FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Wayne Besen, Executive Director
Phone: 917-691-5118
E-Mail: wbesen@truthwinsout.org

Contact: John Becker, Director of Communications
Phone: 920-265-6023
E-Mail: john@truthwinsout.org

TWO Debunks Fake ‘Religious Freedom’ Lie With Groundbreaking Full-Page Ad

Ad Is In Response To New York Marriage Clerk Who Refused To Marry Lesbian Couple Under the Guise of ‘Religious Freedom’

Burlington, Vt. – Truth Wins Out announced today that it would place a groundbreaking full-page ad (see below) in the Ithaca Journal on Saturday that debunks the Religious Right’s latest strategy of claiming they are victims of religious discrimination when asked to follow the same laws as other citizens. TWO’s hard-hitting ad is headlined “Special Rights Masquerading as Religious Freedom” and signals that this fraudulent argument, increasingly used by anti-gay activists, will be vigorously challenged and exposed as a lie.

TWO’s ad is in response to the unethical actions of Ledyard, NY town clerk Rose Marie Belforti, who refused to issue a marriage license to a lesbian couple. Belforti disobeyed the law and then justified refusing to do her job by claiming she was a victim of religious discrimination.

“The private religious beliefs of public workers should be respected,” said Truth Wins Out Executive Director Wayne Besen. “However, agents of the state are not entitled to pick and choose which members of the public they serve or which laws they obey. Refusing to serve entire classes of people based on religious objections will lead to chaos. It creates a slippery slope where self-appointed moral scolds serve as the gatekeepers to our freedom.”

Until recently, anti-gay activists argued that LGBT people were not entitled to equality because it was contrary to the will of the people. As recent polls show a sea change in support for marriage equality, particularly among younger demographics, the extreme right has switched its strategy. They now try to pose as martyrs whose beliefs give them the special right to discriminate and ignore the law.

“Belforti’s twisted version of ‘religious freedom’ comes at the expense of liberty for everyone else,” said TWO Communications Director John Becker. “It creates a balkanized nation that divides people based on sectarian differences. We must reject the unfair notion that some people have a special right to discriminate based on religious beliefs.”

TWO’s ad points out that allowing fundamentalists to follow their own rules would create chaos and undermine societal cohesion. The ad gives several examples of where this false notion of “religious freedom” might lead:

• Will town clerks use their fundamentalist beliefs to refuse issuing marriage licenses to divorced people who wish to remarry?
• Will town clerks use religion to justify turning away interfaith or interracial couples who want a marriage license?
• Will postal workers refuse to carry mail they find objectionable, or refuse to deliver to households whose religious beliefs they disagree with?
• Will religious public school teachers choose to educate only students who share their faith?

This latest effort is part of TWO’s Center Against Radical Extremism (TWOCARE), which debunks right wing propaganda and misinformation campaigns. TWOCARE also monitors and reports on extremist organizations and launches campaigns to spotlight their dangerous views.

(This ad is costing $2,500. If you like it, please kindly consider a tax-deductible contribution to help us pay for it)

And folks, that’s an accomplishment. I mean, he is really wigging out.

In his intellectually dishonest way, Bryan Fischer actually does cut to the heart of my concerns about having a gay on the bench:

My main argument against adding a homosexual to the bench is simply this. That individual would have already made up his (generic use) mind on one of the central public policy issues of they day, whether homosexuals deserve special rights or just the equal rights the rest of us have.

He’s right. Because if we’re going to have a gay Supreme Court justice, I want it to be a gay who squarely supports the special rights nearest and dearest to my heart, like gay-only parking spaces in all parking lots (at the front), even at Southern Baptist churches, and the ability to show a pink triangle pass which would let us cut in line at the DMV and anywhere food is being served.

Of course, the actual, principled opposition to Kagan is coming from Glenn Greenwald, etc., so if you’re so inclined, read this and this.

Press Release from:
Contact: Christopher Simpson

CAMPAIGN TO REMOVE FRESHMEN FROM SIDEWALKS IN SECOND SUCCESSFUL WEEK
Princeton, N.J.

(Read More)

While most protesters have been peaceful, some protests against the passage of antigay constitutional amendments in Arizona, California, and Florida — but especially California — have been marred by attendees who shouted racist epithets.

Truth Wins Out condemns this scapegoating.

Antigay African-Americans, in particular, are not solely nor even primarily responsible for the passage of special-rights amendments for heterosexuals. Furthermore, many African-American and Hispanic LGBT Americans worked hard for marriage equality.

Now, having achieved special-rights amendments in three key states, Focus on the Family, Exodus International, and other intolerant religious-right organizations have vowed to swiftly take their special-rights amendments for heterosexuals to the U.S. states that have not yet constitutionally excluded gay Americans and gay-affirming religious institutions from equality under the law.

The heterosexual special-rights amendment in California, Proposition 8, might have been defeated if adequate support had been provided to African American and Latino organizations that support gay equality not only in marriage, but also in health care, education, and employment.

One such organization is the National Black Justice Coalition. (Facebookers, visit the NBJC Cause.) The NBJC eagerly welcomes new supporters.

Please don’t forget to support Truth Wins Out as well. The unethical and illegal tactics of the amendment supporters remind us that Focus on the Family, Exodus International, and their political allies will tell any lie and exploit any parent’s child if it helps to divide and separate American minorities from their constitutional freedoms.

Whatever you do — don’t just do it online. Become engaged with others in your community that support freedom and equal opportunity for all.