Breitbart Hack’s Howler: Pamela Geller Is the Gay Community’s BFF
As soon as I saw this moronic headline at breitbart.com today, I knew I was in for some seriously delusional right wing turnspeak: SALON MAGAZINE SMEARS PAMELA GELLER!!!
On April 2, Salon magazine carried a column by Chris Stedman accusing Pamela Geller of trying to drive a wedge between gays and Muslims. To do this, Stedman depicts Geller as a desperate, anti-Muslim zealot who is loathed by the gay community.
The problem: Geller is neither anti-Muslim nor without her supporters in the gay community. But these are facts that appear to have eluded Stedman.
The author of this ridiculous article is A.W.R. Hawkins, previously seen promoting the dishonest claim that President Obama’s daughters attended a private school with “11 armed guards.”
And his claim that hate group leader Pamela Geller is not a raving anti-Muslim bigot is so obviously, risibly false it’s a little amazing that Hawkins expects anyone to believe it. (Besides the wingnut Breitbart audience, that is, who will believe anything.)
Geller’s long, long history of hateful bigotry against all Muslims is so clear and indisputable there’s no point in even arguing about it; that debate has been over for years. But Hawkins’ attempt to picture Geller as the gay community’s best pal is a new spin, just as dishonest and ludicrous.
The background: Geller’s latest crusade is a plan to place advertisements on San Francisco buses with anti-gay statements from radical Islamic spokesmen and terrorists, trying to drive a wedge between the Muslim and gay communities in that city. Ads like this one:
It’s a campaign based on pure hatred, and Geller is actually pretending to be on the side of the LGBT community.
But if Geller really is such a BFF to gay people, why in the world would she have agreed to speak at this year’s “The Awakening” event, an extreme religious right gathering that also features the most radical anti-gay hate groups in America?
If Pamela Geller is the gay community’s friend, they don’t need any enemies. Bachmann Joins Anti-Gay Hate Groups to Speak at Religious ‘Prayer and Patriotism’ Convention.
Michele Bachmann is one of only two elected politicians who are scheduled to speak at this year’s annual “The Awakening,” described as “an in-depth Prayer and Patriotism event where people are united by our love for our country’s freedom and our faith in Christ.”
The Republican U.S. Congresswoman has increasingly aligned herself officially with anti-gay and anti-Islam events and organizations, including accepting a position on the board of directors of the anti-gay Thomas More Law Center. The only other elected official scheduled to speak is five-term Congressman Steve Pearce (R-NM).
This year’s “The Awakening” features speakers from certified anti-gay and anti-Islam hate groups, including Ken Blackwell and Jerry Boykin of the Family Research Council, Bradlee Dean, founder of You Can Run But You Cannot Hide International, Andrea Lafferty, Executive Director of the Traditional Values Coalition, and Pamela Geller, president of the American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI) and Stop Islamization of America (SIOA), along with SIOA board member Jim Lafferty.
[…]
Several other scheduled speakers are from well-known anti-gay organizations whose main focus includes working against same-sex marriage and engaging in active campaigns against homosexuality:
Richard Land, President of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission
National Organization For Marriage’s (NOM) Bishop Harry Jackson
Cindy Jacobs
Pastor Rick Joyner of MorningStar Ministries
Janet Porter, Founder and President of Faith2Action
Greg Quinlan, President of Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays & Gays (PFOX)
Pastor Rick Scarborough, Founder of Vision America.
Korie Kapal of the Florida Family Policy Council, which is associated with Focus on the Family.
Many come from the Liberty Counsel, chief sponsor of The Awakening, and their closely related “sister” organization, Liberty University, including Matt Barber, Dean Shawn Akers, Judith Reisman, and Mat Staver.
It makes perfect sense for right wing anti-Muslim hate groups to join forces with right wing anti-gay hate groups. From their perspective, the more hate and fear they can generate, the better.