Mat Staver and Matt Barber of Liberty
Counsel are calling on public officials to disobey rulings striking
down bans on gay marriage.
On the group's Faith and Freedom radio
show, Barber and Staver said government officials should “stand
their ground” by refusing to follow the law.
“What would have happened if Martin
Luther King, Jr. had just stood down and said, 'No, I can't
participate in all of this. I'm Just going to remain silent. I'm
going to resign and go on my way?'” Barber asked, referring to
North Carolina magistrates who stepped down rather than marry gay
couples when it became legal in the state.
Barber advised magistrates to “take
it to the next level”: “Say not only am I not gonna participate,
I'm not gonna quit. You're going to have to come after me. You're
going to have to fire me. You're going to have to jail me. That's
what Martin Luther King did in defending civil rights and this is
about civil rights.”
Staver agreed, saying that “a civil
rights revolution” was emerging.
“But it's not the homosexual agenda,
because you can't elevate sexually immoral behavior to the level of
race or religious freedom as a civil right,” Staver said.
Barber added: “Homosexuality is a
moral wrong, so this is the next civil rights movement here and it's
an anti-Christian attack, systemic, government-organized and
facilitated attacks against freedom of religious expression and
Christians.”
We note that many gay folks were also
part of the civil rights movement, including Bayard Rustin, the main
organizer of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, who
fought alongside King for civil rights.