Connect with us

RIGHT WING EXTREMISM

GOP Nominee for Virginia Governor Rubbing Elbows With Virulently Anti-LGBTQ Groups Just Weeks Before Election

Published

on

Glenn Youngkin, the Republican candidate for governor of Virginia, spoke at a gala Saturday held by the virulently anti-LGBTQ, anti-choice Family Foundation, Blue Virginia first reported. And on Friday, the Republican hopeful will speak at the Pray Vote Stand Summit hosted by the Family Research Council, another anti-LGBTQ organization so extreme the Southern Poverty Law Center has deemed it a hate group.

Youngkin appeared at the Family Foundation event alongside GOP candidate for lieutenant governor Winsome Sears and the hard-right Virginia state Sen. Amanda Chase, who posted to Facebook a photo of herself and Youngkin in attendance. Among the sponsors of the event was Alliance Defending Freedom, a multimillion dollar litigation-and-legislation shop for the religious right that has attacked a women’s right to choose and LGBTQ rights.

Like ADF and FRC, the Family Foundation has fought against same-sex marriage for years, suggesting after Virginia’s 2014 marriage equality decision that allowing same-sex couples to marry would harm children. The group has also supported so-called “conversion therapy,” harmful practices that seek to change a person’s sexual or gender orientation. A blog post from June declares, “OBJECT TO THE LGBTQ+ AGENDA, GO TO THE CLOSET!” while encouraging readers to vote for executive and legislative candidates who would block Virginia schools from teaching more comprehensive sex-ed and LGBTQ-inclusive curriculum. A promotional video on the group’s website showcases the hostility toward the LGBTQ community that the group fosters; a pastor of the Smith Memorial Baptist church said it shocked and angered him when he was notified of an “LBGTQ”—his spelling, not ours—“person coming to speak to all of our elementary schools.”

At the heart of the Family Foundation’s mission is to instill government policy with its fundamentalist views.

“We believe there is no square inch in all the universe over which God has not claimed ‘Mine’, and that includes the arenas of civil government and public policy where we spend much of our time,” the Family Foundation’s website reads. “We advocate for policies based on Biblical principles that enable families to flourish at the state and local level.” Those “biblical principles” in The Family Foundation’s reading include the following:

1) Human life, from fertilization until natural death, is sacred, and the right to life is fundamental to all other rights.

2) Marriage, as a lifelong union between one man and one woman, is an institution of God and a foundation for civil society.

3) Gender, beautifully expressed as either male or female according to God’s immutable design, is an important biological and social reality that must be respected by all.

Youngkin has tried to portray his candidacy as moderate, but his courting of groups like Family Foundation and Family Research Council in addition to his refusal to say whether he supports marriage equality suggest that his candidacy is more extreme than he would let on.

Indeed, his political ally Chase—a Trumpian Republican who called on former President Donald Trump to declare martial law, hobnobbed with the Oath Keeper’s Stewart Rhodes before the insurrection, and attended the so-called Stop the Steal rally held on Jan. 6 before praising the insurrectionists as “Patriots who love their country”—has been campaigning for Youngkin since she failed to win the GOP nomination for governor.

Pushing Trump’s false claim that the 2020 election was stolen, Chase created a national “election integrity caucus” of state legislators to push for “forensic audits” of election results in all 50 states, following the model of the notorious “audit” carried out in Arizona. Just days before Chase joined Youngkin at the Family Foundation event, Right Wing Watch’s Peter Montgomery reported that Chase joined the religious-right group Intercessors for America to encourage its followers to elect Youngkin and continue to push the big lie that the election was stolen: “the best number one solution for Virginia to have better election integrity is to elect a Republican governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, and replace all the members in the House so that we have a Republican majority.”

This article was originally published by Right Wing Watch and is republished here by permission. 

Image via Facebook

Related Topics:
Continue Reading
Click to comment
 
 

Enjoy this piece?

… then let us make a small request. The New Civil Rights Movement depends on readers like you to meet our ongoing expenses and continue producing quality progressive journalism. Three Silicon Valley giants consume 70 percent of all online advertising dollars, so we need your help to continue doing what we do.

