Far-right religious extremists show true colors at Values Voter Summit
The LGBT community and Muslims were among those demonized at the weekend political conference that attracted several possible presidential candidates.
Last week, the SPLC and a coalition of civil rights groups published an open letter to Republican National Committee Chair Reince Priebus urging him to tell party members to disassociate themselves from the Family Research Council and other groups behind the Values Voter Summit because of their bigotry and use of falsehoods to demonize the LGBT community.
True to form, the speakers at the weekend summit attacked not only the LGBT community but Muslims as well, even as they sought to portray themselves as being persecuted because of their religious beliefs.
Among the politicians who spoke were U.S. Sens. Rand Paul and Ted Cruz, and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal.
Here are some highlights:
Southern Baptist minister Dwight McKissic of Pine Bluff, Arkansas, called the LGBT rights movement a “Satanic” effort birthed “from the pit of Hell itself,” before suggesting “the Antichrist himself may be homosexual.”
Former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum said, “Pro-choice, pro-gay rights supporters are the real extremists.”
Sarah Palin called anti-gay and anti-Muslim protesters “the most slandered minority in America.”
U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann said, “Yes, Mr. President it is about Islam! And I believe if you have an evil of an order of this magnitude, you take it seriously. You declare war on it, you don’t dance around it.”
Brigitte Gabriel, founder of ACT! for America, claimed that 180 to 300 million Muslims are “radical Islamists who are willing to strap bombs on their bodies and walk into this room and blow us all up to smithereens.”
Gary Bauer of American Values accused President Obama of being “more interested in defending the reputation of Islam than he [is] in saving the lives of Christians.”
And here’s a video of Liberty Counsel’s Mat Staver fuming over being called an LGBT extremist in our open letter, which was published in The Washington Post and The Hill:
