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Latest Bryan Fischer Tirade: Gay Activists Commit Most Hate Crimes

Posted By Robert Steinback On May 23, 2011 @ 2:44 pm In Anti-LGBT | 23 Comments

Bryan Fischer [1], arguably America’s champion of publicly peddled hate, spent last week trying to convince the foolish and the gullible that gays — statistically the group most likely to be targeted by hate-related violence — are, in fact, the leading perpetrators of hate crimes.

Oh, and they’re Nazis, too.

Fischer, the director of issue analysis for government and public policy for the anti-gay hate group American Family Association [2], was riffing on the resignation of Peter Vidmar as the U.S. Olympic Committee’s chef de mission for the 2012 Olympic Games, following media reports that Vidmar had participated in two anti-gay marriage demonstrations and contributed money to support California’s Proposition 8, which overturned a state Supreme Court ruling permitting same-sex marriage. Vidmar, a Mormon, in October 2008 told the Orange County Register while attending one rally, “It’s good for our society to have a traditional definition of marriage.” But within the USOC, there was concern that Vidmar’s activism on the issue would reflect badly on the organization’s commitment to equity for all people. Vidmar resigned rather than prolong a controversy that might draw attention away from the athletes.

In a post Friday on the AFA’s Rightly Concerned blog, Fischer wrote, “For his belief in the laws of nature and nature’s God, Peter Vidmar has become the victim of a hate crime, perpetrated by homosexuals. This criminal prejudice against Vidmar is criminal prejudice against his religious belief, the teaching of the LDS [Mormon] church that marriage is sacred and reserved for the union of one man and one woman. Due to intense pressure from the thugs in the homosexual movement, Vidmar was forced to resign his position.”

Fischer extended the theme on his webcast the same day. “I am convinced that the number-one group, the number-one class of people who are committing hate crimes today are homosexual activists. They are, by far, the most egregious perpetrators of hate crimes offenses in the United States of America, all the while trying to tell the public that we [Christians] are the hatemongers. It’s a hate crime if it involves threats or harassment – harassment is part, meets the definition of a hate crime. …  If you harass somebody because you are motivated by prejudice against that person’s religion, that is a hate crime.”

Fischer’s take on hate crimes, of course, is legal malarkey. For a hate crime to be committed, there must first be a crime, such as murder, assault, arson or vandalism. Merely expressing the opinion that someone is unsuitable for a particular post is not criminal harassment, even if the weight of such opinion compels someone to resign that post. Indeed, Fischer and the AFA have taken such stands in the past, calling for the firing of Kevin Jennings, the U.S. Department of Education’s assistant deputy secretary for Safe and Drug-Free Schools, who is openly gay, and the impeachment of U.S. District Court Judge Vaughn Walker, whose ruling overturned Proposition 8 as unconstitutional. Since Fischer did not call for his own arrest on those occasions, it is a safe bet that he feels comfortable with the First Amendment’s guarantee of freedom of expression — at least, when he’s doing the expressing.

Further, Fischer’s claim that LGBT activists are the greatest perpetrators of hate crimes is especially shameful, given that this is the group most victimized by violent hate crimes [3]. A report [4] published by the Southern Poverty Law Center in November 2010, analyzing FBI data from 1995 to 2008, found that LGBT people are 2.6 times more likely to be attacked than blacks; 4.4 times more likely than Muslims; 13.8 times more likely than Latinos; and 41.5 times more likely than whites.

In addition, gay and lesbian youths are among the primary targets of bullying [5], which has led to numerous suicides. Many so-called “pro-family” organizations have fought anti-bullying efforts in schools because they fear such programs surreptitiously promote the so-called “homosexual agenda” to recruit young people.

As he has done in the past, on Wednesday Fischer once again linked LGBT people to Nazism. “Homosexual activists, when it comes to freedom of speech, are Nazis. When it comes to freedom of religion, they are Nazis. There is no room in their world for dissent, there is no room in their world for disagreement, there is no room in their world for criticism. You criticize homosexual behavior, they tag you as a bigot and a homophobe and then they go to work to silence you just like the Roman Catholic Church did in the days of Galileo – it’s no different; it’s the Spanish Inquisition all over again. … Do not be under any illusions about what homosexual activists will do with your freedoms and your religion if they have the opportunity. They’ll do the same thing to you that the Nazis did to their opponents in Nazi Germany.”

