The usual suspects show up to block equal protection under the law

From left: Tony Perkins, Harry Jackson, Brian Brown, Julius Henson, Derek McCoy. Much has been said about the unprecedented nastiness and audacious lies coming out of the Romney campaign this cycle. Lies and outrageous behavior is merely business as usual in the world of anti-gay politics, however.

Things have gotten particularly ugly in Maryland over the marriage equality ballot referendum that will go before voters in just over a week. This week Maryland Marriage Alliance, the lead organization challenging the law, convened a discussion panel on civil marriage, a discussion that turned decidedly uncivil. A panelist explained to the gathered crowd that God wants gay people dead, and their supporters, as well. (Please don't let that scare you away, straight allies.)

Sadly, par for course as death threats against LGBT Americans arise with great regularly by these "good Christian traditional marriage" advocates. We previously heard them at National Organization for Marriage events in Indiana and New York, and a particularly colorful one coming out of North Carolina. Also common, Nazi and Hitler comparisons, like that coming out of Minnesota. So, it's not surprising.

But even by the standards of anti-gay hate campaigns, one scarcely sees as disreputable rogue gallery as the pious crew assembled in Maryland. Consider the background of some of the top players pulling the strings in the Old Line State:

• Tony Perkins runs an Southern Poverty Law Center identified hate group, of course. And in 1996, Perkins purchased a mailing list from a Ku Klux Klan leader to use on a political campaign. He then lied to the Federal Election Commission about the origin of the list, and was fined for it when caught by the FEC.
• Rev. Harry Jackson lied repeatedly about his legal residence in order to meddle in DC's marriage fight, and like Mitt Romney may have committed voter fraud. He says LGBT equality movement is "just like during the times of Hitler."
• Brian Brown's National Organization for Marriage has been found to have broken election laws and regulations in seven states, and been investigated virtually everywhere they have operated. Secret documents leaked their plan to fans flames of racial animosity to further their political aims
• Julius Henson is a major funder of one of the anti-gay groups. He's also a convicted felon who went to jail and his company was fined $1M for his role in a robocall scam aimed at suppressing African American voter turnout in 2010.
• Derek McCoy also owes more than $30,000 in back taxes, which the IRS has filed liens against his property to collect.

Part of Brian Brown's campaign to drive a racial wedge involves getting African American ministers to encourage fellow African Americans to withhold their vote from Barack Obama. At least one of the preachers told press NOM pays him $20,000 a year for his "advocacy," or should we call it political operations? Rest assured there is no evidence this mission is succeeding and substantial circumstantial evidence it failing spectacularly.

Same old players, same playbook. Once again the religious right wing is trotting the same tired false tropes about schools being required to teach gay marriage. It's a classic zombie lie.

The not terribly veiled message is: "If you vote for gay marriage, your kids will become gay." At best, they might come home from school and ask you a lot of uncomfortable questions about the buttsecks.

It's also a dog whistle campaign designed to play to outdated, thoroughly discredited stereotypes that what gay people really want most is to molest your children.

And they repeat these lies even though they themselves know it isn't true. Filmmaker Joe Fox followed around both the yes and no campaigns in Maine in 2009 for his documentary Question One (now playing). In a candid moment, the leader of the anti-gay campaign, Marc Mutti admitted he knew the ads they were running were hyperbolic falsehoods:

We use a lot of hyperbole, and I think that's always dangerous. We say things like, "teachers will be forced to'" you know, that's not a completely accurate statement and we all know it isn't.

Continues after the fold...