‘Homosexuality Is A Behavior’: Christian Conservatives Target Michigan With ‘Grassroots’ Billboard

A nationwide coalition of anti-gay hate groups camouflaged by a local Christian conservative group has once again posted a billboard claiming homosexuality is a “behavior” – and a choice.

This is not the first time you’ve seen this billboard, but for most of the 93,000 Michigan residents who live in or drive through the town of Wyoming, it is, and it’s causing quite a stir.

The digital billboard, which earlier this month made its debut in the Detroit area, claims, “Homosexuality is a behavior, not a civil right.” 

These billboards are part of a money-making campaign by a coalition of anti-gay organizations and anti-gay hate groups, partnering to spread lies while trying to profit from their message of hate.

The billboards are sponsored by a coalition that call themselves Restrain the Judges, and that work in partnership with local anti-gay groups. This time, a group called the Michigan Oak Initiative, which is also Transformation Michigan on Facebook, is the front for Restrain the Judges, paying, according to local NBC affiliate WOOD-TV, $2500 for the billboard. 

Restrain the Judges uses a man named Mark Gurley, identified in the above news story, as its local concerned citizen spokesperson for the Oak Initiative. Gurley was also interviewed earlier this month, but identified as a spokesperson for one of the anti-gay groups that comprise Restrain the Judges. NCRM reached out to Gurley today by telephone but did not receive a response to our message.

“You can choose to engage in sexuality as a married person, you can choose to commit adultery, you can choose to abstain from sexuality before marriage,” Gurley told WOOD-TV. “So any time you’re engaged in any activity that is involved in a sexual arena, you have a choice. And a choice is different than the civil rights that black people fought dearly for in our nation because they couldn’t change their skin color.”

Gurley also falsely fear-mongers in his interview, spreading his message of hate.

“Ultimately, that’s the issue here, is that if same-sex marriage is recognized by our government, that will criminalize Christianity because any Christian that speaks what’s in the Bible can be framed for hate speech,” Gurley said.

Of course, as Gurley should know, in America there are no laws against hate speech, thanks to the U.S. Constitution, so the lie that “if same-sex marriage is recognized by our government, that will criminalize Christianity,” is just that – a lie.

Restrain the Judges’ website says the coalition includes the American Family Association, Americans for Truth About Homosexuality, and Scott Lively’s Abiding Truth Ministries – all of which appear on the Southern Poverty Law Center’s anti-gay hate groups list. Other organizations include the Liberty Alliance and Faith 2 Action. Also included in the coalition is Matt Barber’s BarbWire website, which repeatedly has published authors who have called for the death of gay people.

Restrain the Judges offers visitors the opportunity to email a faux “restraining order” to lawmakers in Congress and justices at the Supreme Court. For the low, low price of just $49.95, you can give these anti-gay groups all your personal contact information, and your credit card number, so they can do the same thing you can do for free elsewhere.

In other words, these groups have found yet another way to make money off the anti-gay hate of others, something that for decades the radical Christian right has perfected.

 

Image: Screenshot via WOOD-TV