Steve Crampton

The other day, Matt Barber and Steve Crampton of Liberty Counsel were discussing the Supreme Court's decision to hear arguments on Proposition 8 later this year, when Crampton warned that any decision to strike it down would put society "on the verge of total collapse."

The two followed that up with a discussion of the related decision to by the court to hear arguments over the Defense of Marriage Act, which both Barber and Crampton discussed in an equally reasonable fashion, with Barber warning that gay marriage will be the sledgehammer that crushes religious liberty in America while Crampton proclaimed that the homosexual agenda "will eradicate us and they will not stop until the homosexual totalitarian view of the world is forcefully imposed on every American":

October 30 is "Mix It Up at Lunch Day" which encourages students to "move out of their comfort zones and connect with someone new over lunch." The point of the effort is to break up cliques and get students to spend time with different groups of people, but because it is a project of the Southern Poverty Law Center, the Religious Right vehemently opposes it, falsely claiming that "it’s just another thinly veiled attempt to promote the homosexual agenda."

Today, Liberty Counsel's Matt Barber and Steve Crampton weighed in to warn about the dangers of "Mix It Up" day ... despite obviously having absolutely no idea what it is actually about, as Crampton bizarrely asserted that it was a day "where boys can wear girls clothes [or] pretend to be homosexual" or even dress up like an uptight, judgmental Christian who tells everyone they are going to Hell in order to "make fun of Christianity by mocking it": 

On today's episode of Liberty Counsel's "Faith and Freedom" radio program, hosts Steve Crampton and Harry Mihet were discussing the Pentagon's decision to no longer allow Bibles to be published bearing the official emblems of the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps; a move which has, predictably, outraged the Religious Right.

Somehow Crampton and Mihet managed to tie this issue to a recent Senate hearing on the Employment Nondiscrimination Act (ENDA,) prompting Crampton to marvel that a transgender person was actually allowed to testify on behalf of the legislation and complain that ENDA is not about "equal rights" but rather "special rights" for gays and cross-dressers.  

Crampton stated that if ENDA passed, he could come into work - "God forbid," he said - wearing a dress and would be allowed to use the women's restroom.  "In years past," Crampton said, "we had another word for this: it's called insanity":

After the American Family Association closed its Center for Law and Policy, right-wing attorney Steve Crampton joined up with another fervently anti-gay group, Liberty Counsel, where he now serves as the organization’s Vice President of Legal Affairs. Yesterday, he appeared on VCY America’s Crosstalk with host Jim Schneider to discuss Liberty Counsel’s claim that the Department of Justice compelled a public university in Arkansas to allow a transgender woman, Jennifer Braly, to access the women’s restroom.

However, the DOJ says that it simply sent a letter to the university, following protocol, to notify the school that they received a complaint from the woman, noting that “department’s letter stressed that it had reached no conclusions as to whether a violation of federal law had occurred. This was an initial inquiry, and the department never directed the university to take a specific action or change any of its policies.”

Crampton spent his time on Crosstalk by twisting that fact and attacking the LGBT community. He said Braly is “confused” and under a “delusion,” arguing that she and “those who really hate God” are “attempting to destroy the distinctions that God has built into mankind.” Later, Crampton wondered, “If I self-identify as the President of the United States, am I then entitled access to the Oval Office, can I go stay the night in the White House because that’s who I think I am?”

In response to a caller who compared homosexuality to cigarette smoking, Crampton and the host agreed that it is inconsistent for the government to defend the rights of LGBT people while opposing smoking, alcoholism and obesity. Crampton dubbed homosexuality “the most dangerous lifestyle out there,” asserting that it is “virtually a suicidal undertaking”:

Schneider: We put all these rules and laws and disclaimers on packs of cigarettes and alcohol and all these issues but, what about homosexuality? What about its impact upon health? We have the First Lady who is out making sure we don’t sell soda and potato chips in our schools but what about this Steve, in which we are actually seeing a shortened life expectancy by those who are practicing the very lifestyle that the Department of Justice is promoting?

Crampton: Again, an excellent point from the caller. The data is in, even the homosexuals’ own researchers, the CDC and the federal government all confirm what we have long known: homosexuality may be the most dangerous lifestyle out there, with respect to their own people. This is virtually a suicidal undertaking, and there risky behavior increases year after year despite all the educational efforts and attempts to distribute condoms and so forth. In response to the question, what about that argument? Rest assured, we make that argument regularly. Sadly, there is a blindness both on the part of the homosexuals themselves and frankly on the part of the courts for the most part. It is just too hot a potato for the courts to take under these circumstances, so the argument has not proven all that successful. But as you point out Jim, the double standard is just stark and startling in its application here isn’t it? Cigarette smoke, sodas at the school, you can’t pass out candy at certain schools and so forth, and yet they want to say ‘just come on down’ for this homosexual lifestyle.

