Rhode Island Governor To Raise Funds For Anti-Gay Hate Group In Massachusetts

Rhode Island’s Democratic Party is demanding that GOP Gov. Don Carcieri pulled out of a planned fundraising appearance for the loathsome Massachusetts Family Institute.

Party Chairman William Lynch said that the governor should “immediately withdraw his agreement to speak at the event and apologize to the thousands of gay and lesbian Rhode Islanders, and their families, who stand to be offended by his callous appeasement of this ultra-conservative organization,” according to a statement issued late Tuesday afternoon. Carcieri, a Republican, has accepted an invitation to serve as the keynote speaker for the Family Institute’s 18th Annual Fundraising Banquet, a $50-a-head event scheduled for the night of Oct. 15 in Newton, Mass. Carcieri was asked to share “his beliefs and values on traditional marriage,” and would confine his remarks to that subject, according to the governor’s spokeswoman Amy Kempe.

From MFI’s website:

“MFI does not consider homosexual behavior to be merely an alternate lifestyle or sexual ‘preference’; it is an unhealthy practice and destructive to individuals, families and society. Our compassion for those plagued by same-sex attraction compels us to support the healing of those who wish to change their behavior. MFI strongly opposes any efforts by political activists to normalize homosexual behavior and all attempts to equate homosexuality with benign characteristics such as skin color, or the ‘gay rights’ movement with the civil rights movement.”

As of last Friday, the governor’s office said he plans to honor his commitment to attend.