In Rhode Island, Man Preaches Homophobia, Misinformation About Marriage Equality To Young Children

As the Rhode Island legislature conducted hearings several weeks ago on a bill that would legalize same-sex marriage in the state, one anti-gay activist spent his time teaching young children a series of homophobic and outrageous falsehoods about the bill, including the claim that marriage equality is a plot to destroy America and arrest kids who believe in God. 

"They didn’t arrest any kids yet, but they will in the future," the unidentified man tells a little girl, ostensibly talking about pro-equality activists. "This is a way to destroy the United States. It’s a way to end religion, it’s a way to end the family, and it’s a way to cause depopulation."  

The video, first posted by the blog Good As You, also shows the man encouraging the children to testify against marriage equality, hinting that it would help them get into heaven, and even helping them write their speeches:

[Mirani2’s YouTube channel, via Good As You, 3/21/11]

UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: What they’re trying to do, destroying our religion, you know? They want to change the meaning of marriage, which violates the state’s constitution. They don’t have the power to come in our religion and tell us what to believe, you know? They can’t tell us who God is, you know? They can’t come in and just write a law that says that we have to believe in their god, right? They can’t do this with marriage, they can’t come in and change the meaning of marriage. That violates the Rhode Island constitution, Article 1, Section 3 of the constitution says the government may not compel a religious contract, okay? And that’s what they’re doing here.

[…]

We don’t want them to get diseases. Also, when they get diseases right, when they get – the Centers for Disease Control said that they have an 8,600% higher rate of AIDS, right? When they get diseases, it costs us money. Well, where does that money come from? It comes from the schools, right? That means you’re gonna have less money in the schools, okay? So we don’t want this, we don’t want this.

[…]

You guys have to sign up and speak, because they – they’ve got these – they’ve got these other kids, right? And they’ve manipulated them to come speak, you know? And then the public are only gonna see them, you know? And if we don’t have kids to show that there are people that want man-and-woman marriage to stay the way it is, and the government has no right to interfering with our religion, you know? Then the public will only see them and they’ll sympathize with these kids, they’ll say “ah, those are cute kids, I sympathize with them,” but you guys are just as cute. And if you just went up there and said, you know, “we’re a family, and my mother and my father, they made us, you know, and I don’t want you to interfere with the way that men and women have children,” you know?... And, you know, you’re going to Heaven, okay? You’re going to be with God, but the thing is, a little bit more would mean a lot, okay?

[…]

They arrested priests in Canada for reading from the Bible, because they said it was a hate crime now, to read from the book of Genesis, or to read from the book of Leviticus, to read from the Bible and we – [in response to a little girl’s question] – Um, no, they didn’t arrest any kids yet, but they will in the future. They have these bullying laws, you know? And that if you say it’s wrong, it says in my religious beliefs that this is wrong, you know, they will use these bullying laws to arrest you in the future, and that’s what they’re planning this all out. This is a way to destroy the United States. It’s a way to end religion, it’s a way to end the family, and it’s a way to cause depopulation. And then they will install a government that you have no freedom. They’ll install a very very bad government, and we don’t want that, we want to fight against that now. And that’s why what you’re doing is so good guys, okay? And you smile because you’re on the side of God, and God already won this battle, okay?

This video is one of three posted this week, in which the unidentified man refers to marriage equality as a Hitler-Marx population control scheme intended to collapse the US economy and usher in communism. Considering the extent to which anti-gay advocates fear monger about the indoctrination of children, it’s worth asking: what are they teaching their children?

Previously:

Republicans, Hate Group Desperately Working To Derail Marriage Equality In Maryland

NOM Pushing Hate Group Propaganda To Sway Maryland Marriage Equality Vote