I received the following email in my mailbox:
Dear Julie,
This Saturday - unless we act right now - a Michigan TV station will air a one-hour anti-LGBT propaganda piece designed to "reveal the truth about the radical homosexual agenda."
The ultra-right wing American Family Association (AFA) says it produced the 60-minute program to air nation-wide.
We need thousands of people to speak out IMMEDIATELY against this paid campaign of lies before the program airs on WOOD-TV, the local NBC station in Grand Rapids, MI.
Make no mistake: this is the opening salvo in a coming battle over pro-equality legislation.
Just as we are on the cusp of historic change - a federal hate crimes law, protections for LGBT workers against job discrimination - extremist groups like the AFA are launching a well-funded national campaign of hatred and fear to halt our progress.
This program recycles familiar lies: that hate crime laws will "do away with our freedom of speech," or that pastors will be "criminalized for sharing the love of Jesus Christ." (In fact, the proposed federal hate crimes law explicitly states that it only applies to violent acts - not speech.)
The "anchor" of this faux-news program, which may have already aired in smaller markets, is controversial talk show host Janet Parshall, who in 2006 suggested Matthew Shepard's lifestyle was responsible for his murder and called gay adoption "state-sanctioned child abuse."
We cannot let this bigotry go unanswered. We can't let it scare voters, force LGBT people back into a place of shame and hiding, or create an atmosphere of intolerance or hate.
The AFA has worked for years to silence LGBT people and their loved ones. Now it claims to be a victim of censorship. But this isn't civil and this isn't a debate. This is lies and anti-gay propaganda launched to defeat an inclusive Hate Crimes bill.
Thank you for taking action. After you do, please spread the word to friends and family.
Warmly,
Joe Solmonese
President
On one hand, I don't think the AFA should be allowed to purchase airtime without the whole world knowing that the time was purchased and what they're about to air is a bunch of garbage. On the other hand, I believe that freedom of speech is such an important part of our democracy that I'm loathed to stop speech, even the hateful, lying speech of Janet Parshall and the others who belong to the AFA. They have rights as Americans to believe what they want to believe.
On the other hand, I do believe that speaking your mind comes with risks. If you tell off your employer and he fires you, that's a chance you take. If you speak hate and someone shoots you, that's another chance you take. The only problem with that last bit is that liberals don't believe in guns, so there's no one on the left to kill a bitch whore like Janet Parshall or even that evil, Hitler man James Dobson. <sigh>
Please don't ask me to be nice, I'm done with nice.
On one hand, I don't think the AFA should be allowed to purchase airtime without the whole world knowing that the time was purchased and what they're about to air is a bunch of garbage. On the other hand, I believe that freedom of speech is such an important part of our democracy that I'm loathed to stop speech, even the hateful, lying speech of Janet Parshall and the others who belong to the AFA. They have rights as Americans to believe what they want to believe.
On the other hand, I do believe that speaking your mind comes with risks. If you tell off your employer and he fires you, that's a chance you take. If you speak hate and someone shoots you, that's another chance you take. The only problem with that last bit is that liberals don't believe in guns, so there's no one on the left to kill a bitch whore like Janet Parshall or even that evil, Hitler man James Dobson. <sigh>
Please don't ask me to be nice, I'm done with nice.
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