Latest news with #MassResistance
Yahoo
13-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Who is MassResistance, the far-right group behind anti-marriage equality resolutions?
Those resolutions being proposed in state legislatures urging the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn marriage equality aren't happening organically. Instead, they're the result of an orchestrated campaign by MassResistance, one of the most virulently anti-LGBTQ+ groups in existence. It has often equated homosexuality and bisexuality with pedophilia and bestiality, and it has long demonized transgender people. Keep up with the latest in + news and politics. The group hasn't been in the news much in the past few years, but its presence has resurged with the anti-marriage equality resolutions. 'MassResistance has drafted text for state legislature resolutions that call on the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse its infamous and illegitimate Obergefell ruling,' says a post on the group's website. 'That 2015 decision forced the idea that the U.S. Constitution requires states to allow same-sex 'marriage.'' Yes, MassResistance is still putting 'marriage' in quotes when it comes to queer couples. The resolutions have so far been introduced in five states — Idaho, Michigan, Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota. Idaho is the only state to pass one to date; the resolutions failed in Montana and South Dakota and remain pending in the other states. MassResistance expects one to be introduced in Iowa as well. They are nonbinding — it would take a case getting to the high court for it to reconsider the marriage equality decision — but MassResistance sees the measures as 'an important public message' that 'can create positive momentum across the country,' according to its website. But just who is MassResistance? Here we take a look at the group's history. The organization now known as MassResistance was founded in 1995 as the Parents' Rights Coalition. It's based in Waltham, Mass. — yes, in one of the most liberal and LGBTQ-friendly states in the nation. It has chapters in numerous other states and has worked with anti-LGBTQ+ activists around the world. Brian Camenker has been its director since its founding. In 1996, as president of another group, the Interfaith Coalition of Massachusetts, he led efforts to draft a bill requiring that parents in the state be notified if their children's schools are offering sex education. But MassResistance was just getting started. Things really ramped up in 2003, when the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled in favor of marriage equality. The Parents' Rights Coalition changed its name to Article 8 Alliance, a reference to Article 8 of the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights, a part of the state constitution establishing the people's right to recall elected officials. But the course opponents of marriage equality took was to try to amend the Massachusetts constitution to nullify the ruling, an effort backed by then-Gov. Mitt Romney. MassResistance refers to this period as the ''gay marriage' crisis.' At any rate, the state did not amend its constitution, and same-sex couples began marrying when the ruling went into effect May 17, 2004. 'We adopted the name MassResistance in 2006 when our role as the true resistance to tyrannical government became clear,' the organization's website says. 'Since we were in the first state to see homosexual activism in the schools and 'gay marriage,' we thoroughly understood the threat of sexual radicalism, curtailed freedom of speech, uneven application of the law, judicial activism, and post-constitutional government.' During 2006 and 2007, MassResistance sought to have the 1996 law on sex education amended so that parents would be notified of any discussion of gay and lesbian issues in schools. 'The group proposed language that lumped sexual orientation (which includes heterosexuality, homosexuality and bisexuality) in with criminal behaviors like bestiality and polygamy,' notes the Southern Poverty Law Center, which has labeled MassResistance a hate group. 'During legislative testimony supporting the amendment, Camenker falsely claimed that no homosexuals died in the Holocaust and that the pink triangle the Nazis forced imprisoned gays to wear actually signified Catholic priests. The amendment did not pass.' MassResistance has often attacked GLSEN (formerly the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network), including with a claim that it was distributing a booklet with instructions on gay sexual activities to students in fifth through ninth grades. This allegation was featured in a 2011 documentary from another anti-LGBTQ+ hate group, the Family Research Council, with FRC leader Tony Perkins calling it 'the most vile assault on teenagers ever concocted by homosexual activists.' However, the booklet, on how to have safer sex, was produced by the AIDS Action Committee of Massachusetts and was intended for gay men 18 and older. Fenway Community Health took a few to a 2005 GLSEN conference held at a high school, then acknowledged it was a mistake (the conference banned sexually explicit material) and said apparently no students picked up the booklet. MassResistance has a history of opposing antibullying and safe schools programs by claiming they're 'promoting' homosexuality. It has also condemned the Governor's Commission on Gay and Lesbian Youth, started under Massachusetts Gov. William Weld in 1992, and now an independent agency called the Massachusetts Commission on LGBTQ Youth. When the T was added in the early 2000s, MassResistance denounced the commission as 'pushing transgenderism.' Camenker went on a conservative radio show in 2012 to claim that LGBTQ+ inclusion efforts at the FBI and CIA meant that queer people had taken control of those agencies and would use them against Christians — well, right-wing Christians. One weapon, he said, would be the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr., Hate Crimes Prevention Act, a federal law passed under President Barack Obama in 2009. 