Flights of lunacy are nothing new for Fischer (see here [6], here [7], here [8] and here [9]). Here’s a quick look at some of Fischer’s past anti-gay rants:

  • Homosexuality should be criminalized (January 2010): “If you believe all Scripture is inspired, then you are compelled to accept that legal sanctions may appropriately be applied to those who engage in homosexual behavior.”
  • Gays are anti-freedom (February 2010): “The homosexual agenda represents a clear and present danger to virtually every fundamental right given to us by our Creator and enshrined for us in our Constitution. Start with freedom of religion and freedom of speech, the first two of our inalienable rights secured for us in the Bill of Rights. As a culture, we must choose between the homosexual agenda or the Constitution because we can’t have have both.”
  • Gays oppress Christians (March 2010): [T]hose on the left only regard us each as 3/5 of a person. … The days of Dred Scott have returned. Christians now are the ones being confined on the plantation, and warned about being too uppity.”
  • Gays are like bank robbers (March 2010): “[U.S Secretary of Defense Robert] Gates’ theory – you get to break the law as long as you don’t rat yourself out – is absurd. Imagine if we applied that to any other realm of law enforcement. You, sir, get to go right on holding up banks because all we have to go on is ironclad eyewitness testimony from tellers, managers and other bank patrons. Please, please, pretty please admit you did it so we can lock you up. Otherwise, we will be forced to let you go so you can rob and pillage some more.”
  • Gays are vicious, genocidal Nazis (May 2010): “Homosexuality gave us Adolph Hitler, and homosexuals in the military gave us the Brown Shirts, the Nazi war machine and six million dead Jews.”
  • Most homosexuals in the U.S. military discharged under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” outed themselves because they weren’t tough enough to cut it (December 2010): “[O]ur would-be limp-wristed enlistees … homosexuals – or people who suddenly discovered latent homosexual tendencies when they could use it to parachute out of the military – signed up for the all-volunteer army, got a few weeks into basic and said, forget this noise. I’m outtahere. All they had to do was admit they were gay – whether they were or not – and they got their walking papers along with an honorable discharge.”
23 Comments (Open | Close)

23 Comments To "Latest Bryan Fischer Tirade: Gay Activists Commit Most Hate Crimes"

#1 Comment By Ruslan Amirkhanov On May 23, 2011 @ 2:58 pm

LOL WUT

#2 Comment By Reed Boyer On May 23, 2011 @ 3:12 pm

Sounds as though he’s regurgitating Scott Lively’s “Pink Swastikas” drivel.

#3 Comment By venomlash On May 23, 2011 @ 3:31 pm

WTF am I reading?

#4 Comment By Jessica MacGilvray On May 23, 2011 @ 3:44 pm

If Bryan Fischer’s vision for America were made real, he’d be guilty of a hate crime: bearing false witness. These people run the full gamut from delusionally paranoid to criminally insane. If I weren’t so afraid of them, I’d pity them.

#5 Comment By Paen On May 23, 2011 @ 3:57 pm

This kind of crap reminds me of that nazi film the eternal jew that was played all over Europe during the war.

#6 Comment By Alice E Mechler On May 23, 2011 @ 4:27 pm

This would be funny if it weren’t so sad! The biggest peddler of hate blames the ‘victims of hate crimes??

This person is obviously unstable, and needs medication and perhaps in patient care!

What a joke of a person!

#7 Comment By Kevin Young On May 23, 2011 @ 6:58 pm

As Jay Leno would say, “Oh, SHUT UP!”

#8 Comment By Howard Stone On May 23, 2011 @ 8:56 pm

This “person ???” reminds me of the Scarecrow on the Wizard of OZ. If he only had a brain he wouldn’t be so ignorant, or is it stupidity. It’s scary to think that other ignorant people my believe him

#9 Comment By Lex On May 24, 2011 @ 6:51 am

What lol where did he get those statistic for that gay commit hate crimes more then any other

#10 Comment By Ian On May 24, 2011 @ 9:35 am

I don’t quite understand the context behind the “Gays are like bank robbers” rant. Could someone explain?

I really wish these people would get their story straight (no pun intended). Either we shouldn’t be in the military because we are vicious, Nazi-like killers or we shouldn’t be in the military because we’re “limp-wristed” sissies. Pick one and stick with it.

#11 Comment By Concerned Citizen On May 24, 2011 @ 11:57 am

Bryan Fischer has got to be the biggest idiot in America.

#12 Comment By Mitch Beales On May 25, 2011 @ 10:38 am

Perhaps more germane than the fact that a crime was not committed is the fact that no one was criticizing Vidmar for “For his belief in the laws of nature and nature’s God” but for his efforts to impose those beliefs on others. It was Vidmar who sought to limit the freedom of religion and freedom of expression of others.

#13 Comment By kerneythomas On May 26, 2011 @ 3:33 pm

the splc is a left wing extremist group with no crediblity or integrity. and is a anti-christian hate group. the splc is a disgrace. and is a demonically oppressive racist group. and the gay lesbian crowd is the most intolerant-non-diverse group of antichrirstian bigots and racist on the face of the earth. and the gay community is the ones doing the name calling and attacking. that i intolerance and hate. hence racist perverts. and the splc is a pervert roup

#14 Comment By Mitch Beales On May 26, 2011 @ 3:52 pm

Concerned Citizen Bryan Fischer may have been the biggest idiot in America until kerneythomas posted.

