So Cathi Herrod, it's just a coincidence that you pushed to 'change' gay people?

« Go back a post || Return to G-A-Y homepage || Haul tail to next post »

02/26/2014

by Jeremy Hooper

If you've been following any of the coverage about Arizona's heinous proposal to allow business owners to essentially turn away LGBT (and other) customers for just about any reason, so long as they cite their faith as the basis, then you've likely seen Center for Arizona Policy director Cathi Herrod. Ms. Herrod has been all over the mainstream media, both in Arizona and nationally, presenting this new license-to-discriminate bill as a "religious freedom" endeavor. Her language is all nice and positive and even inclusive, without any mention of the anti-LGBT truth.

But let's get real here for a second. Up until very recently, the Center for Arizona Policy, while under Ms. Herrod's leadership, hosted a resource section for homosexuality. The one and only "resource" that CAP offered was leading supporters to organizations that are dedicated to "changing" (or "praying away") homosexuality. Here are the four links that made up the section:

Internet Archive of CAP's homosexuality resources (which have since been scrubbed)

This is not a fluke. This organization, which is now the chief force behind the heinous Arizona bill, could've chosen any number of resources for Arizona's LGBT population. They could've directed folks to PFLAG groups that help parents and friends understand their loved ones. They could've directed folks to actual houses of science, like the American Psychological Association or American Medical Association. They could've stayed silent on the whole thing, focusing instead on public policy. But they didn't. This organization, under its current leadership, chose to send its supporters to scientifically discredited organizations with the sole mission of "converting" LGBT people into "former" versions of themselves.

And yet we're to believe this new proposal is something other than targeted discrimination against LGBT people? Are you kidding me with that noise?!?

**RELATED: Herrod's CAP also recently joined a collation of rabidly anti-LGBT groups in an ad calling on the Boy Scouts to stay anti-gay. Detecting a theme here?

space