The school’s rights may have already been upheld by a Republican former state senator who George W. Bush appointed as a U.S. District Judge. But that hasn’t stopped the far-right from speaking out in support of Jennifer Keeton, the Augusta State University student who wants to both tell gays that “their behavior is morally wrong and then help the client change that behavior” and obtain a counseling degree from the school. In fact, the conservative Alliance Defense Fund — the same crew that is intimately involved in Prop 8 defense, as well as with most every other anti-gay case in the nation — is still in court working on behalf of Keeton.
But now it seems the ADF and their conservative compadres are getting some new allies in this particular fight. Ones with a flair for opulent headwear:
The Ku Klux Klan will hold a rally in support of an Augusta State University counseling student who claims her First Amendment rights were violated when the school ordered her to learn more about the homosexual community.
Bobby Spurlock, Imperial Wizard Knighthawk and Grand Dragon of South Carolina and North Carolina, said today they have met with school officials and plan to protest the school’s treatment of 24-year-old Jennifer Keeton on Oct. 23 from 1 to 4 p.m. They will be in full dress and located across from the school’s main Walton Way entrance in the median at Fleming Avenue.
FULL PIECE: Klan rally to support ASU student Keeton [Augusta Chronicle]
Now, we should say that don’t think it’s fair to directly compare groups like ADF to the KKK. Clearly there are differences.
But that being said: One has no choice but to acknowledge the dots of bias. The feathers might be made up of different plumes, but both sets of birds are undeniably showing up to defend a person’s right to be as biased as they wanna be without scrutiny/limitations/ repercussions. It’s perfectly fair to ask why KKK-backed civil discrimination and aggressive misinformation about a minority population is, for the first time in history, somehow right and good and Christian simply because it’s directed towards LGBT people.
