Mat Staver: Marriage Equality Is a “Lie From the Pit of Hell” June 25, 2016

Mat Staver: Marriage Equality Is a “Lie From the Pit of Hell”

In an exhausting interview for “Crosstalk” this week, Liberty Counsel chairman Mat Staver said that marriage equality is “a lie from the pit of hell.”

Staver’s interview came days before the first anniversary of the Supreme Court ruling that legalized marriage equality nationwide. He rose to a new level of infamy this past year when he represented Kentucky clerk Kim Davis, who refused to give same-sex couples marriage licenses — even after the ruling — on the basis of her religious beliefs.

In the interview, which Right Wing Watch tracked down, Staver said marriage equality had “direct and immediate consequences for religious freedom.” 

He continued:

“The only thing that stands in its way, just like in repressive regimes when communism takes place, is the church. It’s people of faith, it’s people who will not bend, and they have a compass that always points north. It doesn’t just shift around with the shifting ideas of opinion or popularity polls, it has a true north, and they don’t like that so they want to get rid of it… They’ll come after you because they want to silence you, they want to literally punish you.”

As with virtually every homophobic talking head who claims that marriage equality is sinful and gay people are trying to take over the world, Staver has probably never met a loving same-sex couple and asked them about their relationship, which is no different than any other relationship. (Not that he would ever care to.) He also isn’t caught up on the latest data about LGBT families.

Otherwise, he would know that this opinion of his is flat-out wrong:

Same-sex marriage, Staver said, “puts every household at risk because same-sex marriage, by its nature, says that, ‘boys and girls, you don’t need moms and dads,’ that they are completely irrelevant, that two men or two women are just as good as a mother and a father and that’s a complete lie from the pit of hell. It’s just simply not true. To deprive forever a boy of ever having the opportunity of a father or a mother or a girl of a father or a mother is damaging and we will see the damage that is ultimately reaped against these children as they grow up and become our future leaders.”

Comically, Staver isn’t the only conservative to have used the phrase “lie from the pit of hell” to describe an objective concept they disagree with. Former Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA) said the same thing about evolution back in 2012:

God’s word is true. I’ve come to understand that. All that stuff I was taught about evolution and embryology and the Big Bang Theory, all that is lies straight from the pit of Hell. And it’s lies to try to keep me and all the folks who were taught that from understanding that they need a savior. You see, there are a lot of scientific data that I’ve found out as a scientist that actually show that this is really a young Earth. I don’t believe that the Earth’s but about 9,000 years old. I believe it was created in six days as we know them. That’s what the Bible says.

Unfortunately for Rep. Broun, evolution is very real. And despite Staver’s inane claims, marriage equality is a societal truth.

It’s recognized in all 50 states and more than 20 countries.

It’s helping millions of kids who need homes to find loving parents.

It’s strengthening the economy.

It’s strengthening affirming religions.

In fact, it’s anything but a lie.

(via Right Wing Watch. Screenshot via YouTube)

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