澳彩开奖

A coalition of some of the country鈥檚 most hateful anti-LGBTQ extremists, led by the Family Research Council (FRC), will come together Sept. 22-25 for their annual festival of bigotry, cloaked as the Values Voter Summit (VVS).

Given the pandemic, it will be a virtual summit. But that鈥檚 not the only difference planned for 2020.

This year, these far-right activists are attacking the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement and defending Confederate monuments.

Yes, that鈥檚 right. The same groups that have long dedicated themselves to demonizing the LGBTQ community as dangerous to children and society are turning their bigotry toward those seeking racial justice and an end to the murder of Black people by police and vigilantes. And they鈥檙e using the same scare tactics they鈥檝e long employed to vilify LGBTQ people: misinformation and blatant lies.聽

The falsehoods they peddle about the LGBTQ community are the reason the 澳彩开奖 has designated both the FRC and a perennial VVS co-sponsor, American Family Association (AFA), as hate groups.

But now their toxic rhetoric has turned toward race. And in this, they鈥檙e in lockstep with President Trump鈥檚 apocalyptic 鈥渢hey鈥檙e coming to the suburbs next鈥� message.

The FRC president, Tony Perkins, that BLM seeks a 鈥渧iolent revolution鈥� aimed at 鈥渁nnihilating America鈥� and that the movement 鈥渏ustifies聽cop killings,聽prostitution,聽anti-Semitism,聽anarchy, and the聽suppression of speech聽and聽religion.鈥�

According to the lineup card, the聽conference will include a session entitled 鈥淩acism, Protests and 鈥楤lack Lives Matter鈥�: An Historical and Biblical Assessment.鈥� Its description warns of a 鈥渟inister agenda鈥� behind BLM and of the 鈥淢arxist origins and un-American ideologies that are fueling the conflict.鈥�

This discussion is set to feature David Barton, a self-styled 鈥渉istorian鈥� who has been a key player in connecting the mainstream political right to the kind of radical-right religious ideology that fuels groups like the FRC and the AFA. Barton鈥檚 books on the history of America (which he contends was meant by the Founding Fathers to be a religious state) have been riddled with egregious falsehoods. His 2012 book about Thomas Jefferson was recalled by its publisher after actual historians pointed out its gross inaccuracies.

Also at the summit, the longtime political and religious-right activist Gary Bauer, a former FRC president, will lead a session called 鈥淭earing Down Our History & Our Country.鈥� A synopsis on the VVS website says that 鈥淸c]ultures and societies memorialize their heroes in statues and monuments so future generations can remember and reflect on their accomplishments.鈥� Bauer will also explain 鈥渨hy the left鈥檚 repeated assaults against America鈥檚 history and memorials are really attacks on America itself.鈥�

One might wonder what Confederate 鈥渁ccomplishments鈥� Bauer has in mind. We also wonder how seeking to remove statues of Confederate generals 鈥� generals who literally launched attacks on America to maintain the enslavement of millions of Black people 鈥� is somehow an attack on 鈥淎merica itself.鈥�

But these essential questions haven鈥檛 stopped Bauer, who at the 2017 VVS : 鈥淲e鈥檙e seeing the left now turn into the American Taliban declaring war on our monuments.鈥�

Sadly, such hysterical fearmongering isn鈥檛 a surprise 鈥� not from an event led by the FRC. It was the FRC鈥檚 Perkins who in 2010 said pedophilia 鈥渋s a homosexual problem.鈥� And it was Perkins who described the 鈥淚t Gets Better鈥� project 鈥� an initiative aimed at helping LGBTQ youth facing bullying and other traumas 鈥� as 鈥渄isgusting鈥� and 鈥減art of a concerted effort to persuade kids that homosexuality is okay and actually to recruit them into that lifestyle.鈥�

The FRC has announced that President Trump, who in 2017 was the first sitting president to speak at the conference, will address it again this year for the third time in four years. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Senate President Mitch McConnell also are confirmed speakers. Attorney General William Barr has also been asked to join a host of right-wing politicians and personalities addressing the summit.

The FRC, the AFA and their supporters have been on the wrong side of history all these years by promoting vicious lies about the LGBTQ community. Now, they鈥檙e on the wrong side of history again by portraying BLM as a dire threat, rather than acknowledging and confronting the systemic racism in this country that continues to cost people their lives.

Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images