'When an individual describes himself as being gay or lesbian, transgender or something, invariably that person is hostile to the pro-family position and is vigorous about pushing the entire agenda,' Camenker said on the Crosstalk show. 'We've seen that in the schools, we've seen that all over the place. We're really scared about the FBI being this out homosexual organization.' But anti-LGBTQ+ churches and organizations remain in operation — the U.S. still has freedom of speech and religion — and Camenker's probably very pleased with Donald Trump's anti-diversity efforts. During the first Trump administration, however, even far-right Secretary of State Mike Pompeo wasn't anti-LGBTQ+ enough to satisfy MassResistance. In 2018, the group denounced Pompeo for declaring Pride Month at the State Department and issuing a statement in support of the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia. 'He gave credence to the radical ideology deeming all forms of sexual and 'gender' expression 'human rights' and that any disagreement is irrational or hateful,' said a post by Amy Contrada on the MassResistance website. Among MassResistance's other 'greatest hits' was Camenker's discussion with fellow anti-LGBTQ+ activist Linda Harvey on her Mission: America radio show in 2013. He claimed that antigay crimes are often caused by 'revulsion' at, for instance, the sight of two men kissing, and he asserted that there are few elite gay athletes because of 'the psychological issues that are going through you in the homosexual lifestyle.' He said elite athletes need a high level of stability and alertness, and apparently LGBTQ+ people don't have that. Oh, maybe they just need a better environment in which to come out? MassResistance has also promoted so-called conversion therapy and objected to state laws preventing its use on minors, and it has denounced the 1973 decision by the American Psychiatric Association to remove homosexuality from its list of mental disorders. The group was a big supporter of Roy Moore, the homophobic and now-disgraced Alabama politician who ran unsuccessfully for U.S. Senate and lost his post on the state's Supreme Court. MassResistance members have recently taken on such popular far-right causes as protesting drag queen story hours, trying to get LGBTQ-themed books out of public libraries, and generally demonizing trans people as delusional and dangerous. As noted previously, those resolutions are nonbinding. For the Supreme Court to reconsider marriage equality, a case would have to come to it. But the infamous Kim Davis is trying to set one up. In 2015, Davis, as clerk of Rowan County, Ky., refused to comply with the Obergefell v. Hodges decision, which she said went against her religious beliefs. Her office was responsible for issuing marriage licenses, but she shut down all marriage license operations to avoid serving same-sex couples. She even went to jail briefly for defying a judge's order to resume issuing licenses without discrimination. Eventually, she decided to allow her deputies to serve same-sex couples, and then Kentucky changed its marriage license form so that it does not include the county clerk's name. This satisfied the religious exemption that Davis said she wanted. She was voted out of office in 2018. But the drama wasn't over. One of the couples to whom Davis denied a license, David Ermold and David Moore, sued her and won. They have been trying to collect the damages a jury awarded them, and last week the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled that yes, Davis has to pay. She and her lawyers at Liberty Counsel hope to get the case to the Supreme Court and overturn Obergefell, a possibility with the court's 6-3 conservative majority, and given that far-right Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito have expressed a desire to overturn it. But maybe a couple of the court's four other conservatives would side with the liberals. If Obergefell does fall, states could still offer and recognize same-sex marriages. The Respect for Marriage Act, signed into law by President Joe Biden in 2022, writes the rights to same-sex marriage and interracial marriage into federal law, assuring that the U.S. government will recognize these marriages and that all states will recognize those performed in other states. It forbids anyone acting under a state law to discriminate based on the gender or race of a married couple. However, it does not require any state to allow same-sex marriages to be performed, so there would probably be a patchwork of laws among states. And who knows, the Republicans in control of Congress could try to repeal the Respect for Marriage Act, but a few Republicans voted for it, and marriage equality is popular. Even Trump has said he considers it settled law, although who can trust him? At any rate, Rutgers Law School professor Kimberly Mutcherson has said it would be hard to get a case to the Supremes. 'There would have to be a constitutional case that got litigated,' she recently told The Washington Post. 'There would have to be conflict among circuits that allow the case to wind up to the Supreme Court. That is the kind of thing that takes years.' In the meantime, though, it pays to keep an eye on MassResistance and its ilk.
