Notorious pastor Fred Phelps Sr. died on March 18, sparking mixed reactions from LGBTs and the community at large. His Westboro Baptist Church and his so-called congregation made national news often with its protest of the funerals of AIDS patients, Matthew Shepard and fallen U.S. soldiers.
Phelps and his Topeka-based church had the same message at each appearance: The country was doomed because of its tolerance of homosexuality.
While Phelps may have been the most extreme—and most likely to make it onto the national news networks—he isn’t the first to constantly attack the LGBT community. In fact, there are countless others who regularly talk about the “sins” of homosexuality and transgender people by using false information, bulleted talking points and extreme displays of intolerance.
Despite their commitment to fighting LGBT equality, all of these people—1970s beauty queen Anita Bryant, David Caton of the Florida Family Association, Orlando attorney John Stemberger, former Hillsborough County Commissioner Ronda Storms and Terry Kemple of Hillsborough’s Community Issues Council—may have actually helped LGBTs make gains in equality during their campaigns to legalize discrimination against us.
“I don’t want to thank people like that,” says Nadine Smith, executive director of Equality Florida. “I want to acknowledge that they have been a catalyst for some very brave work that has been transformative. They have sparked brave people like [Hillsborough County Commissioner Kevin] Beckner to put himself forward for public service. They’ve helped people come out.”
Todd Simmons, the original chair of the Human Rights Task Force of Hillsborough County, the precursor to Equality Florida, agrees with Smith, and adds that the organizations pushing for equality have reacted appropriately to the hatred hurled at the gay community.
“I think there’s something to [anti-gay voices helping equality progress],” he says from his home in Hawaii. “But I don’t think it happens on its own. If the Human Rights Task Force and others hadn’t been there in the early 1990s, doing the very necessary educational work in the community, then we wouldn’t have been able to put the light on some of these people’s claims.”
Specifically, Simmons refers to David Caton. He and Simmons were consistently on opposing sides of equality arguments in the early 1990s.
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John Stemberger is an attorney based in Orlando, who is a staunch anti-gay rights supporter. He is the leader of the “On My Honor,” which was formed to fight against allowing for boys to be openly gay and in Boy Scouts. He also is the head of Florida Family Policy Council. After the inclusive policy was passed for BSA, he formed Trail Life USA, the Christian alternative to the Boy Scouts, which has showcased photos of its members using a salute alarmingly similar to the one used by the Third Reich.
Bill McCollum, the former Florida Attorney General from 2007-2011, was criticized for spending state funds in defense of the same-sex adoption ban. In December 2009, he hired psychologist, George Rekers, to testify as an expert witness. The ban was struck down, where the judge stated that Rekers testimony was biased and not neutral. Many say the controversy that followed his judgment on the spending and hiring of Rekers is what cost him to lose the Republican primary when he ran for governor in 2010.
David Caton is the executive director of Florida Family Association, which is categorized as a “hate group” by the Southern Poverty Law Center. Since 1998, FFA has promoted a campaign against same-sex rights and issues. Through FFA, he has led many unsuccessful campaigns against Florida policies and ordinances that ranged from job and housing protections for gays to opposing an anti-bullying bill that included bullying based on a student’s sexual orientation. Last year, his organization funded the “warning” effectively announcing and highlighting Gay Day.
Ronda Storms is a former Florida Senator and also held an eight-year tenure on the Hillsborough County Commission. After seeing a book display in Town ‘n’ Country honoring LGBT Pride Month she began a movement to prohibit the county from recognizing Pride in any way. The Commission voted on the policy, which passed with a super majority. Her actions prompted Kevin Beckner to run for office and eventually become the county’s first openly gay commissioner. He is currently in his second term and helped overturn Storms’ controversial policy in 2013.
Terry Kemple, president of the Community Issues Council consistently speaks out against equality measures benefiting the LGBT community. He has advocated a policy that would require children to receive permission for their parents to join gay-straight alliance clubs at Hillsborough County schools. He successfully argued against a domestic partner registry in Hillsborough.
George Rekers, a psychologist and Baptist minister has issued studies, later discovered to be inaccurate, painting same-sex parents as unable to raise successful children. He research was discredited the same year he was discovered with a male escort in Miami.
Anita Bryant is a former Florida Citrus spokeswoman, beauty queen who rose to frame as an anti-gay activist of the 70s and 80s. She successfully pushed for an ban on gays and lesbians adopting children in Florida, which was finally overturned in 2010. Many credit her with the rise of Florida’s LGBT rights movement.
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Jerry Falwell was a respected religious leader when he founded Liberty University. However, after claiming that a Teletubby was gay and blaming the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on homosexuals and abortionists, to name a few, he lost major credibility. He died in 2007.
Pat Robertson, media mogul, former minister and host of the 700 Club, is reliable for outrageous claims against LGBTs. Recently, he said gay men wear rings that are used to inject HIV/AIDS into straight people. He also blamed 9-11 on homosexuality.
Fred Phelps was the founder of Westboro Baptist Church that is notorious for it’s hateful signage and protests at the funerals of US soldiers. His extreme tactics were frowned upon by both sides of the equality debate and many right-leaning organizations distanced themselves from him.
Maggie Gallagher, co-founder of the National Organization for Marriage, has conceded that marriage equality is an inevitability in the country, but is now focused on religious freedom bills like the one recently vetoed in Arizona that would allow individuals to decline service to others based on religious beliefs. As those bills fall, so does her credibility.
Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, used to be a respected Louisiana legislator. But now he’s a mouthpiece for discrimination, claiming that President Obama is the anti-Christ and gay rights will crash the US economy. He is also against protections for LGBTs in the workplace, claiming gays want to “put the bedroom in the workplace.”
Dan Cathy, the Chick-Fil A president who spoke out against marriage equality, has since admitted he shouldn’t have addressed such a volatile political issue. While support of the chain surged after his announcement, it has since waned as boycotts continue and college campuses reject the corporation’s restaurants.
Don Wildmon, founder of the American Family Association, publishes lists of television and films to boycott because of their gay characters or messages, which has developed into a guide of sorts for those looking for that exact programming.
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