American Religious Right Supporting Anti-Gay Laws Abroad: SPLC Report

[cali]

SPLC Report: U.S. groups working to keep criminal statutes barring LGBT sex in Belize and other Caribbean countries

As LGBT people continue making strides toward equality in the United States, hard-line U.S. religious-right groups that have spent decades demonizing them are focusing their attention – and propaganda – on a legal battle over the criminalization of LGBT sex in Belize, the outcome of which could affect criminal statutes in as many as a dozen other Caribbean countries, according to a SPLC report released today.

Dangerous Liaisons: The American Religious Right & the Criminalization of Homosexuality in Belize examines how these groups are working in countries where anti-gay attitudes are strong and violence against the LGBT community is common. Several prominent groups have descended on the tiny Central American country of Belize to prevent Section 53, a statute criminalizing gay sex, from being struck down in court. Their efforts already have intensified anti-LGBT attitudes in the country, where the plaintiff in the case has been threatened and physically assaulted.

“Many of these American religious-right groups know they have lost the battle against LGBT rights in the United States, and they’re now aiding and abetting anti-LGBT forces in countries where anti-gay violence is prevalent,” said Heidi Beirich, report author and director of the SPLC’s Intelligence Project. “These groups are pouring fuel on an exceedingly volatile fire.”

Groups such as the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) often refuse to publicly acknowledge their efforts in these countries. The ADF, a prominent Christian legal group formerly known as the Alliance Defense Fund, joined the legal battle in Belize by providing advice to defenders of Section 53, a criminal statute that prescribes a 10-year sentence for “carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any person or animal.”

Other religious-right groups working abroad include the American Center for Law and Justice, the Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute, Family Watch International, United Families International, and the World Congress of Families.

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http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/news/splc-report-us-groups-working-to-keep-criminal-statutes-barring-lgbt-sex-in-belize

[YoungDemCA]

1. Exporting hatred and bigotry...

This is a great example of cultural imperialism:

Cultural imperialism can take the form of an active, formal policy or a general attitude. A metaphor of colonialism is employed: the cultural products of the first world "invade" the third-world and "conquer" local culture.[1] In the stronger variants of the term, world domination (in a cultural sense) is the explicit goal of the nation-states or corporations that export the culture.[1]

http://www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/Cultural_imperialism.html

[AZ Progressive]

2. Religious Fascists, NOT Christian Religions

Jesus never advocated for hatred and killing.

These religions supporting this are frauds.

[LostOne4Ever]

3. These people are inhuman immoral monsters

Going out of their way to make the lives of others who have never done them any wrong worse. They delight in the suffering of others. They are what is wrong with humanity.