NCRM is independent. You won’t find mainstream media bias here. From unflinching coverage of religious extremism, to spotlighting efforts to roll back our rights, NCRM continues to speak truth to power. America needs independent voices like NCRM to be sure no one is forgotten.

Every reader contribution, whatever the amount, makes a tremendous difference. Help ensure NCRM remains independent long into the future. Support progressive journalism with a one-time contribution to NCRM, or click here to become a subscriber. Thank you. Click here to donate by check.

RIGHT WING EXTREMISM

‘Pits Parents Against Parents’: House Republicans Pass Anti-LGBTQ Florida-Style K-12 ‘Parents’ Bill of Rights’

Published

2 days ago

on

March 24, 2023

By

The Republican-majority U.S. House of Representatives Friday morning passed HR 5, the “Parents’ Bill of Rights,” legislation similar to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ laws that have led to book bans and targeting of LGBTQ children.

The bill passed 213-208, with 14 Members not voting. All yes votes were from Republicans only. Five Republicans joined Democrats to vote no.

Democratic U.S. Rep. Ted Lieu of California warned the legislation “pits parents against parents.”

“The extreme MAGA H.R. 5 bill will let other parents dictate what books your child gets to read. It’ll make it easier for other parents to know if your child has an eating disorder, or is experiencing a mental health crisis,” Lieu warned.

READ MORE: Watch: GOP Lawmaker Orders Grieving Parkland Parents Removed From ‘ATF Overreach’ Hearing

U.S> Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN) warned, “H.R. 5 would codify Republican book bans all over the country. Stories of Holocaust survivors, enslaved Americans, and over 1,600 other stories have already been pulled from shelves.”

U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-FL) said HR5 is “a vehicle for hate and political nonsense.”

Congressman Greg Murphy, Republican of North Carolina, in a recorded statement falsely claimed the bill was needed because “Children are being taught to hate our country,” and “parents are labeled as domestic terrorists.”

In his speech before the bill passed, Speaker Kevin McCarthy declared, “We believe parents should know what your children is [sic] learning.”

CNN reports the bill would also “require elementary and middle schools that receive federal funding to obtain parental consent before ‘changing a minor child’s gender markers, pronouns, or preferred name on any school form; or allowing a child to change the child’s sex-based accommodations, including locker rooms or bathrooms.'”

Senate Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer called the legislation “Orwellian to the core,” and promised it “will not see the light of day.”

Watch the videos above or at this link.

Continue Reading

RIGHT WING EXTREMISM

Far Right Christian Nationalist Brags His ‘Biblical Worldview’ Group Is Behind Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ Anti-Trans Law

Published

2 days ago

on

March 24, 2023

By

Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed legislation Tuesday prohibiting transgender people from using public school facilities that match their gender identity. Later that same day, Jason Rapert, a former Arkansas state senator and founder of the National Association of Christian Lawmakers, posted a video crediting his organization for the legislation.

Rapert, a longtime religious-right activist and ardent Christian nationalist, bragged that this piece of legislation was first proposed by Arkansas school board member David Naylor during an annual NACL meeting, endorsed by the organization, and finally brought to the Arkansas state legislature by state Rep. Mary Bentley, who serves on the board of the NACL.

“The NACL has seven working committees,” Rapert said. “Those committees actually debate and discuss every major policy issue in this country, all from a biblical worldview.”

“We make model laws,” he continued. “Do you know that just recently Rep. Mary Bentley of Arkansas passed a model law that the NACL adopted at their last meeting in the state of Texas?”

“Rep. Mary Bentley, [who] is our chair of the National Legislative Council, she went to the Arkansas legislature, took that concept that came from Dr. David Naylor that was then adopted by the full body of the NACL, and guess what? It’s already been placed into law in the state of Arkansas,” Rapert crowed. “That’s the difference the NACL can make in your community.”

