How Many Spies *Were* There at the AFTAH Anti-Gay-Rights Academy?

Truth Wins Out sent one (who got short audio recordings).

Gapers Block sent one.

How many people were actually attending the conference?

(Reader Matt sent me this seemingly-appropriate Onion link 🙂 )

Our next job should totally be to get a speaker on the AFTAH roster… it shouldn’t be hard to do. Just spew whatever anti-gay rhetoric you want — citations be damned — and they’ll just smile, nod, and give you a time slot.

Am I wrong? What else does it take to be invited?

I’m still waiting for any of the speakers at the AFTAH “Truth Academy” to denounce any of their fellow speakers. Some of them were misguided, if not malicious. But others were just simmering with bigotry.

When’s the former group going to call out the latter group? If they don’t, I have to believe they’re silently agreeing with the things that were said. Do they really want to be lumped in together?

C’mon, paranoid-but-not-entirely-bigoted speakers. Denounce the loonies. You’re (slightly) better than that.

VXbinaca

I’ll do it 🙂
Lars

I don’t remember the show(might have been ‘Get Max’), there was an episode were the secret agent was one of many, and the only group that attended a forum.
Lars

Also the Stoners in ‘Life of Brian’. Almost all of them were women….
Dan W

Reminds me somewhat of the rpg game Paranoia, as described here: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Paranoia
Evan

It reminds me of a Tom Lehrer line…
ckitching

If you sent people undercover to present the most outrageous nonsense you could think of, how would you distinguish it from people like Reverend Scott Lively? For those who don’t recognise the name, he’s the freak who claims the Nazis were all gay, because gay people are more vicious than normal people. He was also one of the key figures behind the Uganda anti-gay bill (which still has not died).

Seriously, Poe’s law is merciless. You can’t get any crazier than the crazies already out there!
Iason Ouabache

Our next job should totally be to get a speaker on the AFTAH roster…

How do we know that this hasn’t already happened? Dun dun DUN!!!
gwen

@Lars; It was ‘Get Smart’, and it was a hilarious episode!
David McNerney

“Mum, why aren’t gay people allowed go to the AFTAH Anti-Gay-Rights Academy?”

“Because it’s written, that’s why.”
graney

If they don’t, I have to believe they’re silently agreeing with the things that were said.

Please, Hemant, do not fall to their level of illogical argument.

Silence does not equate to agreement any more than silence equates to guilt.
JJR

They need a visit from THE YES MEN, though I’m not sure it’s possible to parody the AFTAH in such a way that would actually shame them.
Alan E.

National Organization for Marriage invited speakers with similar rhetoric as these to their marriage tour, and they didn’t denounce it either(in the name of love, too). NOM claims that they don’t hate gays, but they bring these same ilk to talk on their behalf and still try to make that same claim.
Gauldar

I think that these people will continue to act like the fringe group they are, and not speak out against the extremists associated with them in fear of becoming a “homosexual sympathizer”. It’s the “you’re either with us or against us” mentality.
japanther

I’d expect that since they detected intruders this time, and reacted strongly, they will be stepping up security. This is not to say it would be impossible to accomplish a repeat and the upped ante of getting a speaker on board.

Strength in numbers. Remain silent about your intentions on blogs, though admittedly the cat is quite out the bag here. Use other means of coordination like e-mail.

The ‘speaker’ is going to have to set up a dummy website and make the rounds of the Christian blogosphere. I’ll make the website for whoever, if no one else volunteers. Farm the dummy site out to atheists who post negatively about it.

PZ suggested being much better spies, don’t admit your identity or intentions when asked. Getting the speaker on the list is going to take even more than that, it’s going to take actively lying about your intentions for weeks, and probably to several people in the organization in person and on the phone.

Ethical grey-area here, for sure. I’m curious as to what Richard Wade would think.
Buffy

Some of them were misguided, if not malicious. But others were just simmering with bigotry.

Now, now. They’re not bigoted. They were just expressing their deeply held religious beliefs.
Rich Wilson

the only reason the US Communist party survived the 50s financially is that the FBI kept showing up at their bake sales
muggle

Um, is it just me that feels misguided = bigoted without quite the courage to speak up as vocally. They’re not protesting because they’re in awe of the assholes for having the guts to say it. In other words, they’re more cowardly assholes.
muggle

Oh, also, if we did manage to get a speaker on the platform, shouldn’t that speaker (brave to the point of maybe insane) lay a freethought bomb of a speech instead of promoting the poison?
japanther

Oh, also, if we did manage to get a speaker on the platform, shouldn’t that speaker (brave to the point of maybe insane) lay a freethought bomb of a speech instead of promoting the poison?

That was my understanding of the plan. Otherwise it makes no sense just to say ‘Ha ha I was a fake bigot.’
vininger (Erin)

Is anyone else reminded of the SNL skit “Narc School”? 🙂
Demonhype

“Sir, I volunteer for a suicide mission, Sir!…Aw, crap.”
Traveler

It would be interesting to see how far you could go, and still keep the crowd with you. If they are so fired up to protect Christian marriage from the gays, then wouldn’t it make sense to ban all non-Christian marriages. Civil ceremony by a justice of the peace? Ban it! Hindu marriages? Invalid! Jewish marriages? Might be some room to argue there.

I’m curious to know whether such a proposal would be shouted down, or result in your nomination for president of the organization.

Proposing the criminalization of divorce would be interesting too.