Gun groups worked with anti-LGBT group on mailers that misappropriated gay couple’s photo

Two pro-gun groups conspired with an anti-gay hate group to create political mailers that used a gay couple’s copyrighted engagement photo to attack candidates in the 2012 Colorado Republican primaries, according to an SPLC motion filed in federal court today.

The SPLC is seeking to add the pro-gun groups as defendants in a lawsuit filed on behalf of the couple and photographer.

The motion reveals a scheme in which the National Association for Gun Rights and Rocky Mountain Gun Owners worked with Public Advocate of the United States to produce mailings that used the photo of Brian Edwards and Thomas Privitere without the couple’s or photographer’s permission.

The mailers were a way for Public Advocate, which has been designated as an anti-gay hate group by the SPLC, to insert itself into the Colorado primaries. For the two pro-gun groups, which are based in Colorado, the mailings were part of broader attacks against candidates.

“This scheme not only shows the utter disregard these groups have for private property, but also the hatred and discrimination that LGBT people must still face in society,” said Anjali Nair, SPLC staff attorney. “There should be no doubt that we will aim to ensure everyone is held accountable for their involvement in this attack against innocent people.”

The SPLC also sought to add as defendants Dudley Brown, founder and executive director of Rocky Mountain Gun Owners and executive vice president of the National Association for Gun Rights, as well as Lucius O’Dell and Andrew Brown, employees of the National Association for Gun Rights. Public Advocate, based in Falls Church, Va., was named as a defendant when the lawsuit was filed in September 2012.

Dudley Brown proposed the mailers in an April 2012 email to Public Advocate, describing how “[t]he gay lobby smells blood in the water, and if some pro-gay legislators don’t lose their primaries, I fear Colorado will tumble [i.e., pass legislation authorizing civil unions] in the 2013 session.”

He added: “What I propose is that PA [Public Advocate] pay for mailing. ... My staff and I would do all the work, but we’d want PA to sign off, put its name on the dotted line, and pay for the mailings. I would counsel mailing slick and glossies, with the ‘two men kissing’ photo.”

The mailers featured the couple’s engagement photo. But the New York City skyline was removed from the background and replaced with snowy and rural backgrounds suggestive of Colorado. In one mailer, bold words on a red background were added to the picture of the couple kissing: “State Senator Jean White’s idea of ‘Family Values?’”

“It’s shocking that so many groups worked together to defile a photo that meant so much to me,” Privitere said. “I am sickened by this discovery and the depths these groups are willing to sink to attack the gay community. It’s obvious they don’t care who they hurt, just as long as they get their propaganda out.”

The couple has received hate messages since the mailers were produced. Internet postings have said that the couple deserves to go to hell and to be killed, and that any children they may have would be better off dead.

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado, charges that the defendants misappropriated the likeness and personalities of the couple. It also charges that they infringed on photographer Kristina Hill’s exclusive right to the photo, which is registered with the U.S. Copyright Office.

Other counsel on the case include Christine P. Sun of the SPLC; Daralyn Durie and Joseph Gratz of Durie Tangri LLP; and Daniel Williams, Chris Larson and Kathryn Feiereisel of Faegre, Baker and Daniels in Colorado.