GOP Congressman Randy Forbes to Fundraise for Anti-Gay Hate Group

I truly do not not understand what has happened to GOP Congressman Randy Forbes.  We were classmates in law school and while conservative in someways, Forbes was over all a regular guy who would hang out and chat at Friday afternoon Happy Hours at the University of Virginia's law school.  It's as if the forces of the far right worked a "Stepford Wife" transformation on Forbes.  He's no longer a nice, live and let live type of guy and instead is actively supporting hate groups and the dissemination of anti-gay lies.  Yes, he has tried to claim that the hate group designations of his mentors at American Family Association and Family Research Council are illegitimate.  But's this ploy is almost laughable given the past ties of the FRC's, Tony Perkins, to the KKK.  These organizations are not only anti-gay.  They are also anti-Hispanic, anti-women, and anti-minority as well.  Yet, despite calls to cancel his appearance at the falsely named "Value Voters Summit," Forbes will help raise funds for these foul hate groups.  Here are highlights from the Southern Poverty Law Center on the situation:

While some members of Congress will spend Friday working to end the government shutdown, Rep. Randy Forbes plans to raise money for the American Family Association, an anti-gay hate group. As the Virginian-Pilot reports, Forbes is “scheduled to speak at a $40-a-plate American Family Association luncheon” at the Values Voter Summit that beings Friday in Washington.

That’s why Faithful America, a progressive Christian organization, launched a TV ad this week calling on Forbes to cancel the appearance.
[T]he Southern Poverty Law Center joined with Faithful America, GLAAD, Human Rights Campaign, the NAACP, the National Council of La Raza, and People For the American Way to call on public officials, including Forbes, to avoid the Values Voter Summit altogether. Read the groups’ letter [PDF].

When asked about the letter by the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Forbes spokesperson Dean Petrone defended the American Family Association, saying that the group was being criticized for opposing same-sex marriage. He also suggested that the group’s critics were “engaging in highly inflammatory rhetoric that diminishes civil public discourse.”

Both charges are laughable. There wouldn’t have been a letter or TV ad directed at his boss if the American Family Association actually held traditional views. Instead the group demonizes and lies about LGBT people, going so far as to blame them for the Holocaust. The group’s chief spokesman, Bryan Fischer, has said, “Homosexuality gave us Adolph Hitler, and homosexuals in the military gave us the Brown Shirts, the Nazi war machine and six million dead Jews.”

Forbes has until Friday afternoon to decide where he stands. In the meantime, Faithful America is continuing to run its ad and collect petition signatures.

Randy, please grow a spine, reject hate, and ignore the demands of the hate merchants at AFA, FRC and, of course, Virginia's own anti-gay Christofacists at The Family Foundation.