Family Research Council and Request Foods Attack Gays In Holland

I was living in Holland in the early '70s when I finally figured out I was probably gay. I didn't know what to do. So I went to a psychologist and told him. He looked at me and asked me if I had come to his office to get the address of some gay bars. I'm glad I figured it out in Amsterdam, Holland and not Holland, Michigan. I probably wouldn't have even read this story today about an anti-gay outburst in Holland (Michigan) except for the fact that I've been talking with someone in Holland (Michigan) frequently for the last couple of months. Fred Johnson, the Blue America-endorsed congressional candidate for the seat being abandoned by Pete Hoekstra lives in Holland. So I read the story... and then called Fred. Fred, a former Marine who now teaches college history (and wrote a scholarly book about Tupac Shakur) had written a letter to the editor of the local paper. Let's start with that and work backwards:

Dear Editor,

This letter is in response to a recent advertisement in your newspaper, sponsored by the Family Research Council and Request Foods, concerning efforts to bar discrimination against gays and lesbians.

I strongly disagree with the content of this advertisement. Banning any and all discrimination in hiring and contracting is a central civil rights issue. Among the many falsehoods in this ad is the notion that gay people are not disadvantaged by discrimination. Are they kidding? Anti-gay bigotry is one the most virulent forms of discrimination in society today.

I'd like to commend the work of Holland Is Ready, which is working hard to end this denial of civil rights through passage of a strong city ordinance against such discrimination.

Fred Johnson

Now, when you read what the Family Research Council is up to in Holland, keep in mind that-- barring an upset in the GOP primary-- Fred's likely opponent in November will be Jay Riemersma, a former football player who became the regional head of... the Family Research Council. This is from the original report from PrideSource on Wednesday:

A community group that is trying to make Holland more accepting of gay people planned to meet Wednesday, July 28, to decide how to respond to a full-page advertisement in the local daily newspaper that one of its leaders said included "blatant untruths" about gay people.

See the ad in its entirety here. (.pdf file)

The ad, which was sponsored by the Family Research Council and Request Foods and published July 23 in The Holland Sentinel, made reference to efforts toward broadening the city's anti-discrimination ordinance to include sexual orientation and gender identity. The Holland City Council has referred the measure to its Human Resources Commission for review.

The ad stated that "pro-homosexual activists" were trying to give Holland gays and lesbians "special protections" under employment discrimination laws and called homosexuality a choice that is "harmful to individuals and to society."

A steering committee for the group Holland Is Ready, which is supporting efforts to pass the anti-discrimination ordinance, planned to meet Wednesday morning to decide its course of action.

"I was sad to see this ad in our local paper, but it's typical of groups like the FRC, who are becoming more and more desperate in their communication," said Jennifer Adams, an organizer of the group. "Their approach is to engender fear by spreading blatant untruths about LGBT people."

The ad isn't just misleading about gay people, it's filled with typical hate-filled right wing slanders. "Among other things, the ad said homosexuals can be changed into heterosexuals "sometimes spontaneously, and sometimes as a result of therapeutic interventions," that homosexuals experience considerably higher levels of mental illness and substance abuse than heterosexuals and that gay people are not seriously disadvantaged by discrimination."

LGBT groups like Holland Is Ready and straight allies like Fred Johnson are going to have to face this in their community. Republicans like Pete Hoesktra, the FRC-endorsed Michigan gubernatorial candidate and Jay Riemersma want to run on this kind of divisive, hateful issue, rather than the Republican record of driving the economy into a ditch-- and they certainly don't want to have to spend the campaign defending Republicans who favor drilling for oil and gas in Lake Michigan. If you'd like to help Fred Johnson fight these bigots off and win the House seat there, you can do it at the Blue America candidates page.

This garbage dump of hatred & bigotry, masquerading as religion, is trying to take over Michigan politics