The Family Research Council is speaking against broadening an anti-discrimination ordinance in Holland, MI. How the organization has chosen to do so is raising alarm:
A community group that is trying to make Holland more accepting of gay people planned to meet Wednesday, July 28, to decide how to respond to a full-page advertisement in the local daily newspaper that one of its leaders said included "blatant untruths" about gay people....The ad, which was sponsored by the Family Research Council and Request Foods and published July 23 in The Holland Sentinel, made reference to efforts toward broadening the city's anti-discrimination ordinance to include sexual orientation and gender identity. The Holland City Council has referred the measure to its Human Resources Commission for review.
The ad stated that "pro-homosexual activists" were trying to give Holland gays and lesbians "special protections" under employment discrimination laws and called homosexuality a choice that is "harmful to individuals and to society."
The ad, which can be viewed here, contains the standard religious right propaganda about the LGBT community, i.e. we are mentally diseased, we don't need protection from discrimination, and people can change their sexual orientation.
But here is where things get interesting. FRC doesn't provide references for any of their claims in the ad except one. On the far lower right corner of the ad is the image of a pamphlet that the ad invites people to consult.
The pamphlet is called The Top Ten Myths About Homosexuality.
And I've talked about this pamphlet before.
To recap, The Top Ten Myths About Homosexuality is a fraudulent piece of work with many problems in regards to veracity including:
1. Ten Myths repeats the lie that the Robert Spitzer study proves that homosexuality is changeable, excluding the fact that Spitzer has said on more than one occasion that his research was being distorted.
2. Ten Myths utilizes the work of the organization National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH). The website Truth Wins Out calls NARTH a discredited "ex-gay" fringe organization that peddles fraudulent "cures" for homosexuality.
3. Most importantly, Ten Myths intentionally distorts information to make it seem that negative behaviors, i.e. drug and alcohol abuse, are indicative of the LGBT orientation. The pamphlet accomplishes this by citing data in regards to the LGBT community and such negative behaviors while omitting the fact that much of the data places the blame on homophobia for these negative behaviors.
It is apparent that in the fictional world inhabited by the Family Research Council, LGBTs being able to live without fear of discrimination is a sin, but lying about the LGBT community is allowed.
Hat tip to Truth Wins Out
Related post:
'Top Ten Myths About Homosexuality' Is a Huge Homophobic Fraud