With hate crimes legislation moving towards a vote in the US Senate, I was thinking of pulling together a blog post cataloging all of the various lies the Religious Right has been spreading about what passage of such legislation would do.
But it turns out that I don’t have to, because the Family Research Council has more or less already done it for me by producing this video featuring Reps. Mike Pence, Sen. Jim DeMint, Bishop Harry Jackson, and David Barton of Wallbuilders that pretty much covers them all.
Pay special attention to lies spewed by Barton and DeMint, who don’t seem to understand the difference between hate crimes legislation and legislation pertaining to things like marriage equality or employment discrimination:
It seems as if the Religious Right is going all out to spread as many lies as it can in trying to ramp up opposing to this legislation as the deadline nears, with Focus on the Family warning that “gay activists have and will continue to use these kinds of laws to silence Christians who speak publicly about God’s design for human sexuality – and make them pay if they stand up for their beliefs” and is therefore “encouraging Christians everywhere to stop and pray that the Lord would intervene.”
And Good as You catches the Illinois Family Institute making even more absurd claims [PDF]
Miss California, Carrie Prejean, could have been charged with a “hate crime” for her views on same-sex marriage if S. 909 was already law. What could constitute a “hate crime” under this bill is a homosexual man or woman claiming they were discriminated against and hurt by what was said.