Yahoo
13-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
North Dakota lawmakers hear emotional testimony on resolution against same-sex marriage
Bradley King of Bismarck holds up a photo of his daughter and her wife during a committee hearing on a resolution opposing same-sex marriage on March 12, 2025. (Michael Achterling/North Dakota Monitor) A North Dakota Senate committee voted 6-1 Wednesday to not issue a recommendation on a House resolution urging the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn same-sex marriage. Sen. Ryan Braunberger, D-Fargo, the only vote against the recommendation, said he wants voters to know exactly where he stands on the issue. He also pointed out the organization supporting the resolution, MassResistance, has been labeled an anti-LGBTQ hate group. 'I want my constituents to know that I disagree with this wholeheartedly,' Braunberger said. 'This bill is coming from a place of hate.' Supporters and opponents of House Concurrent Resolution 3013, sponsored by Rep. Bill Tveit, R-Hazen, delivered pointed, and at times emotional, testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee. The resolution asks the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn its 2015 decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, which has protected same-sex marriage. The resolution passed the House on a 52-40 vote in February. 'It's past time for North Dakota citizens to speak their displeasure with this Supreme Court decision and call for restoration of the definition of marriage as only of the legal union between a man and a woman,' Tveit said. North Dakota resolution urging end to same-sex marriage advances Arthur Schaper, a field director for MassResistance, testified remotely during the hearing. 'It is a crime against nature to teach anyone that they are born homosexual or transgender,' Schaper told lawmakers. 'These patterns of behavior are inherently harmful to individuals and they should not be granted a privileged status in marriage.' MassResistance was labeled an anti-LGBTQ hate group by the GLAAD Accountability Project, an organization that catalogs anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and discriminatory actions taken by lawmakers, religious leaders and organizations. More than 330 people submitted testimony on the measure ahead of the public hearing, most opposing the resolution. The first person to testify in opposition to the resolution Wednesday was Rep. Matt Ruby, R- Minot, who voted in support of the measure when it passed the House – a decision he told the committee he now regrets. 'I knew before we were done with that floor session that I had made a mistake,' Ruby said. 'I've regretted a lot of votes over my four sessions. This is the first time I've been disappointed with myself over a vote.' He added he hopes the Senate can defeat Tveit's resolution. Bradley King of Bismarck testified in opposition to the measure and said he raised his family here because he thought it was a great place to have children. King held up a picture of his daughter, a middle school teacher, and her wife. He told the committee members how proud he was to walk her down the aisle and that her marriage isn't hurting anybody. 'Right now, you are looking at one angry father,' King said. 'I personally feel that this is an attack on my daughter.' After 45 minutes of testimony from each side, the hearing was closed and members decided to send the resolution to a vote of the full Senate without a committee recommendation. Sen. Janne Myrdal, R-Edinburg, said she and many other lawmakers had been getting hateful emails and messages leading up to the hearing. 'I just think it's disgusting on either side, doesn't matter what side it is,' Myrdal said. Sen. Diane Larson, R-Bismarck, chair of the committee, reiterated that the Legislature needs to take up all bills for final votes in each chamber, regardless of their content. Rep. Austin Foss, D-Fargo, who strongly advocated against the resolution before it passed in the House, was among those who attended the committee hearing. 'I'm emotionally beat. You saw some real hatred, real hatred from the true bill sponsor, which is MassResistance,' Foss said after the hearing. 'It's very, very outdated ideas that I thought we had put to bed, but I guess not, so that was really hard to hear.' Foss said he's been hearing unacceptance and hatred for his whole life and had little sympathy for lawmakers receiving angry phone calls for the last week. 'I've also gotten hate when I was door knocking, when I was campaigning. I got hate from people for just being who I am,' he said. 'That hatred coming from those individuals, we deal with that every day.' SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Washington Post
06-03-2025
- Politics
- Washington Post
A far-right campaign seeks statehouse support to overturn gay marriage
In statehouses across the country, a far-right group has been behind a long-shot campaign to introduce resolutions urging the Supreme Court to overturn the 2015 decision that established the right to same-sex marriage. MassResistance has worked with legislators in at least five states to introduce nearly identical resolutions challenging the verdict in Obergefell v. Hodges, claiming that same-sex-marriage opponents are finally 'fighting back' — even though the vast majority of Americans support same sex unions.
