crossposted on Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters

knight Coral Ridge Ministries Bob Knights Scary Vision of America; Distorts the Impact of ENDACoral Ridge Ministries writer Robert Knight has written an interesting(and I use that word very, very loosely)piece against the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA). The gist of Knight’s attack is the following:

ENDA is profoundly dangerous. It turns private sin into a public right and brings the force of government against morality itself. Any such law is a violation of our unalienable rights as proclaimed in the Declaration of Independence. To put it more simply, a statute that directly contradicts God’s moral law is illegitimate. Laws embody and reflect morality, or they are not laws. They are tyranny. That’s why so-called same-sex “marriage” laws are absurd and treacherous. Forcing citizens to accept a counterfeit as the real thing is an act of despotism.

ENDA adds not only “sexual orientation” but “gender identity” to federal workplace anti-discrimination law. Thus, it takes an ax to the idea that sexual behavior has a natural normalcy or any relation to morality. It falsely equates a changeable condition (sexual desire) with race and ethnicity. Worse, it turns traditional values into a form of bigotry punishable under the law.

So to Knight, ENDA should be opposed because homosexuality is a sin. Well I’m glad he cleared that up.

Whether Knight knows it or not, his attack on homosexuality as a “behavior” that should not be protected is really opening the door to declare that religious beliefs in the workplace should be not be protected because after all, religion is a behavior.

To tell the truth though, I am disappointed with Knight’s piece. I can always count on Knight to go to extremes with opposing any anti-discrimination laws.

For example when he said the following in 2003 about Nashville’s attempt to add sexual orientation to it’s nondiscrimination code:

Few public officials and businessmen realize that when they allow the addition of “sexual orientation” to their nondiscrimination codes, they are tying their own hands when it comes to objecting to:

¬? A man in a highly visible sales job coming to work in a dress and high heels;
¬? A woman in a highly visible position coming to work in men’ clothes;
¬? A person of indeterminate sex who insists on using either the men’ room or the women’ room;
¬? A person of either sex who indulges a taste for extreme sexual promiscuity and pornography during working hours despite being charged with representing the company’ tone and character;
¬? A man who frequents prostitutes while on business trips and claims that it is none of the company’ business, regardless of the company’ public image.

Knight, who used to be employed with the Family Research Council and Concerned Women for America, has on occasion manipulated facts in his written and verbal pieces. He also freely cited discredited researcher Paul Cameron, even citing Cameron data in front of Congress in an attempt to defeat ENDA.

From the site Wired Strategies under the section, Gays are diseased, die early, and are less productive than heterosexuals comes this:

“homosexual behavior is extremely unhealthy, contributing to the spread of AIDS, hepatitis A, B and C and other sexually transmitted diseases….A study of more than 6,400 obituaries in homosexual publications reveals that homosexuals typically have far shorter life spans than the general population. Other reports indicate that homosexuals are more likely to have drug and alcohol abuse problems. It is unfair to force businesses to pay the extra insurance expense and lost productivity that inevitably results from homosexual behavior.” [Editors note: the source for this "research" is the discredited Dr. Paul Cameron - see below for extensive information about his extreme beliefs]

- Robert Knight, Family Research Council, testifying at ENDA Hearings, July 29, 1994 – committee on Labor and Human Resources, US Senate.

In my book, Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters, I recount meeting Knight and his “so what” answer when I pressed him about using Cameron’s work even after he knew of the discredited researcher’s reputation.

So naturally, Knight has no problem distorting the facts and conjuring up ugly images of “godless gays on the attack” when it suits his purpose.

But the fact that Knight didn’t conjure up these false images against ENDA may mean that he and others on his side have already given up the fight against it.

Then again, knowing the religious right, they could be saving their ammunition until the time when the vote actually comes up.