False Witness

It's one thing to make a mistake (she says ruefully), but another to persist in telling malicious lies.

Example of a mistake soon corrected : from the Illinois Family Institute :

In the article entitled "Hate Crimes Bill Moves to Senate" (5/5/09), we mistakenly stated that the American Psychiatric Association's actual definition of "sexual orientation" includes paraphilias. The APA's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) classifies "sexual orientation" as heterosexual, homosexual, and bi-sexual. The 547 mental disorders called "paraphilias" specifically involve non-human objects, physical pain, or unwilling partners as in pedophilia. IFI apologizes for the error.

They still oppose the bill -

IFI remains strongly opposed to this "Hate Crimes" legislation. S. 909 is dangerous, unconstitutional and a threat to our freedoms.

But although one can argue they are mistaken in that belief too, at least they're honest.

Not so others.

From The Tips-Q Boiled Frog Blog:

Would This Nice Man and His Daughter Lie to You?

You bet your ass they would. That is Louis Sheldon and his daughter, Andrea Lafferty, of Traditional Values Coalition. They have managed to compile an impressive assortment of lies, innuendo, fear mongering and distortions into a single email blast. About the only thing that stands up to scrutiny is the fact that there is a hate crimes bill under consideration in the Senate and it is "S.909." Apparently truth is not a traditional value.

For example:

S. 909, the so-called hate crimes bill will protect a multitude of bizarre sexual orientations – including pedophiles and sexual sadists – but will threaten pastors who may give a Biblical teaching on the gay agenda. It ensures that crimes against a transgender, drag queen, gay man or lesbian are treated more harshly than a sexual assault on a child. Under this measure, pedophiles are a protected class. As a result, if a parent assaults a pedophile for molesting a child, the parent can be convicted of a hate crime and receive an enhanced sentence. The Senate version is based on fake “Findings” to justify federal intrusion into local law enforcement.

More on just how mendacious this is, later.

But there's more -

A pastor’s sermon could be considered ‘hate speech’ under this legislation if heard by an individual who then acts aggressively against persons based on ‘sexual orientation.’

Whereas the bill actually states, quite categorically,

(3) CONSTITUTIONAL PROTECTIONS

Nothing in this Act shall be construed to prohibit any constitutionally protected speech, expressive conduct or activities (regardless of whether compelled by, or central to, a system of religious belief), including the exercise of religion protected by the First Amendment and peaceful picketing or demonstration. The Constitution does not protect speech, conduct or activities consisting of planning for, conspiring to commit, or committing an act of violence.

(4) FREE EXPRESSION

Nothing in this Act shall be construed to allow prosecution based solely upon an individual’s expression of racial, religious, political, or other beliefs or solely upon an individual’s membership in a group advocating or espousing such beliefs.

Moving right along, to a report with many references over at The Progressive Pulse:

North Carolina Conservatives are lying about sexual orientation and gender identity to bully the anti-bullying bill into submission. To defeat SB 526, the School Violence Prevention Act, Republican House Minority Leader Paul Stam and the Christian Action League have been claiming the existence of 30 sexual orientations as listed in the DSM-IV, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV-TR) of the American Psychiatric Association. No such list exists. It is a fabrication of conservative Christians used to defeat any legislation that can be presumed to protect the human rights of gay people.

Whether through ignorance, invective or indifference, Stam and the Christian Action League have been falsely equating sexual orientation and gender identity with sexual disorders or deviations and have perpetuated a myth originated by the American Family Association that incorrectly references and misquotes the DSM-IV-TR. The American Psychiatric Association would describe this as “irrational discrimination based on gender or sexual orientation.” The Christian Action League compounds the error by variously attributing the bogus “list” to the American Psychological Association and to the American Psychiatric Association, two separate professional organizations.

The DSM-IV-TR (DSM-IV Text Revision) describes sexual orientation as sexual attraction to males, sexual attraction to females, sexual attraction to both or, sexual attraction to neither. It does not describe sexual orientation as a mental disorder.

According to the DSM-IV-TR gender identity refers to an individual’s self perception as male or female. “The term gender identity … should be distinguished from the term sexual orientation.” The DSM-IV-TR does not describe gender identity as a mental disorder.

The report (and please read the whole thing, it's far too extensive to quote) goes on to give the facts, quoting the document in question, and even sleuthing out the origin of this malodourous falsehood.

This lie originated with an organisation calling itself the Christian Action League. And the purpose of this lie was to allow gay and transgendered children to be targetted for bullying as they have been in the past, with the bullies acting with impunity.

This hurts me in many ways. First and foremost, it hurts the children. Second, hypocrisy of such breathtaking scale offends my sense of justice. But thirdly, it maligns many people who I am honoured to call friends. No, not TS or IS people, I'm talking about actual Christians, who do not deserve to be lumped in with these False Witnesses.