BY KAREN WEBB
U.S. Sen. James Lankford, R-OK, defends the right of the Alliance Defending Freedom [ADF] and Attorney General Jeff Sessions to discriminate against LGBT people. I think he really likes torturing gay taxpayers and says he does it because of his freedom of religion and he doesn’t care what your religion says.
“I found it odd that ABC would designate ADP as a hate group not based on any actual crime or action, but apparently based on their belief in religious liberty or traditional marriage,” Lankford wrote in a letter to ABC News.
I find it odd that Lankford thinks Jesus would be in favor of abuse or torture to force a young person to repent. I mean I always taught that Jesus told the woman at the well to go and sin no more. He did not show her porn and shock her when she appeared to like it too much.
It is the Alliance for Defending James Lankford’s Freedom to discriminate based on his religion. It isn’t their belief that is the problem – it is their insisting that their beliefs be the law of the land and that they can discriminate based on whatever they please.
“[ADF] is a national reputable law firm that works to advocate for the rights of people to peacefully and freely speak, live and work according to their faith conscience without threat of government punishment,” Lankford wrote.
The ADF is a law firm. Whether it is reputable or not is debateable.
Again, we are talking about Sen. Lankford’s right to peacefully and freely say that he believes in the abuse of LGBT people. What Lankford wants is to freely punish LGBT people for not agreeing with him and use the government as an arm of his religion.
The ADF says, “We’re thankful to [Sen.] Lankford for his defense of the good, freedom-building work that ADF does and reminding ABC and all news organizations of their responsibility to Americans to report facts, not defamatory charges by activist groups.”
Again, they are thanking Lankford for agreeing that they are not an activist group, although they act a lot, and any group that disagrees with them is an activist group because they defend the rights of people who disagree with Lankford and the ADF.
The facts are that they and Lankford support conversion therapy and the re-criminalization of homosexuality and the ADF does it internationally. In order to support it they must believe that people choose to be homosexual and therefore homosexuality can be reversed.
Lankford is defending their right – and his – to set the clock back to the days when homosexuality was a crime and a mental illness. Lankford really needs to see The Imitation Game. Over 47,000 people were convicted of homosexuality in England, and there were many more over here.
Alan Turing, the man who broke the enigma machine, invented the first computer and was a big part of winning World War II, was gay. They gave him a choice, like they did a lot of people: he could undergo chemical castration or go to jail. Turing commited suicide.
The ADF, and Lankford, by association, defend bullies in school. They fight the teaching of tolerance. Do not let Lankford do this to your gay friends and family. He will say he doesn’t hate gay people, but he is from all appearances OK with driving young gays to suicide. He isn’t talking about gay kids voluntarily going to conversion therapy, he is talking about parents or others forcing kids to go.
“In this country we have the ability and freedom to disagree,” the senator wrote. “However, disagreement … is not the same as hate … Labeling ADF as a ‘hate group’ feeds into a narrative that the news media frequently editorializes beyond the facts.”
The fact is they want to force their religious beliefs into the laws of the land and if it drives your gay child to suicide, it is God’s will. He isn’t talking about freedom to disagree, he is talking about making your freedom against the law. It is a fact: he is in favor of discrimination of taxpayers using his religion to do it.
The ADF doesn’t support just the discrimination of the LGBT community, they will also say it is OK to do the same if your particular religion believes interacial marriage is a sin or divorce is a sin. They believe an employer can fire you because of your religious beliefs differ from theirs regardless of your job performance.
Lankford say he felt the need to defend a group he thought was unfairly labeled by the Southern Poverty Law Center. Who knows? He may be going after the NAACP or supporting the KKK next.
The ADF and Lankford defend the right to use their religion to discriminate against you.
Do not let Lankford get by with this. If he gets a bit of courage and actually has a Town Hall, make sure and show up.
– Longtime Oklahoman-turned-Oregonian Karen Webb is a frequent contributor to The Oklahoma Observer
