New Coalition Pledges To Fight Gay Marriage

Spewing hateful rhetoric, a group of anti-LGBT leaders gathered in Dallas on Tuesday to launch a new coalition to fight the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in favor of same-sex marriage.

Their speeches were glaringly light on details, but they said the new grassroots movement called “REAL MARRIAGE: One Man/One Woman For Life,” will target unnamed businesses and politicians who don’t stand up against LGBT rights.

An email announcing the news conference pledged “mass civil disobedience”—and speakers made mention of marches and protests—but for now the group doesn’t appear to have much more than a website. Unless you count fiery but familiar anti-gay sound bites.

“If we redefine marriage, the homosexual political movement will force churches, schools, families, businesses and individuals to accept, to affirm, and even to celebrate those who participate in anal sex, or anal sodomy,” said Dr. Steven Hotze, president of the Conservative Republicans of Texas. “It will be mandated to be taught to the children in the schools, at an early age, starting in kindergarten. They will be encouraged by their teachers to participate in anal sex.”

The Rev. Bill Owens, president of the Memphis-based Coalition of African-American Pastors, compared the high court’s marriage ruling to its 1857 Dred Scott decision, which determined that blacks weren’t American citizens.

“I’m disgusted that so many people have stood back and let 3 percent of the population turn this country upside down,” Owens said.

He added that 300,000 people have signed an anti-gay marriage pledge on the pastors’ website, and the group will go after national retail outlets that support LGBT equality, although he declined to say which ones.

“We’re going to come at you,” he said. “The church is going to show you that you cannot be double-minded, talk out both sides of your mouths, pretending to be family-friendly and giving in to this ungodly, disgraceful way of making homosexual like it’s natural. It’s highly unnatural. …. We’re going to go at these weak-kneed, slimy-backed politicians who pretend to be with you but will not stand up.”

Owens, who once marched in the civil rights movement, also railed against transgender rights, called LGBT people “bullies,” and said it was a disgrace for the White House to be lit up in rainbow colors after the ruling, adding that the US is “not a dictatorship.”

“It should have been red, white and blue, but they want to show that they’re for gay,” Owens said. “Homosexual is unnatural, and they’re trying to force it on us, force it on our children, force it on our schools, make us accept it, and we will not. The fight has just begun.”

The news conference was held at the office of David Pickup, a prominent “ex-gay” therapist who also identifies as “ex-homosexual.” Pickup claimed “significant scientific evidence” shows there’s no gay or transgender gene, and his clients have proven sexual orientation can be changed. Likewise, he suggested, the nation can change.

“America, it’s time for psychotherapy, and the Real Marriage movement with the guidance from the omniscient creator will lead this nation back to a secure identity from the brink of self-destruction,” Pickup said. “We’re not here to shame people. This is not hate speech. This is standing up for truth and rights as we believe they are.”

Asked about the coalition’s specific plans, Pickup said it will begin by hosting “mini-conferences” around Texas, as well as a “World Conference on Gender, Sexuality and Marriage” in Dallas. Eventually, he said, the goal is to infiltrate all aspects of American life.

“It’s a philosophical movement that’s going to have actual manifestations of changes in the hearts and minds of this country,” Pickup said.

Watch speeches by Hotze and Owens below.