The Human Rights Campaign was accused of fear-mongering and donation-hustling after declaring a “national state of emergency” for LGBTQ Americans – and that by some of its fellow LGBTQ Americans.
The HRC, the nation’s largest LGBTQ advocacy group, drew headlines Tuesday with its first-ever emergency declaration, citing an “unprecedented and dangerous spike in anti-LGBTQ+ legislative assaults sweeping state houses this year.”
Swinging back were gay and lesbian organizations and commentators not on board with the HRC’s gender-ideology agenda, including the Log Cabin Republicans and Gays Against Groomers.
“The HRC’s latest PR stunt is so ignorantly detached from the incredible LGBT progress over the past decade that we’d be shocked if their donors even buy it,” Log Cabin Republicans President Charles Moran told The Washington Times.
He pointed to congressional legislation signed into law last year that codifies single-sex marriage into law and polls showing growing support for equal rights for LGBTQ Americans.
Against that backdrop, the HRC “must perpetually fear-monger that the LGBT community is in grave danger in order to gin up donations and justify its existence,” Mr. Moran said.
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Gays Against Groomers, which opposes the “sexualization, indoctrination and medicalization of children under the guise of ‘LGBTQIA+,’” accused the HRC of trying to “remain a permanent victim class, because oppression pays in this country.”
“Seriously? The @HRC is a joke,” the group tweeted. “The only ones in a state of emergency are children being preyed upon by groomers and child butchers. The gaslighting is really next level. WE ARE FINE! It’s the kids who are not.”
The HRC sounded the alarm with the release of a report, “LGBTQ+ Americans Under Attack,” that described the 2023 state legislative session the “worst year on record for anti-LGBTQ+ legislation.”
Seventy-six state bills identified as “anti-LGBTQ+” had been signed as of Monday, more than double the number in 2022, the report said.
The bills related to gender ideology include “transgender sports bans,” which bar male-born students from competing against females; “gender-affirming care bans,” which prohibit gender-transition drugs and surgeries for those under 18; and “bathroom bans,” which bar biological males from using female public facilities.
The group also released a “guidebook for action” and a “resource page” breaking down the relevant laws in each state.
“There is an imminent threat to the health and safety of millions of LGBTQ+ people and families, who are living every day in uncertainty and fear,” said HRC President Kelley Robinson.
A “national state of emergency” can only be declared by authorized government agencies, not lobbies. This is a meaningless, showboating contrivance of the fundraisers at @HRC during Pride month. Crass, to say the least, and transparently opportunistic. https://t.co/indU28pdW9
— Fred Sargeant (@FredSargeant) June 6, 2023
Mr. Moran said the problem is that HRC has redefined support for LGBTQ rights to include “trans surgeries for minors, biological men competing in women’s sports, and sex and gender identity lessons in kindergarten.”
“While these issues can be emotional and complex, they in no way pose an unprecedented ‘state of emergency’ to the LGBT community, which has persevered through far worse,” he said. “We encourage the HRC team to read a history book.”
The emergency declaration was the first issued in the history of the HRC, which was founded in 1980, a year before the AIDS crisis erupted and decades before same-sex marriage became the law of the land.
Conservative pundit Guy Benson, who is gay, accused the group of hyperbole.
“Non-straight Americans have never enjoyed more rights or broad acceptance in our nation’s laws/culture than we do today,” Mr. Benson tweeted. “To effectively suggest — with a dramatic, first-ever ‘emergency’ declaration — that it’s never been worse (dating back to the early 80s!) is really something.”
Brandon Straka, founder of the #WalkAway Foundation, ripped the “blatant lies and false narratives about our safety and security.”
“If it’s not crystal clear at this point that the Human Rights Campaign is a sham organization driven by toxic executives who enrich themselves by raising millions of dollars by lying to gay people about make believe eminent threats and now a ludicrous and embarrassing ‘national state of emergency’ over pronoun and child drag show laws, I don’t know what it will take to wake you up,” Mr. Straka tweeted.
Mr. Straka, a former hair stylist who founded #WalkAway in 2018 to encourage Democrats to leave the party, was sentenced last year to three years’ probation after pleading guilty to disorderly conduct at the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.
He has apologized to police and lawmakers.
Shay Woulahan, a lesbian activist and coordinator for the LGB Alliance, was unconcerned by the “emergency” warning.
“Looking forward to my trip to Florida in a few months, not planning on using the wrong sex bathroom or sports teams while I’m there, so think I’ll be fine,” she tweeted.