Yahoo
04-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Joint resolution to oppose gay marriage tabled in Senate Judiciary
A resolution to push back on same-sex marriage was tabled on Monday morning. (Photo by Darrell Ehrlick of the Daily Montanan) A Senate joint resolution to oppose same-sex marriage and the 2015 Obergefell decision was tabled in the body's Judiciary committee on Monday morning. Republicans in the legislature sought to pass a formal resolution that Obergefell v. Hodges, the U.S. Supreme Court case that codified same-sex marriage into federal law, was 'at odds with the Constitution of the United States and the principles on which the United States was established.' Same-sex marriage became legal in Montana in 2014. Senate Joint Resolution 15, brought by Sen. Rob Phalen, R-Lindsay, did not pass on a 4-4 vote, with Republican Sen. Sue Vinton of Billings joining Democrats in opposition. The Senate Judiciary committee then tabled it on a 6-2 vote. The resolution had support from Republican leadership both in the House and the Senate. It was opposed by more than 20 people who spoke, including SK Rossi, who was speaking on behalf of the Montana Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence and themself. 'I don't even know where to start,' Rossi said. 'The state Capitol is a time machine, because I honestly feel like we've gone back 20 years.' Rossi added: 'I would say this issue is settled. I know that some people in this room don't agree with that, but that's the case.' Rep. Zooey Zephyr, D-Missoula, also lent her voice to the discussion and spoke against the resolution in testimony. Zephyr, who is married to a woman, talked about her wedding. 'She started reading her vows, that very sacred moment where someone who loves you dearly makes a promise in all the ways that they will love you for the rest of your life. That is the most special moment in my life I've had so far,' said Zephyr, who is openly transgender. 'And when the 'I do's' happened and we kissed, my 9-year old stepson said that moment was the happiest he ever was, because that was the moment I became his stepmom for real.' Montana voters in 2004 approved Initiative 96, which amended the state constitution and banned same-sex marriage in the state. A federal court struck down the law in 2014, but Obergefell would supersede the state constitutional initiative regardless. MassResistance, which is designated as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, had representatives speak in support of the resolution. The organization is based in Massachusetts. 'There is no evidence that individuals are born homosexual,' said Arthur Schaper, a representative of MassResistance. 'In fact, the normalization of same-sex relationships has brought serious public health problems.' Research from the American Psychological Association has consistently shown being queer is not a choice and people cannot be turned straight. Suggesting that non-straight people are responsible for health problems is language dating back to fear-mongering about HIV, according to the Human Rights Campaign. Data from the Center for American Progress has shown the LGBTQ+ community is disproportionately impacted by certain diseases and has dealt with decades of healthcare discrimination. Derek Oestreicher, an attorney for Montana Family Foundation, spoke in support of the resolution. 'The Supreme Court has effectively vetoed the will of Montana,' Oestreicher said. 'Many Americans and religious institutions hold deep faith-based convictions about marriage, and Obergefell led to increasing conflict between religious freedom and government mandates.' Phalen ended the defense of his bill by reading John 3:16, a Bible verse that essentially says Jesus died for everyone's sins. He then told the crowd that God does love them. He proceeded to suggest children with gay parents were worse off than they'd be if they had heterosexual parents. 'Redefining marriage has made fathers and mothers optional, and the children suffer as a result,' Phalen said. 'Homosexual conduct is inherently destructive and a misuse of organs, like the shoving of a straw up one's nose to drink or using one's elbows to scratch one's ears.' While same-sex couples can experience discrimination, studies have shown there's little evidence the gender makeup of parents has much of an impact on their ability to parent. In favor if the resolution were Republican Sens. Barry Usher of Billings, Vince Ricci of Billings, Theresa Manzella of Hamilton, and Dan Emrich of Great Falls. Opposing the bill were Vinton and Democratic Sens. Andrea Olsen of Missoula, Cora Neumann of Bozeman, and Laura Smith of Helena.
