An anti-LGBT coalition launched in Dallas Tuesday, making some curious predictions about where the country is headed now that same-sex marriage is the law of the land.
The group, called REAL MARRIAGE: One Man/One Woman For Life, intends to fight the Supreme Court's legalization of same-sex marriage, according to its members' public remarks Tuesday. A press email from the group mentioned "mass civil disobedience," The Texas Observer reported. Members of the group also said Tuesday that they would hold protests and marches, and that they would take up the fight with retailers that have made pro-LGBT statements.
One sound bite in particular from the conference raised a few eyebrows.
“If we redefine marriage, the homosexual political movement will force churches, schools, families, businesses and individuals to accept, to affirm and even to celebrate those who participate in anal sex, or anal sodomy,” Dr. Steven Hotze, president of the Conservative Republicans of Texas PAC, said Tuesday, as seen in the clip above. “It will be mandated to be taught to the children in the schools, at an early age, starting in kindergarten. They will be encouraged by their teachers to participate in anal sex.”
The comment caught the attention of Huffington Post blogger Domenick Scudera, who on Thursday wrote: "Boys do not need special protection from gay men. What they do need is protection from the kind of bigotry and prejudice that comes from men like Hotze and [Wisconsin Gov. Scott] Walker who are fooling the general public for political gain. This kind of public hate speech filters down into the lives of young people."
Hotze has a history of anti-gay statements. Right Wing Watch reported in January that he'd urged lawmakers to support a proposal to forbid clerks in Texas from issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples in the event that the Supreme Court legalized gay marriage.
Hotze at the time characterized same-sex marriage as "spiritual warfare" and said that its proponents wanted to "destroy the moral fabric of our state and nation by forcing us to accept and affirm 'homosexual mirage’ and the chosen perverse sexual practices of the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgender) as normal." ("Mirage" isn't a typo, by the way: Hotze argued in the post that "the idea that homosexuals could be married is a ‘mirage.’ It is contrary to God’s moral order. It’s a counterfeit. It’s a lie.")
The REAL MARRIAGE movement is also backed by the Rev. Bill Owens, president of the Memphis-based Coalition of African-American Pastors. The Observer noted that while Owens was active in the civil rights movement, his commitment to social justice evidently didn't extend to LGBT people, whom he called "unnatural" and "bullies" on Tuesday.
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