All Loudoun residents should be aware of how certain anti-gay advocacy organizations use our community to carry out their work. “To make local anti-homosexual campaigns appear to be exclusively grassroots efforts when they are guided by major national organizations” has been one of the primary objectives of the theocratic right, according to Jean Hardisty, director of Political Research Associates/Public Eye. This perfectly describes some of the “controversies” fabricated in recent years by Loudoun-based activists working for national anti-gay organizations.
National directors of some of these organizations are actively engaged in Loudoun County politics, and some of the organizations themselves are headquartered in Loudoun. For a variety of reasons – proximity to Washington DC, rapid residential growth that results in transience – Loudoun has proved to be attractive as a base area for the consolidation of far right power. Much of the current situation in our county is the outcome of a long term strategy of cultivating such base areas devised by the architects of the “Religious Right” or “cultural conservative” movement, beginning with the Christian Coalition in the late 1970s.
Analysis of anti-gay organizations and individuals active in Loudoun County
Hall of Shame (letters to the editor and other communications from opponents of equality)
Other resources
Public Eye is an extensive database of information about authoritarian anti-democratic movements and organizations, well worth checking out.
Constructing Homophobia – an overview of the history, origins and strategies of the current anti-gay rights movement in Public Eye Magazine. Dated, but still relevant.
The Yurica Report has a large collection of articles and documents on the rise of Dominionism (Christian Reconstructionism) that may be of interest to readers.
Ex-Gay Watch – a well maintained blog that monitors the “Ex-Gay” movement.
The Southern Poverty Law Center – the preeminent monitor of hate groups in the U.S.
“Holy War” – an excellent history and analysis of the anti-gay “Christian” right movement, from SPLC’s Intelligence Report. A must read.