He's not only the oldest of 19 very famous children on a popular reality television series, Josh Duggar is also the executive director of Tony Perkins' Family Research Council Action - the man who runs policy and handles politics for the anti-gay hate group.
According to a report in the New Civil Rights Movement, Duggar spoke on Sunday at an anti-marriage equality rally organized by the National Organization For Marriage, then spoke to CNS News, the Christian News Service.
"Natural marriage has been clearly defined over the years," said Duggar. "Right now in America, there is an agenda to silence people of faith, those who hold a dissenting opinion. That's not what America was founded on. America was founded on respect, tolerance, and really not discriminating against people based on their religious convictions."
Raw Storypoints out Duggar is saying he believes a court ruling affirming marriage equality would be discriminatory against Christians who want to discriminate against LGBT people.
In the interview, Raw Story says Duggar also made a false comparison between Roe v. Wade and same-sex marriage. In 1973, when the Supreme Court decided that historic case, there was far less support for the right of women to choose. Today, 61 percent of Americans support marriage equality.
"I think what we have to realize is this is only the beginning of a larger discussion, and what's really at stake here is the American family," Duggar said, promising to continue to fight against the rights of same-sex couples regardless of how the Supreme Court rules.
"I believe strongly, being the oldest of 19 kids and counting that you know marriage is central to the family and every single child deserves a mother and father," Duggar continued. "And I'm sure grateful for my parents and I'm grateful for my wife and we have our fourth child on the way due in July, and I think it's just such a blessing when you see family and you see that you can honor each other."
Duggar also claimed that "only one other country in the entire world has ever redefined marriage and that was Brazil when they stepped in through the court system to do that."
Raw Story's Travis Gettys was quick to set the record straight this morning.
"In fact, 18 countries worldwide legally approved same-sex marriage through legislative action or court rulings, and two others - Mexico and the United States - recognize same-sex unions in at least some regions," Gettys noted.
This kind of rhetoric that Gettys corrected was targeted directly in another
Raw Story piece, a commentary by Alvin McEwen of
alternet.org.
"There is a brazenly dishonest new tactic emanating from the anti-gay right which must be called out on a larger scale," McEwen wrote. "That lie is the idea that somehow the progression of marriage equality and popularity of the LGBT community is suddenly making them isolated and derided for supposedly simply stating their opinions. Suddenly the LGBT community is being portrayed as bullies seeking to shut anti-gay figures down and deride them for speaking against marriage equality and LGBT equality.
"It's a skilled talking point helped along by think tank finances, intellectuals paid by these finances, and a "news" network which mistakes omitted information, one-sided interviews, and sloppy (probably in some cases deliberately sloppy) journalism as conservative opinion and ideology.
"For decades, anti-gay organizations and their supporters have portrayed the LGBT community as child molesting, diseased, sexually aggressive miscreants whose sole desire is to cause chaos before being sent to the lower pits of hell after we die for our supposed sins. Through lies, distortions, and bad science, anti-gay groups made it difficult for laws to be passed to protect our interests, health, and families. They created and repeated ad nauseam the false mantra that we are a "public health hazard" and our lives are fraught with pain, sadness, loneliness, and early death.
"But suddenly, as if they are recreating the famous scene from the 1978 Superman motion picture in which actor Christopher Reeve soared through the air and flew backwards to alter history, anti-gay groups are attempting to rewrite the so-called culture war.
"They want the world to forget all of the ignorance they exploited, the lies they told, and the tactics they undertook to dehumanize the LGBT community.
"They want us to forget the times when folks like Anita Bryant accused LGBTs of "recruiting" children to "refreshen" our ranks.
"They want us to forget the officials in the Reagan Administration who kept the president from adequately addressing the AIDS crisis in its early days.
"They want us to forget the names and faces of people whose lives were destroyed via homophobic violence or suicide most likely spurred on by the nods of societal homophobia.
"They want us to forget all of the times when we fearfully hid in the closets, while being attacked by purveyors of junk science during Congressional hearings or had the quality of our lives reduced to fevered sexual fantasies on a day-to-day basis.
"And most of all, they want us to forget that all of this was done either directly by them or through their tacit approval.
"Sorry guys, you are not victims. You never were. You can't pretend that any of these things I just talked about didn't happen. You can't pretend that somehow where we are now when it comes to LGBT equality just happened in vacuum. I don't expect any of you to atone, but at the very least, you need to acknowledge.
"Because you can't escape the truth no matter how fast you run or how much influence you peddle to distance yourself from it.
"Don't mistake my words as some sort of call to violence or isolation against you. It's just to say that I'm hip to the game you are running. Nor am I the only one.
"So play this game as long as you can because sooner or later, all games must come to an end.
"And when THIS game ends, you will be the loser.
"LGBTs don't forget," said McEwen, "and we don't let others forget, either."
WATCH Duggar's comments to CNS News below:
