Democrats to Speak Alongside Anti-LGBTQ Extremists at DC Summit
Mainstream U.S. politicians including Samantha Power, head of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), will mix with anti-LGBTQ extremists at this year鈥檚 International Religious Freedom Summit (IRFS) in Washington, D.C., set to begin on Jan. 31.
Power, whom President Joe Biden nominated for USAID head in 2021, will speak alongside the anti-LGBTQ聽Family Research Council聽President Tony Perkins.聽Another anti-LGBTQ extremist group, the聽Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) is a partner of the event. Both extremist organizations are conservative evangelical advocacy groups that espouse hateful rhetoric and champion discriminatory policies towards the LGBTQ community.
Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY), the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, is a co-chair of the event.
Anti-LGBTQ advocacy
Perkins has repeatedly made anti-LGBTQ remarks and pushed the FRC towards a harder anti-LGBTQ position since he assumed the role of the organization鈥檚 president in 2003.
In 2011, Perkins called the It Gets Better Project鈥檚 videos, which feature celebrities that offer encouraging messages to LBGTQ youth, 鈥渄isgusting. And it鈥檚 part of a concerted effort to persuade kids that homosexuality is okay and actually to recruit them into that lifestyle.鈥�
The It Gets Better Project began in 2004. Its goal is to among LGBTQ youth. LGBTQ youth are four times more likely to die by suicide than their peers due in part to feelings of rejection and lack of social support,聽 cited by the Trevor Project, an LGBTQ advocacy organization.
In 2018, Perkins said, 鈥渋f you are a male 鈥� genetically you are a male, biologically you鈥檙e a male 鈥� and you say, 鈥榃ell, I鈥檓 not a male. I鈥檓 a female.鈥� I mean, what鈥檚 to keep you from saying that you鈥檙e an animal?鈥�
The FRC did not respond to Hatewatch鈥檚 request for comment.
The ADF has defended state-enforced sterilization for transgender teens and its former president Alan Sears co-authored a 2003 book that claimed gay people promote pedophilia. Sears was ADF president until 2017.
ADF Senior Counsel and Senior Vice President of Corporate Engagement, Jeremy Tedesco, told Hatewatch the organization 鈥渂elieves that all people are made in the image of God and that everyone is worthy of dignity and respect.鈥� Tedesco disputed claims that ADF supported forced sterilization abroad. ADF has characterized its support of decades-old European laws that, in some cases, required transgender people to undergo sterilization in order to receive new identification documents as 鈥渟upporting the rights of European countries to establish their own laws, rather than have them imposed by international courts.鈥�
USAID is the U.S. agency that delivers civil aid and development assistance across the globe. The FRC and ADF both take positions in opposition to the stated goals of USAID. The 鈥渋t advances the human rights of LGBTQI+ people and works to protect LGBTQI+ people from violence, discrimination, stigma, and criminalization around the world.鈥�
A USAID spokesperson told Hatewatch that Power will participate 鈥渋n a conversation with US Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom Rashad Hussain鈥� to discuss 鈥淯S government efforts to support international religious freedom鈥� among other strategic goals. The spokesperson 鈥淯S government officials regularly participate in this forum, and this participation is not an endorsement of the views of other participants or organizations taking part in the IRF Summit.
USAID 鈥渋s deeply committed to our work and partnerships that advance the rights and opportunities of LGBTQI+ people,鈥� they concluded.
The groups鈥� positions also run against those of Meeks, who publicly supports LGBTQ equality. Meeks鈥� tenure in Congress has received high scores from the Human Rights Campaign, an LGBTQ advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C.
Meeks scored 100 in the Congress, which ran from 2019 to 2021, and 96 in the , which ran from 2021 to 2023. The score is based on representatives鈥� voting records on bills that protect the LGBTQ community.
Meeks鈥� office did not respond to Hatewatch鈥檚 request for comment.
FRC鈥檚 anti-Muslim positions
Aside from the FRC鈥檚 anti-LGBTQ advocacy, Perkins has also steered the organization into anti-Muslim positions. Perkins the U.S. Constitution does not necessarily protect Islam because it is 鈥渘ot just a religion, it鈥檚 an economic system, it鈥檚 a judicial system and it鈥檚 a military system.鈥� He has also espoused conspiracy theories about Muslims attempting to replace the U.S. legal system with Sharia Law.
At least two Islamic organizations are involved with the summit, including the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, which is a partner, and the All Dulles Area Muslim Society (ADAMS). ADAMS Imam Mohamed Magid will speak at the summit.
Neither organization responded to Hatewatch鈥檚 request for comment.
Top Photo: US Agency for International Development Administrator Samantha Power testifies before the House Foreign Affairs Committee (Jose Luis Magana/AFP via Getty Images)
