As the holiest time of the Christian year (and the wackiest time of the secular one) approaches, the right-wing factions of the 2000-year-old religion have kicked into full, homophobic, anti-choice gear. The ultra-conservative Allied Defense Fund (ADF) has just released a year-end video appeal (posted below). Reader, I have seen a great deal of stupid, extremist propaganda in my day, but this deserves special note for the glee with which it celebrates restricting human rights.
Recounting the Proposition 8 verdict, along with similar decisions from other states, a business-like female narrator enthuses that 2008 has been "a year with incredible victory -- victory for marriage, as voters in several states affirm the countless hours ADF attorneys have put into preserving marriage as the union between one man and one women."
The ADF goes on to celebrate victories for students' free speech on California college campuses (strangely, the video does not tell us about what this victory entailed) and the release of three young women who were arrested for staging an anti-choice protest by the side of highway.
But don't rejoice yet, potential ADF donors! As Alan Sears, the organization's president and the author of such gems as "The Homosexual Agenda" and "The ACLU vs. America," says (to the accompaniment of suspenseful, action-movie music), 2009 will bring "challenges I can't even begin to describe." The narrator takes over from here. "One of those challenges is born out of victory," she says, and a barrage of pro-Prop 8 propaganda appears on the screen. "Within hours, radical advocates abandoned their rhetoric of tolerance, mounted protests against the democratic process and sued to stop the will of the people." This line is especially hilarious -- spoken, as it is, over tame, sweet anti-Prop 8 signs that say things like, "Respect our family" and "Equal rights for all."
So, wait a second, ADF. You're all for "free speech" when the speaker is Christian and shares your views, but when the speech in question is coming from the kind of "radical advocates" who chair PTA committees, it's suddenly outrageous? Gee, that's surprising! Another shocker: These staunch defenders of free expression claim the First Amendment-loving ACLU as their #1 enemy, attempting to scare constituents into donating by flashing the organization's fundraising totals ($220 million, in case you're wondering).
The crowning glory of this video, though, is the ADF's own appeal for donations. "After much prayer," says the narrator, gravely, "we know we need $8 million by the end of the year." Well, there you go, ADF supporters! God says the organization needs $8 million. Time to whip out your check books.
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