The Right-Wing Christian Groups Rolling Back LGBT Rights
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Ever heard of the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF)? What about the European Centre for Law and Justice (ECLJ)?
These are just a few of the right-wing faith-based non-government organisations (NGOs) based in the US and Europe trying to roll back LGBTQI freedoms and rights.
‘Global Anti-Rights’ Movement
The UK’s Byline Times has revealed there is a “global anti-rights” movement. It consists of NGOs like the ADF and ECLJ as well as the Christian Institute and the Polish Catholic thinktank, Ordo Iuris.
According to the news outlet, these international right-wing Christian NGOs, along with the Polish government, have been campaigning against LGBTQI rights and gay marriage.
They also formally intervened (except for Ordo Iuris which didn’t submit an intervention) in the Ashers Bakery vs Gareth Lee ‘gay cake’ litigations.
ADF International (the European arm of the ADF) argued in its submission in the Ashers Bakery case that it had the right “not to express an opinion or to act contrary to one’s religious beliefs.”
The first time the ADF intervened in a case like the Ashers Bakery was in 2012 when it supported Colorado-based baker Jack Phillips who refused to make a cake for a gay couple.
Pat Robertson: Founder of the Alliance Defending Freedom
The ADF was founded by conservative televangelist and media mogul Pat Robertson.
In 2013, CNN wrote an article about Robertson’s most infamous quotes.
At the time, the then 83-year-old said Facebook should have a “vomit button” so he could “punch” it whenever he came across images in his feed of same-sex couples kissing.
Robertson has also said many of the people “involved with Adolf Hitler” were “Satanists”, and “many were homosexuals” and “the two things seem to go together.”
His other infamous quote was: “The feminist agenda is not about equal rights for women. It is about a socialist, anti-family political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians.”
Designated ‘Hate Group’
The Byline Times has reported that the Southern Poverty Law Centre has deemed the ADF a “hate group” because it’s anti-LGBTQI. The ADF disagrees with this designation.
ADF has also defended state-enforced sterilization of transgender individuals in Europe. https://t.co/NMyvGZFdQN
— Southern Poverty Law Center (@splcenter) September 8, 2017
ADF International is an “ally” of the Christian Institute. The Institute supported the McArthurs, the owners of Ashers Bakery. It claims to “protect Christian religious freedom and restrain those who are unlawfully harassing and discriminating against Christian believers.”
It was the Institute’s spokesperson Simon Calvert who welcomed the European Convention of Human Rights’ (ECHR) decision to rule Gareth Lee’s claim as “inadmissible.”
Today’s decision by the European Court of Human Rights is a backwards step for equality. Human rights belong to people, not businesses. (1/4) https://t.co/ixPGznqM8C
— Stonewall (@stonewalluk) January 6, 2022
The Polish government also reportedly intervened in the Ashers Bakery case. It argued that “obliging a person to express a belief he or she does not hold amounts to a restriction of rights” according to Article 9 of the ECHR.
Krakow’s Archbishop Marek Jedraszewski has described “LGBT ideology” as a “rainbow plague, worse than Bolshevism.”
Australian Religious Discrimination Bill
In Australia, the proposed Religious Discrimination Bill is currently being debated and the Bill has ramifications for the LGBTQI community.
Read the Star Observer’s Submission on the Bill.
If you feel distressed reading the story, you can reach out to support services.
For 24-hour crisis support and suicide prevention call Lifeline on 13 11 14
For Australia-wide LGBTQI peer support call QLife on 1800 184 527 or webchat.
