Located in Washington, D.C., the building above is the Dirksen Senate Office Building. It was named after Everett Dirksen, who served first in the U.S. House, from 1933–1949, and then in the Senate, from 1951-1969. The Republican Minority Leader, Dirksen helped to write and pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Sadly, a grotesque act is about to take place in the building that bears the name the of civil rights champion.

Today, top anti-gay activists will be meeting not just with U.S. Senators and their staff, but will be holding that meeting — which is open to the public — for U.S. Senators and their staff in the Dirksen Senate Office Building, to further their agenda of hate.

“The Family in America” is the name of a symposium which “will be held from 11:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m. in the Dirksen Senate Office Building, room 562,” a press release states. Of course, in order to book a meeting and a room in a Senate office building, you need the support of a U.S. Senator. No word yet on which Senator is sponsoring the event, but “The Family in America” is a project of the Illinois-based Howard Center for Family, Religion & Society, and its protégé, the World Congress of Families.

UPDATE #1:
The meeting space has been pulled. No word on if the meeting has been moved.
Anti-Gay Meeting Of Radical Religious Right Group Canceled By Sen. Mark Kirk
UPDATE #2:
John Boehner finds them a meeting space.
Boehner To The Rescue — Of International Anti-Gay Organization Promoting Russia’s Policies

What will they be discussing?

This:

While the current U.S. administration persists in its efforts to redefine marriage and family, other nations are seeking a reaffirmation of the natural family. Australia has just elected a conservative government and given the largest budget area to Kevin Andrews, long-time defender of the family and World Congress of Families supporter; Russia recently banned the propaganda of “nontraditional sexual relations” to minors; and across Europe and Africa, nations are concerned with life issues, shrinking populations, and the disintegration of the natural family. Here in America, what can our pro-family legislators learn—positively and negatively—by studying our colleagues’ actions abroad?

Yes, they would like to model U.S. law and policy on Russia’s laws that essentially make it illegal to be gay, or to “promote” homosexuality.

Remember earlier this year when Vladimir Putin signed the law that made any discussion of homosexuality a crime in Russia? Remember just before that, when National Organization For Marriage (NOM) president Brian Brown traveled to Russia — but kept his travels a secret — and now stands accused of breaking federal law? Brown spoke with Russian lawmakers, reportedly to urge them not only to continue to ramp up their war on gay people but to remove children from same-sex couples and LGBT parents.

Who was behind Brown’s conversations with Russian anti-gay lawmakers? The World Congress of Families.

Who is holding a symposium in the Dirksen Senate Office Building, room 562, today? The World Congress of Families.

Remember last month, when Tea Party leader Rick Scarborough called for a class action lawsuit against homosexuality? Scarborough runs a group called Tea Party Unity. Who is on Tea Party Unity’s steering committee? Don Feder of the World Congress of Families. (Feder is the author of a lovely little article titled, “Top 10 Ways Democrats Are Like Nazis.”)

Who is holding a symposium in the Dirksen Senate Office Building, room 562, today? The World Congress of Families.

Now, do the names Austin Ruse, Janice Shaw Crouse, or Steven Mosher ring a bell? If you’re a close follower of the religious right’s anti-LGBT and so-called “pro-family” work, they do. Those three happen to be the main speakers today at the World Congress of Families’ symposium.

“These shameful individuals represent the worst of America, and it’s an outrage that they will now bring their vitriol to the United States Capitol,” Human Rights Campaign (HRC) President Chad Griffin said in a statement. “After spending years exporting their hate to other regions of the world and contributing to a culture of anti-LGBT violence in Russia, these zealots should be condemned by all Americans and especially by our elected leaders.”

Ruse, an occasional Breitbart contributor, is the president of the virulently anti-gay Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute (C-FAM). In September, Ruse and over 100 anti-LGBT activists and organizations signed a letter supporting Russia’s anti-gay laws and Vladimir Putin‘s war on gays.

(Yes, more evidence of America’s religious right working to make homosexuality illegal in Russia.)

Janice Shaw Crouse of Concerned Women for America offers a particular brand of anti-gay hate and ignorance. She has claimed the Supreme Court’s decision on DOMA will lead to a “bleak future” including “imprisonment” for Christians — no date set – and claimed that gay people die 20 years younger, commit suicide three times the average rate, are prone to syphilis and anal cancer, and cannot maintain long term relationships.

Griffin notes that Crouse, “celebrated a proposed law in Uganda that would make being LGBT punishable by death. Crouse called it a, ‘biblical and cultural stand against the radical homosexual agenda.’”

Steven Mosher is President of the Population Research Institute, which Equality Matters calls “a far-right anti-contraception organization.” Author of Population Control: Real Costs, Illusory Benefits, Mosher is a proponent of the anti-women scare meme developed by the religious right, called “demographic winter,” which claims that abortion and contraception should be banned because Muslims supposedly make babies at a higher rate than Christians.

It was turned into a “documentary” in 2008.

Unsurprisingly, NOM cofounder and former chair, Maggie Gallagher, is a subscriber of this farcical scare tactic.

In 2011, Mosher, who is the father of nine children, delivered a short speech (you can listen to it and you should) on his “demographic winter” ideas and admitted he was headed to Russia in 2012, to help them figure out how to make more babies.

More evidence of America’s religious right working to make homosexuality illegal in Russia?

Is it a coincidence that this crowd believes that gay people and same-sex marriage are antithetical to their main goal of populating the world with more conservative Christians in a race against Islam?

Here’s a look at their craziness:

//www.youtube.com/embed/3NfuWba9RR8

 

So, we have several of America’s top anti-gay activists, intent on populating America and the world with more Christian babies, holding a meeting organized by the Howard Center for Family, Religion & Society and the World Congress of Families.

The World Congress of Families just happens to have strong ties to Vladimir Putin. They’ll be holding their next conference in Moscow next year.

And they are holding a symposium in the Dirksen Senate Office Building, room 562, today.

Your tax dollars at work, ladies and gentlemen.