Yahoo
02-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Meet MassResistance, the group taking credit for Idaho's push to overturn same-sex marriage
Editor's Note: This story was produced through a partnership between Uncloseted Media and the Idaho Statesman. Uncloseted Media specializes in investigative LGBTQ+-focused journalism. Both organizations contributed reporting and editing. Ian Max Stevenson was the Statesman's reporter for the project. Idaho lawmakers were met in late January by a House committee hearing room full of constituents there to state their beliefs about the institution of marriage — and whom it should extend to. After testimony from nearly two dozen people, the last to speak joined the hearing remotely, and thanked Rep. Heather Scott, R-Blanchard, for bringing forward a resolution to challenge same-sex marriages and ask the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn its decade-old landmark ruling that granted the unions. Arthur Schaper, field director for a group called MassResistance, told the committee that activists at his international organization had brought forward similar resolutions in North Dakota, Montana, Michigan and Wyoming, and that state lawmakers had been 'taking it up.' As of this week, at least nine states have proposed measures to roll back same-sex marriage. Schaper defended the resolution with discredited claims about homosexuality, which the country's major medical organizations agree is a normal part of human sexuality. 'People are born Black, Hispanic, or otherwise,' Schaper said. 'They are not born homosexual.' Schaper declined Uncloseted Media's request for an interview and did not respond to a list of questions sent via email. The Idaho resolution was drafted by MassResistance, a far-right Christian organization that has been fighting against LGBTQ+ rights since it formed 30 years ago. The group is one of the most openly extreme anti-LGBTQ+ groups among the far right, advertising itself as 'engag(ing) in issues and events that most other conservative groups are afraid to touch' and boasting about writing resolutions like the one passed in the Idaho House. 'MassResistance has drafted text for state legislature resolutions that call on the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse its infamous and illegitimate Obergefell ruling,' the group shared on its website in January, referencing Obergefell v. Hodges, the landmark decision by the Supreme Court to legalize same-sex marriage. It also has criticized Southern Poverty Law Center-designated anti-LGBTQ+ hate groups like the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) and Family Research Council for their 'polite opposition to the latest left-wing lunacy,' and stated that 'rather than being truthful and confrontational, too many pro-family groups want to be seen as 'reasonable' and 'not extreme.'' In addition to its anti-LGBTQ+ activism on home turf, MassResistance works to roll back queer rights globally, with chapters in Africa, South America, the Caribbean and beyond. Justin R. Ellis, a criminologist at the University of Newcastle in Australia who has written about anti-LGBTQ+ groups and movements, including MassResistance, said that the successes of groups like ADF in rolling back some LGBTQ+ rights is exactly what allows MassResistance to take the spotlight. 'Them coming out with their framing and their litigation and their hostility toward queer issues emboldens other groups like MassResistance to go, 'Hang on, we're gonna go bolder,'' Ellis said in a video interview. MassResistance's effort to overturn same-sex marriage is the latest in a long list of campaigns where the group has worked to pass anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, from book bans to gender-marker restrictions, in state and local governments across the country, and even abroad. MassResistance was founded in 1995 in Massachusetts under the name 'Parents' Rights Coalition' by local activist Brian Camenker. After getting his start in activism as an outspoken opponent of LGBTQ+-inclusive sex education in schools, Camenker quickly led the group's first major campaign: drafting and lobbying for state legislation that required schools to notify parents and allow them to opt out of sex education for their children. The group emphasized that doing so would allow parents to ensure their children don't learn about 'homosexuality' or so-called 'transgenderism.' The campaign was successful, and the bill passed into state law in 1996. The group remained a significant player in Massachusetts state politics. After the Massachusetts Supreme Court made the state the first in the U.S. to legalize same-sex marriage in 2004, the group shifted its focus to fighting that decision. The group temporarily changed its name to the Article 8 Alliance, referencing part of the Massachusetts Constitution that outlines the impeachment of judges. Under this new identity, the group filed state legislation to impeach all of the justices who supported Massachusetts' pro-same-sex-marriage ruling and to outlaw the unions under state law. None of the bills the group wrote were successful. Despite this, after rebranding back to MassResistance in 2006, the group continued to write legislation opposed to LGBTQ+ inclusion until at least 2017. In one bill from 2011, the group sought to repeal an anti-bullying law because of its protections for LGBTQ+ students. During