#15 Comment By Karen, a tired old lesbian On May 26, 2011 @ 4:31 pm

Yes, gays and lesbians are more targeted for hate crimes than anyone else, other than transgenders, whose rates are even higher. You don’t have to have a study to figure that out. A lesbian is who I am, so I know how it feels to walk around as one. It is not comforting. It is not welcoming. When I read comments like kerneythomas above, I just have to ask myself: why does this person who never met me and does not know me hate me so much? For breathing air? And what does Bryan Fischer know about being gay?

#16 Comment By John Elder Moffat On May 26, 2011 @ 5:24 pm

How strange that these theologically illiterate fundamentalists can claim biblical authority to harm, discriminate, enslave, or dehumanize anyone (gay or otherwise) in the name of Jesus. There are many gay christians in the mainstream churches, and no justification for the stupidity of the less than 5% of American christians who somehow feel that armed militias and hate is their prerogative, due to their theologically indefensible position as self-proclaimed authorities; and a false belief that anything in the Bible not directly written or spoken by the Lord personally could possibly be inerrant. May God forgive them, because they’re obviously too stupid to know what they do.

#17 Comment By Ed Weston On May 26, 2011 @ 5:44 pm

Hey Roger Alis lives in fear of gay bombers.
If there are any real gay terrorists, they’re deeply in the closet and most of their motivation comes from their feeling’s of alienation. Both within and without.

#18 Comment By legalhound On May 26, 2011 @ 6:04 pm

Fischer needs to read the Constitution again. The First Amendment’s first freedom is freedom FROM religion. He can have the right of free exercise in church, but NOT in the government, the schools or the law. He seems to think free exercise means that he can be free of criticism (just like all the other right wing bozos who seem to think that freedom of speech means you can say whatever you want without criticism)- absolutely NOT! It is the duty of people who would truly follow Christ to call him out for his hatred and stupidity and brand him the false prophet that he is. Him and all of the fools in the crazy wing of the Christian faith.

#19 Comment By Linnea On May 26, 2011 @ 7:08 pm

Whatever! Bryan Fischer and trolls like kerneymonkey are clearly afraid of people who are different from them. If they didn’t spew so much nastiness, I’d feel sorry for them.

#20 Comment By Madolynn Cronk On May 26, 2011 @ 7:59 pm

“Vidmar, a Mormon, in October 2008 told the Orange County Register while attending one rally, “It’s good for our society to have a traditional definition of marriage.”

What’s wrong with this person???

#21 Comment By Ruslan Amirkhanov On May 27, 2011 @ 8:29 am

The funny thing is that what they think is the “traditional marriage” isn’t traditional at all.

#22 Comment By hank On May 27, 2011 @ 10:12 am

I agree with the comments. The black guy Kerney Thomas i believe is some black preacher with the largest black denomination. c.o.g.i.c.- and for the gay movement ot really be accepted- we have to work with our friends in the black church for them to undertand equality. And we have a ways to go- becouse the majority fo black preachers are like mr. kerney and his big mouth. but his big mouth influences a lot of people. check out on the web- a dude by the name of bishop herman murray. very anti-gay. we ahve a lot of work to do.

#23 Comment By Lex On May 29, 2011 @ 7:13 am

Concerned Citizen

No you are wrong Fred Phelps holds that title ;)

Article printed from Hatewatch | Southern Poverty Law Center: http://www.splcenter.org/blog

URL to article: http://www.splcenter.org/blog/2011/05/23/latest-bryan-fischer-tirade-gay-activists-commit-most-hate-crimes/

URLs in this post:

[1] Bryan Fischer: http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-files/profiles/bryan-fischer

[2] American Family Association: http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-files/groups/american-family-association

[3] group most victimized by violent hate crimes: http://www.splcenter.org/blog/2010/11/22/new-intelligence-report-finds-gays-most-targeted-for-violent-hate-crimes/

[4] report: http://splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-report/browse-all-issues/2010/winter/anti-gay-hate-crimes-doing-the-math

[5] primary targets of bullying: http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/news/splc-to-us-commission-on-civil-rights-combating-anti-lgbt-bullying-requires-focus-on-climate

[6] here: http://www.splcenter.org/blog/2010/12/02/afas-fischer-recycles-lies-in-support-of-anti-gay-truth/

[7] here: http://www.splcenter.org/blog/2010/12/20/afas-fischer-doubles-down-on-anti-gay-lies/

[8] here: http://www.splcenter.org/blog/2011/02/09/gay-bashing-american-family-association-official-has-new-target-native-americans/

[9] here: http://www.splcenter.org/blog/2011/02/24/bryan-fischer-american-indians-should-have-assimilated-like-pocahontas/