Secretive Hate Group Coalition Writes Letter To Trump Demanding That He Legalize Anti-LGBT Discrimination

Peter Montgomery reports at Right Wing Watch:

More than 150 members of the secretive right-wing network known as the Council for National Policy have signed a letter calling on President Trump to sign an executive order “protecting the practical exercise of religious freedom,” something Religious Right leaders have been clamoring for since Trump took office. On Wednesday, Fox News pundit and serial promoter of bogus religious persecution stories Todd Starnes outed himself as a member of the CNP in writing about the letter.

The Council for National Policy is a network of leaders from the religious and political right, whose membership includes both big names and lesser-known fringe figures. A 2014 membership list obtained by the Southern Poverty Law Center revealed that the CNP even has room for extremists like neo-confederate Christian Reconstructionist Michael Peroutka.

According to Starnes, who says Trump’s election was the result of divine intervention, other signers include “CNP President Tony Perkins, former Attorney General Edwin Meese, Morton Blackwell, Bob McEwen, Kelly Shackelford, Becky Norton Dunlop, Chad Connelly, Dr. James Dobson and Penny Nance.”

More from hate group leader Tony Perkins:

“We are writing to ask that you continue these efforts to defend religious freedom by issuing an executive order protecting the practical exercise of religious freedom. For the last eight years, Americans of all backgrounds have suffered the loss of their religious freedoms because of destructive Obama-era policies. We commend you for beginning to reverse that devastating trend.”

After keeping his word on so many other issues, CNP is asking that President Trump build on that reputation of promise-keeping by addressing a problem that he’s already acknowledged. After all, it was Donald Trump at the National Prayer Breakfast who said, “[O]ur Republic was formed on the basis that freedom is not a gift from government, but that freedom is a gift from God.”

Right now, that gift has not only been abused — but stolen by members of the radical Left. Using examples of everyone from Little Sisters of the Poor to the West Michigan Beef Company, the signers explain that these are real-life stories of persecution right here in America.

“These Christians — and many like them — have either been punished by the government for their religious beliefs or are about to suffer under Obama era anti-religious regulations,” CNP writes.

“They need protections that you can grant through an executive order to prevent federal discrimination against them for acting in accordance with their beliefs. We urge you to take action to ensure their freedom to believe and live out those beliefs is protected from government punishment.”

Multiple hate groups have launched separate petitions to Trump calling on him to issue the order.