this period, the Southern Poverty Law Center designated MassResistance a hate group, in part because it labeled Boston Pride a 'depraved' display that featured 'a great deal of obviously disturbed, dysfunctional, and extremely self-centered people.' In the mid-2010s, MassResistance expanded its focus to the national stage. Its first out-of-state chapter opened in 2014 in Virginia. In 2016, Schaper launched a chapter in California. And in 2020, Marjorie Taylor Greene, who MassResistance has said worked closely with members of its Georgia chapter, was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. By 2022, the free speech advocacy group PEN America identified at least 16 MassResistance chapters in the U.S., with several more international chapters. PEN America also identified MassResistance as one of the most active groups in the national push to ban books with LGBTQ+ content from schools and libraries. The effort followed MassResistance publishing in 2017 its own book, 'The Health Hazards of Homosexuality,' which claimed to compile scientific evidence supporting banning or restricting homosexuality. The 600-page book touts endorsements from various anti-LGBTQ+ activists, including Michelle Cretella, former executive director of the American College of Pediatricians, a Southern Poverty Law Center-designated hate group known for publishing and spreading specious science about LGBTQ+ people. The book rails against 'the coarsening of our culture that has accompanied the normalization of homosexuality' and makes numerous false or misleading scientific claims. For example, it cites statistics indicating higher rates of mental or physical illness among LGBTQ+ people as evidence of innate risks despite many experts agreeing that discrimination and lack of resources are more accurate explanatory factors. According to IRS filings, MassResistance has received thousands of dollars from several donor-advised funds. They include the National Christian Foundation and Arthur G. Jaros Sr. and Dawn L. Jaros Charitable Trust — both of which financially support other far-right groups, including the ADF and the Heritage Foundation, the group behind Project 2025. Uncloseted Media and the Idaho Statesman also identified IRS forms for Parents Education Foundation, a group run by Camenker and listed as 'related' to MassResistance. Despite little to no public presence, on its most recent IRS filing from 2023, the organization reported revenue of $211,123, much of which was sourced via donations from large conservative donors and other mainstream donor-advised funds. The Parents Education Foundation lists Dr. Paul Church as a director. Church is a urologist who was fired from a Boston hospital in 2015 for likening a Pride event to a chosen social agenda, Fox News reported. MassResistance supported Church in his fight against the hospital, and, in 2017, he provided an expert endorsement in 'The Health Hazards of Homosexuality.' Church could not be reached for comment. The current Idaho resolution is not the first instance where MassResistance has worked with the state's legislators. In a collection of emails leaked by former conservative activist Elisa Rae Shupe, who died by suicide earlier this year, Uncloseted Media found correspondence from 2020 between Schaper and former Idaho state Rep. Julianne Young, R-Blackfoot, who testified in favor of the anti-Obergefell resolution. Young discussed developing an anti-trans bill that would forbid changing gender markers on state birth certificates. The bill became law in Idaho in 2020. 'We are still going after the governor, though, to make sure that he signs or at least allow(s) the bills to become law,' Schaper told Young in one email. 'MassResistance does send emails. They were looking for people to testify, but I did not make those arrangements with them deliberately. I let them know I would contact the bill's sponsor,' Young told Uncloseted Media over the phone in reference to the 2025 anti-Obergefell resolution, which she said she supports. 'It's a correct principle to allow those decisions to be made by the states and not by a single unelected panel of judges.' When asked if she takes issue with any of MassResistance's stances on gay issues, Young said, 'It's probably not an issue that I have a relevant opinion on.' Idaho has been home to some of MassResistance's government targets. In 2023, activists from its state chapter and other anti-LGBTQ+ groups successfully campaigned to elect a majority of far-right candidates onto Kootenai County's Community Library Network board. The board has since enacted multiple policies restricting minors' access to LGBTQ+ content and libraries in general. At the 2023 Rexburg Pride Event in East Idaho, counterprotesters from Idaho MassResistance, led at the time by former Rep. Ron Nate, R-Rexburg, had physical confrontations with attendees. The spectacle caused police to heighten security and some organizations to pull out of the event the following year. MassResistance made a less conspicuous appearance in 2024 as well. Nate, now the president of the far-right Idaho Freedom Foundation, did not respond to Uncloseted Media's request for comment. Ellis, the professor who writes about anti-LGBTQ+ movements including MassResistance, said that coordinating these kinds of local attacks on the LGBTQ+ community and other marginalized groups has become much easier with social media. 