“This is what the NACL does every day all across this country,” Rapert bellowed later in the video. “We are fighting for the lives of little babies. We are fighting against the people that are putting the queer books into your school libraries and trying to groom these children into homosexuality. We’re standing up. We’re pursuing school board policies to save the nation. We are standing up and have our members running bills in the halls of the state legislatures to stand up against this woke ideology, to push back against the things of the devil in our country.”

In December, Rapert declared that right-wing Christians must rise up and “take authority” over everything from their local school boards to the federal government. The National Association for Christian Lawmakers seeks do just that, advancing legislation that fits their narrow conservative biblical worldview in statehouses throughout the country. The group’s advisory board includes politicians like Mike Huckabee and Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick as well as influential religious-right activists like Tony Perkins of Family Research Council and Mat Staver of Liberty Counsel.

This article was originally published by Right Wing Watch and is republished here by permission.

Continue Reading

RIGHT WING EXTREMISM

Watch: GOP Lawmaker Orders Grieving Parkland Parents Removed From ‘ATF Overreach’ Hearing

Published

3 days ago

on

March 23, 2023

By

U.S. Rep. Pat Fallon (R-TX) is being criticized for having the parents of a victim of the Parkland school massacre removed from a GOP-led House committee hearing on “ATF Overreach” after he deemed them “out of order” for remarks they made while a Member was speaking. Minutes later, Capital Police pinned the father to the ground in the hallway and arrested him.

“See this is, exactly what we have to avoid!” Rep. Fallon, chairing the joint hearing, angrily declared as he pointed his finger after the father, Manuel Oliver, made a remark that was inaudible. “Which is some minority of folks trying to silence dissent. Dissent shouldn’t be kryptonite.”

“There’s a decorum that should be adhered to,” Fallon, who recently refused to sign a statement denouncing white supremacy, said as he chastising Oliver.

After another, louder outburst, Fallon mockingly asked, “Is this an insurrection? So will they be held to the same — I don’t want another January 6.”

READ MORE: ‘Unlawful Incursion’: Manhattan DA Schools Jim Jordan for Demanding He Testify in Ongoing Trump Investigation

Congressman David Cicilline (D-RI) responded, “If they’re trying to overthrow the government, they oughta be held to the same standard, but I think they’re trying to express their frustrations.”

Angrily again, Rep. Fallon interjected.

“Whoa whoa whoa whoa,” he shouted as he banged the gavel.

“Member’s out of line,” Fallon said (incorrectly. The term is “out of order.”)

Shortly thereafter, Rep. Fallon had both Manuel and Patricia Oliver removed.

ABC News reporter Will Steakin, who was in the hearing, tweeted video and said bot Manuel and Patricia Oliver “appear to leave without resistance… moments later there was a loud thud outside the hearing room and I found Manuel being pinned to the ground by multiple officers.”

“Manuel Oliver, the father of a 17-year-old Parkland shooting victim, was arrested Thursday on Capitol Hill after he appeared to shout at a Republican lawmaker who was speaking during a hearing on gun regulations,” NBC News reports. Patricia Oliver, his wife and the mother of their 17-year old son, Joaquin Oliver, who was one of 17 people who died in the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre, was not arrested.

READ MORE: ‘National Security Implications’: Former DOJ Official Speculates on Ruling Ordering Trump Attorney to Hand Over Docs

On social media critics expressed anger at Fallon.

“Rep. Pat Fallon (R) thinks parents of slaughtered children should just sit down & shut up as Republicans maintain outrageously dangerous gun laws. He had this parent expelled rather than just giving a warning, which is the usual,” wrote one Twitter user.

“Texas Rep. Pat Fallon: You are the EXACT problem with the gun violence and why it keeps being the leading cause of death in children today,” wrote another.

According to the NIH, gun violence is the leading cause of childhood death.

Still another Twitter user blasted Fallon: “What disgraceful & despicable behavior by Representative Pat Fallon. Exercising your right to free speech is being an insurrectionist? The man lost his son. Have you no compassion? I think he has more than earned the right to be heard by Congress. Such an abuse of power.”

And one called Fallon “feckless.”

Continue Reading

Trending

Copyright © 2020 AlterNet Media.