Category Archives for Liberty Institute

Reckless Texas Politicians, Religious-Right Group Just Cost Taxpayers $44,000

Days after the U.S.  Supreme Court ruled that gay and lesbian couples have the freedom to marry, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton issued a formal opinion claiming that public officials could use their religious beliefs as an excuse for refusing to issue marriage licenses to or conduct weddings for same-sex couples. The Plano-based, religious-right group Liberty Institute […]

Also posted in marriage equality, TFNEF | 7 Comments

#JeSuisAppalled

The Texas-based, religious-right group Liberty Institute has hit a repulsive new low: equating the firing of an anti-gay sports commentator/politician in the United States with the January massacre of 17 people by Islamic extremists in France. In a series of tweets this month, Liberty Institute has been claiming that sports commentator Craig James of Texas and two other people […]

Also posted in Craig James, LGBT issues, TFNEF | 2 Comments

Phony Outrage over Alleged Religious Persecution

Here’s another item for the “we’re not surprised”  category: a Texas religious-right group is deceitfully portraying a U.S. Army chaplain as a victim of religious persecution. Liberty Institute, a litigation group based in Plano north of Dallas, is representing Capt. Joseph Lawhorn, an Army chaplain who ran into trouble for essentially evangelizing at a mandatory training on suicide prevention […]

Also posted in religious freedom, TFNEF | 2 Comments

Religious-Righters Threaten to Sue Plano for Right to Discriminate

Plano on Monday joined the growing list of cities across Texas with ordinances prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity as well as other characteristics like sex, race, religion and military status. Predictably, religious-righters are angry that they might be stopped from firing, evicting or denying public services to people they don’t like — especially gay or […]

Also posted in LGBT issues, Texas Values, TFNEF | 3 Comments

For the Religious Right, It’s All about Sex and Fear

During public testimony before the Houston City Council on Tuesday, religious-right activists and spokespeople railed against the proposed Equal Rights Ordinance. The ordinance would protect Houstonians — regardless of race, gender, religion, military status and a long list of other characteristics — from discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodations. But religious-right activists focused their opposition almost exclusively on […]

Also posted in civil and equal rights, Houston Area Pastor Council, LGBT issues, Texas Values, TFN | 3 Comments

RR Extremists Launch Vicious Assault on Equality in Houston

As our society slowly moves toward treating LGBT people with the dignity and equality all human beings deserve, the reaction of religious-right groups has been almost unhinged. Their leaders have adopted increasingly vitriolic and hateful rhetoric in their desperate attempts to defend discrimination. That fact has been on clear display as the Houston City Council’s Committee on Quality of Life […]

Also posted in Dave Welch, LGBT issues, Steven Hotze, Texas Values, TFN | 4 Comments

Texas RR Group Says ‘Homosexual Advocates’ Are ‘Persecuting Christians’

As LGBT families gain marriage equality in state after state, the opposition is becoming increasingly desperate and vicious. Today, for example, a Texas religious-right group launched a new hate-filled and almost unhinged attack on supporters of marriage equality. In a fundraising email to far-right activists, Texas Values, the lobby arm of Plano-based Liberty Institute, claims […]

Also posted in LGBT issues, marriage, TFNEF | 6 Comments

Gay-Obsessed Right-Wing Texas Lobbyist Sounds Increasingly Unhinged

Even as Republicans who voted for the anti-gay discrimination bill in Arizona now admit they made a serious mistake, some religious-right activists are doubling down in their hate campaign. In fact, some just seem downright obsessed about gay people. Case in point: Jonathan Saenz at Texas Values, the lobby arm of Plano-based Liberty Institute. At […]

Also posted in Jonathan Saenz, Texas Values, TFNEF | 8 Comments

Does Texas Values Also Support School Segregation and the Ban on Interracial Marriage?

Was it wrong for the federal courts to force an end to school segregation and the ban on interracial marriage in Texas? One might be excused for wondering whether the folks at Texas Values think so. Texas Values, lobby arm of the right-wing, Plano-based group Liberty Institute, insists today that Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott […]

Also posted in Jonathan Saenz, LGBT issues, marriage, Texas Values, TFNEF | 5 Comments

Santa’s Lawyer

Question: Did you do nothing today other than sit on the couch and watch TV? Congratulations, your day was far more productive than the folks over at the far-right group Texas Values, who spent the day at the Capitol fighting an imaginary opponent alongside state Rep. Dwayne Bohac, R-Houston, and others in the latest round […]

Also posted in Texas Values, TFNEF, war on Christmas nonsense | 3 Comments