Civil Rights Groups Call on GOP to Denounce Hate Group Summit

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The GOP war on gays, women, contraception, non-whites, and religious freedom for all Americans continues unabated even though long term the hate and bigotry that these policies embody are increasingly disavowed by America's changing population.  Picking up on this reality, a group of civil rights and leading LGBT rights organizations have run a full page ad (see the ad above) in the Washington Post calling on the GOP to denounce the upcoming gathering of hate merchants sponsored by Family Research Council, a designated hate group, that disingenuously goes by the name "Values Voter Summit."   The reality is that this summit will be little more than a gathering of white supremacists, religious extremists, homophobes and those who seek to have women subordinated to men.  Here are excerpts from the add:

Dear Mr. Priebus, Fifteen years ago, your predecessor called for party members to shun the Council of Conservative Citizens because of the group’s “racist views.” “A member of the party of Lincoln should not belong to such an organization,” GOP Chairman Jim Nicholson said. His comments had their intended effect: Senior members of Congress distanced themselves from the group. Today, Chairman Priebus, we ask that you take a similar stand and call upon Republican officials to disassociate themselves from the groups behind the upcoming Values Voter Summit.

The reason is simple: These groups engage in repeated, groundless demonization of LGBT people — portraying them as sick, vile, incestuous, violent, perverted, and a danger to the nation. The Family Research Council, the summit’s host, is vigorously opposed to extending equal rights to the LGBT community. Its president, Tony Perkins, has repeatedly claimed that pedophilia is a “homosexual problem." He has called the “It Gets Better” campaign — designed to give LGBT students hope for a better tomorrow — “disgusting” and a “concerted effort” to “recruit” children into the gay “lifestyle.”

Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association, a summit sponsor, has said the U.S. needs to “be more like Russia,” which enacted a law criminalizing the distribution of LGBT “propaganda.” He has also 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.” Similarly, Mat Staver of the Liberty Counsel, another summit sponsor, has compared those who do not denounce same-sex marriage to those who remained silent during the Holocaust.

This kind of extremism should not be legitimized by elected officials, because it is contrary to our nation’s highest ideals. . . .  Yet, as in years past, several prominent members of your party — including U.S. Sens. Rand Paul and Ted Cruz, and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal — are currently planning to address the Values Voter Summit that begins on Thursday in Washington. So, the question now is: Will you live up to your own words and tell the members of your party to shun groups that demean other people and deny them dignity?

Will the GOP listen?  I'm not holding my breath.  The GOP has become an ugly sectarian party and rank and file Republicans have prostituted themselves to the Christofascist to such an extent that tawdry whores look virtuous in comparison.