'One of the things that groups such as MassResistance can do is, through their online networks, coordinate protests against Drag Queen Story Time childhood literacy events, for example, and now same-sex marriage, and what they do is get people in other jurisdictions to go to those locations and protest in person,' he said. 'Through social media, you can coordinate ideologically aligned individuals quickly and cheaply.' MassResistance has taken credit on its website for the Idaho resolution carried by Rep. Scott. The group noted that an Idaho House member 'offered to spearhead' the resolution this year, but did not name the lawmaker. In response to a public records request, Scott reported she had no communications with MassResistance, and she declined to respond to a question from a Statesman reporter about whether she worked with the group. In an interview on The Ranch Podcast in early February, Scott said she was first approached about opposing same-sex marriage in the Legislature eight years ago. Over the summer, she said, she was looking through a list of ideas for legislation, and decided to 'push (same-sex marriage) up to the top this year.' ' Scott's resolution states that the Obergefell decision is an'overreach' from the U.S. Supreme Court, which should leave marriage laws to the states. However, it also asks the Supreme Court to 'restore the natural definition of marriage, a union of one man and one woman.' On the podcast, she underscored her perspective on gay marriage. 'Don't force me to say that that's a marriage, because in my eyes that's an abomination to God,' she said, noting that she would support creating a legal relationship between LGBTQ+ couples that would provide them with the legal rights of marriage. MassResistance also advocates against LGBTQ+ rights around the world. On its website, the group claims to have worked with activists from at least 24 countries and territories, including Mexico, Brazil, Croatia, Nigeria, Taiwan and Australia. Last year, the group started a new chapter in Kenya, where it reported on its website that it was holding trainings for youth to 'resist the LGBT agenda' in schools. In many of these countries, the group circulates a video by Camenker titled 'What 'gay marriage' did to Massachusetts.' The video has been converted into booklets, which have been translated and circulated in Mexico, Costa Rica, Sri Lanka, Taiwan and more. 'Once same-sex marriage gets a foothold, society becomes more oppressive, hammering citizens with the force of law. The judicial system becomes more radical and arrogant, and politicians become more cowardly. And once that concept is institutionalized, other boundaries on sexual behaviors continue to fall,' Camenker said in the video. 'The push for gay marriage is really about putting the legal stamp of approval on homosexuality, and forcing its acceptance on otherwise unwilling citizens and on our social, commercial and political institutions. To those of you where this is being threatened, do not wait — it is absolutely necessary for you to call, write, and even visit your elected officials. They must feel your outrage.' Camenker did not respond to Uncloseted Media's request for comment. Some of MassResistence's more noteworthy interventions abroad include helping keep anti-sodomy laws on the books in Sri Lanka and supporting propaganda campaigns against the legalization of same-sex marriage in Taiwan. In the latter case, the group says that Schaper spoke directly with a representative of Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party and was invited to a party event in the U.S. over the course of the campaign. In Ghana, meanwhile, MassResistance has collaborated with Freedom International, an organization that congratulated Uganda for its anti-LGBTQ+ legislation that threatens life in prison for consensual same-sex relations, to start anti-LGBTQ+ youth clubs in secondary schools. '(Africa) is the land of opportunity when it comes to restricting LGBTQ rights,' Wendy Via, president and co-founder of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, told Uncloseted Media. 'There are a lot of huge worldwide groups with lots of money who are working on the same thing, and they also come at it from a Christian point of view.' The future of Scott's resolution in Idaho is uncertain. It passed the Idaho House in a 46-24 vote in late January, meaning 15 Republicans joined the nine Democrats in opposition. Before a vote on the Senate floor, the measure must advance out of a Senate committee. The committee's chairman, Sen. Jim Guthrie, R-McCammon, told the Statesman he is not sure whether he will allow a hearing. 'The public has weighed in, and it's been pretty one-sided in terms of, 'Why are we doing this?'' he said. Guthrie said he expects to meet with Scott to discuss her resolution before deciding whether to hold a hearing, but acknowledged his own concerns. 'The effect of it could be pretty harmful to a lot of people, making them feel for whatever reason that they don't belong. … I just don't see the benefit being greater than the hurt,' Guthrie added, noting that it could 'tear people's lives apart.' Via said MassResistance's goal is to overturn Obergefell, and starting in deep-red pockets of the country is a trial run. 'The little, tiny resolution in Idaho, it's like the butterfly wings,' she said. Sam Donndelinger of Uncloseted contributed reporting.
