Metro Weekly

Unrestrained Hate: Anti-Gay Billboards Pop Up in Michigan

Homosexuality is a behavior. Not a civil right.”

Anti-Gay Billboard

— A campaign currently appearing on billboards in Michigan, sponsored by RestrainTheJudges.com, a website comprised by a coalition of anti-gay groups, including Faith 2 Action, Americans for Truth About Homosexuality, Judicial Action Group, American Family Association of Pennsylvania, and the Conservative Republicans of Texas. Michigan is one of four states with a case before the Supreme Court challenging its statewide ban on same-sex marriage. The other three states are Kentucky, Ohio, and Tennessee. Depending on how the court rules in June, same-sex marriage could become federal law.

The website seems hastily thrown together and has ambiance best described as “insane screed,” calls on visitors to buy “personalized restraining orders,” which will then be mailed to the nine justices and various members of congress, depending on whether one spends $9.95 (the justices and the House and Senate leaders), $29.95 (the justices and all Republican members of Congress), or $49.95 (the justices and every member of Congress). The payment page offers the “opportunity to give an additional donation, if you desire, which will help with the printing and postage for this very important campaign.”

“The issue here doesn’t have anything to do, at the end of the day, with the gay community,” Mark Gurley, a spokesperson for Restrain the Judges told Detroit’s WDIV. “It has everything to do with protecting freedom of religion.”

A sample of the scam restraining order is below.

Restraining-Order-Letter-10

 

 

Support Metro Weekly’s Journalism

These are challenging times for news organizations. And yet it’s crucial we stay active and provide vital resources and information to both our local readers and the world. So won’t you please take a moment and consider supporting Metro Weekly with a membership? For as little as $5 a month, you can help ensure Metro Weekly magazine and MetroWeekly.com remain free, viable resources as we provide the best, most diverse, culturally-resonant LGBTQ coverage in both the D.C. region and around the world. Memberships come with exclusive perks and discounts, your own personal digital delivery of each week’s magazine (and an archive), access to our Member's Lounge when it launches this fall, and exclusive members-only items like Metro Weekly Membership Mugs and Tote Bags! Check out all our membership levels here and please join us today!