Crampton concluded by warning that the “ruthless” supporters of the “homosexual agenda” are not attempting to have equality but are instead trying to “do away with the church” as they are “dead set against Christianity and all that America has stood for over the ages”:

When we put into office a man who has come out and openly embraced same-sex marriage as a civil right we should not be surprised that his Department of Justice is really not about neutrality, this is about the promotion and furthering of a particular agenda. An agenda, by the way, that I think is wholly inconsistent with and perhaps contradictory to the foundational principles on which our nation was built. It is dead set against Christianity and all that America has stood for over the ages.

…

It really isn’t about equality, is it? You know, a lot of folks want to go to sleep on this issue, don’t want to discuss the homosexual agenda, want to say, ‘let’s just leave them alone; after all, they’re not hurting anyone.’ But this is where it leads. Inevitably, once they seize power, they are ruthless in wielding it.

…

You know the oft-used phrase of Edmund Burke, ‘All it takes for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.’ I’m afraid, in the end, the buck stops with us, does it not? We know better as believers and we have condoned by our inaction the takeover of our institutions and our political power as well, it’s been said here by [callers] Jerry and Judy and others, it is high time, it is beyond time, for believers to get on our knees and take it back. There is what scripture says is a natural enmity between the world and God and the church, and that enmity is playing itself out now. Christians and true religion is identified as an enemy of the state. They are not out there to gain equality; they are out there to do away with the church.

A recent issue of high school newspaper in Wisconsin featuring a pro-con editorial debate on the issue of adoption by gay couples is generating controversy due to the fact that the "con" side of the argument was filled with multiple passages calling homosexuality an "abomination" and citations of Bible verses calling for gays to be put to death:

For good measure, the author even managed to cram in a citation of notorious anti-gay "researcher" Paul Cameron. 

School officials have apologized for the piece and so, of course, the professional anti-gay bigots at Liberty Counsel are outraged and accusing the school of censorship:

In its statement, the school “sincerely apologized” -- not for allowing the topic to begin with, but rather, for the Biblical viewpoint presented by one student. The school claimed that the censored article created a “negative environment.” Liberty Counsel believes that school officials have violated the First Amendment protections of both free expression and religious freedom ... Steve Crampton, Vice President of Legal Affairs and General Counsel for Liberty Counsel, commented: “When you censor one side of the debate and allow the other side to fully present their case, you have hopelessly skewed the argument and effectively endorsed one side. Shawano’s actions were not only unconstitutional, but were also the highest form of educational hypocrisy. This is not education, it is indoctrination. The school should apologize – not for the student’s viewpoint, but for its shameful censorship.”

Of course, as we have noted before, there is something rather ironic about people who work for an organization affiliated with a university that blocks access to critical newspapers and refuses to allow the formation of a Democratic Club on campus to be complaining about censorship and indoctrination.

• Tomorrow, Ralph Reed will announce whether or not he has decided to run for Congress in Georgia.
• Last week, Marco Rubio joined Tony Perkins, Harry Jackson, and others for a Watchmen on the Wall event in Florida entitled "iMPACT 2010: Unleashing the Voice of the Church."
• It looks like WorldNetDaily's conference is out to bring all of the right-wing crazies together under one roof.
• Someone is running robocalls in Iowa accusing Rick Santorum of being a "pro-life fraud."
• Ken Hutcherson blasts Focus on the Family for supposedly forcing James Dobson out and for not hiring him to take over, even though he wouldn't have taken the job anyway.
• Quote of the Day I from the Liberty Counsel's Steve Crampton regarding LC's fight to prevent a lesbian high school student from taking her girlfriend to the Prom: "In all candor, while we know nothing about the complaining student here, we believe this is part of a larger agenda to implement homosexual rights in the schools."
• Quote of the Day II from Janice Crouse on gay marriage: "In actuality, homosexual unions have a very short lifespan; many of the same-sex “marriages” in Massachusetts are already being dissolved. Further, the health risks associated with homosexual practice are very real and very much in evidence in the emergency rooms of hospitals. There is no denying: Homosexual sex is dangerous and destructive to the human body. Both HIV and HPV are epidemic among homosexual men. Domestic violence is a common problem — twice as prevalent among homosexual couples as in heterosexual ones. Indeed, legally creating a union does not enable two men or two women to become “one flesh,” nor does a legal ceremony give the union sanctity. Instead, the ceremony creates a sham that will devalue all marriages."