detention, the denial of rights to assembly, expression and information, and discrimination in employment, health and education” against LGBT and LGBT-perceived people:

Homophobic and transphobic violence has been recorded in all regions. Such violence may be physical (including murder, beatings, kidnappings, rape and sexual assault) or psychological (including threats, coercion and arbitrary deprivations of liberty).25 These attacks constitute a form of gender-based violence, driven by a desire to punish those seen as defying gender norms.

In addition to “street” violence and other spontaneous attacks in public settings, those perceived as LGBT may be targets of more organized abuse, including by religious extremists, paramilitary groups, neo-Nazis and extreme nationalists. Young LGBT people and those of all ages who are seen to be transgressing social norms are at risk of family and community violence. Lesbians and transgender women are at particular risk because of gender inequality and power relations within families and wider society.

Violence against LGBT persons tends to be especially vicious compared to other bias-motivated crimes. According to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), homophobic hate crimes and incidents often show a high degree of cruelty and brutality and include beatings, torture, mutilation, castration and sexual assault.

The report went on to discuss how “members of sexual minorities are disproportionately subjected to torture and other forms of ill-treatment” and that the government, police, schools, health institutions and the justice system are major perpetrators of discrimination against LGBT people.

Surely, Religious Right activists will take heed of this new report….