With full page ads in the NY Times, the Pro-8 forces are trying to suppress free speech by trying to redefine legitimate, peaceful public protests as "mob rule". The Human Rights campaign takes it on at Demand the Truth.

The FACT is that there have been a few isolated incidents of violence against churches. But to say this is part of the movement is a blatant lie. So what else is new from these people?

On the KPFA morning show, they did an interview with Seamus Hassan for the Pro-8 side, and Episcopal priest and HRC representative Susan Russell for the No-on-8 side. Susan reports that pro-8 forces are now comparing gay rights activists to Al Qaeda.

Excerpts here, please check Susan's blog for more:

Susan Russell: violence against anyone should always be deplored. I'm horrified, though, when asked have there been violent attacks against supporters of Prop 8 "I'm sure there have been," is the best they can come up with. That just doesn't rise to the level of placing full page ads in the L.A. and New York Times stating so as a fact!

What we see here are exactly the same tactics used to pass Prop 8: people who are so convinced they have sole possession of the absolute truth that they're willing to tell lies to achieve their ends. The protests in the streets have been by and large--when you look at the numbers of people who have been in the streets demonstrating against this heinous effort to write discrimination into the California constitution -- actually exemplary in the demeanor and the tone and the timbre and the respect with which they've been held......Our leadership has condemned those acts; we are working very hard at the leadership level to build bridges of understanding with both the Mormon Church and Roman Catholic Church to find a way forward through this. .....

Seamus Hassan:....Let me be clear, neither in the ad or today here, have I said this is the work of the gay community. We say in the ad, this is opponents of Prop 8, 46% of the California electorate voted against Prop 8. My understanding is that 5% of the California population, approximately, is gay. At least 41% of the opponents of Prop 8 maybe radical secularists, opposed to the church's position....

.....whether it's an organized movement like Al Qaeda or whether it's the Al Qaeda-like, um, inspired acts of terrorism elsewhere, people are right to be concerned about, um, radical Islamist violence--

Susan Russell That is going to be the headline and it should be! I couldn't do a better job of making my case then your other caller is making. These are people who are determined to paint American citizens, living out democracy in the streets, as similar to terrorists and Al Qaeda. ....

What we're working to do is to lower the rhetoric, to end the polarization, to stop the violence. The title of their ad is "No to Mob Veto." What they're trying to do is frame the debate, already, as the Supreme Court begins to reconsider Prop 8. I'm confident we're going to see the Supreme Court to come down on the right side of history on this in May. You can see what they're doing right now, they're framing the debate so that when that happens, they can say it was mob rule against democracy, they're going to continue to compare us to Al Qaeda and I think the American people have got to stand up and say stop.

We're a nation of freedom of religion; we've got to be a nation of freedom from religion. And allowing these religious bigots to write their discrimination into our constitution is something we should be in the streets about.

Emphasis mine. Way to go, Susan, who should be decorated as a hero of our movement. Remember, she's an Episcopal priest in Los Angeles...and all the California Episcopal Bishops came out strongly AGAINST Prop 8.  Seamus Hassan doesn't even speak for Christians.

I am outraged--OUTRAGED--at this. I hope you are too!

(Cross posted at DailyKos )

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