As so-called bathroom bills continue to crop up in states across the country, mainstream media is starting to dig deeper to find out where the onslaught of anti-LGBT legislation is originating.
CBS Evening News correspondent Dean Reynolds went to the Orlando, Fla., headquarters of the anti-LGBT legal nonprofit Liberty Counsel, where the group’s founder proudly took credit for the recent uptick in state-sanctioned bigotry.
Of course, that isn’t how Mathew Staver framed the anti-LGBT bills that are often passed under the guise of protecting “religious freedom.”
“It’s only about being free to pursue your faith,” Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel, told CBS News. “We have no interest in discriminating against anyone.”
Nevertheless, CBS News notes that “Liberty Counsel has been helping to draft legislation for conservative lawmakers in at least 20 states.”
The network did mention that Liberty Counsel provided legal representation to defiant antigay Kentucky clerk Kim Davis when she said her faith prevented her from doing the job she was elected to do and issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. CBS did not explore the long list of right-wing, antigay clients Liberty Counsel has championed, nor did the network disclose that the organization has been designated an anti-LGBT hate group by the progressive Southern Poverty Law Center.
Reynolds did ask Staver to respond to a “reasonable observer’s” likely conclusion that the uptick in legislative attacks on LGBT rights seems to be a response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s June 2015 ruling that brought marriage equality to all 50 states.
"Well I certainly want to push back against that ruling," Staver said. "It was a wrong ruling. It has no basis in the Constitution."
Watch the CBS News segment below.
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