When Wayne went to the extremist Awakening conference, Matt Barber and Andrea Lafferty acted as if there was much ado about nothing, since all Wayne had seen was “Christian compassion” overflowing within those walls.
So, in the interest of sharing their “Christian compassion” with a wider audience, let’s watch the aforementioned Andrea Lafferty on CBS, abusing the Human Rights Campaign’s Alyson Robinson, a transgender woman, on the subject of ENDA. Drink every time she says the words “mental disorder” to Alyson’s face.
(h/t Good-As-You)
The new definition of “Christian compassion,” apparently, is “malignant lying spewed by the leader of a Southern Poverty Law Center-certified hate group.”
By the way, nice animal print, Lafferty.
Oh, Lafferty, your ignorance knows no bounds.
Robinson did a good job. She was articulate and held her cool.
It would have been funny to have said: “Andrea, I believe that a person should be judged solely on job performance. That’s why I support fundamentalist teachers keeping their jobs, regardless of their mental state.”
I wish Robinson would have noted that that Andrea was speaking on behalf of an SPLC-certified Hate Group.
I’m confused. Which one of them is supposed to have the mental disorder? I’m thinking it HAS to be the one in the zebra print, right?
Let’s see – how many anti-gay hate groups (past and present) now have Liberty Counsel and ex-gay groups worked closely with (or cited their hate propaganda to lie about LGBT people)? At least 5:
Traditional Values Coalition (From Lou Sheldon to Andrea Lafferty)
Mass Resistance (and Brian Camenker)
Abiding Truth Ministries (and other organizations affiliated with Scott Lively)
Family Research Institute (founded by Paul Cameron)
Watchmen on the Walls (Scott Lively, Ken Hutcherson and others)
Thanks for helping get this out there, Evan. And you’re right – this is the face of so-called “conservative Christian compassion.” She almost went after my own kids at one point. In hindsight, I wish I would have let her go there. It would have shown the audience her stripes more clearly than that hideous blouse.
I’ve found that with those sorts, they’ll dig their own holes deeper and deeper. You just have to hand them a fresh shovel occasionally.
the HRC woman needs to learn to debate properly, she is too nice, too polite, letting the TVC woman bulldoze her way over the air.
Allyson:
From a fellow trans person, thank you for everything that you do.
I would like to see a non-trans heterosexual ally talking with someone such as Lafferty, so they could say things that would be awkward for a LGBT person to say publicly. For example they might say, “I would much prefer to have my child’s teacher be a trans person than a Fundamentalist Christian, all other things being equal,” and then go on to explain why that is.
I use the example of a teacher because Lafferty made her entire case about the horrors of trans teachers in the schools. It’s all about protecting the children, you know.
I think the phony-nice, mocking, contemptuous way Andrea Lafferty looked at Alyson Robinson says everything about her attitude toward transgender people. Some of the straight audience members who are still trying to decide how they feel about ENDA and transgender rights have to have noticed Lafferty’s hateful way of staring at Robinson. It wasn’t subtle.
“phony-nice, mocking, contemptuous” = “love” in Christian Rightspeak.
Lafferty is a sad and confused human being defending something she knows to be inherently wrong. I can see it in her eyes, her posture and in her constantly evasive line of argument. The conservative world has committed itself to a set of values that simply fail to carry the reality of life. They stand in conflict with the best within themselves, and that’s the deep disconnect that fuels their anger. They are frightened of the world in which they live, they are confused by their own conflicts and manifest this highly aggressive behavior in order to mask their own disorders. Yet to describe this by no means justifies her behavior; she and her cohorts pose a clear and present danger to all of us, whatever our orientation might be. Behind here are millions, if not billions, of right-wing dollars, both political and religious. Allyson Robinson of HRC demonstrates grace under fire and a patient and consistent ability to state the obvious and remain focused. In the long run, Lafferty and her gang will shoot themselves in the foot, if not shoot one another in their mad-dog biting frenzy. In time, Robinson and HRC and others will prevail, and I believe that our country, with good leadership, will continue to find the best within itself, but not without struggle and the need for vigilance on the part of those who choose freedom for all.