LGBT Groups To Journalists: Stop Conflating Bigotry With Religious Faith | Blog | Media Matters for America

I am having a tough time with this one, particularly the "fringe" part. While I do agree that the media gives the Reich (too) much air-time, I am not completely sold that it is the journalists "conflating religious belief with anti-LGBT attitudes." Granted they are not helping the matter but I think they are victims, just as the viewers are, to, as Joseph Goebbels puts it, propaganda:

To attract people, to win over people to that which I have realized as being true, that is called propaganda. In the beginning there is the understanding, this understanding uses propaganda as a tool to find those men, that shall turn understanding into politics. Success is the important thing. Propaganda is not a matter for average minds, but rather a matter for practitioners. It is not supposed to be lovely or theoretically correct. I do not care if I give wonderful, aesthetically elegant speeches, or speak so that women cry. The point of a political speech is to persuade people of what we think right. I speak differently in the provinces than I do in Berlin, and when I speak in Bayreuth, I say different things than I say in the Pharus Hall. That is a matter of practice, not of theory. We do not want to be a movement of a few straw brains, but rather a movement that can conquer the broad masses. Propaganda should be popular, not intellectually pleasing. It is not the task of propaganda to discover intellectual truths. Those are found in other circumstances, I find them when thinking at my desk, but not in the meeting hall.

Combine that with the Big Lie sentiment of Hitler - If you tell a lie long and loud enough, people will eventually start to believe it,

All this was inspired by the principle—which is quite true within itself—that in the big lie there is always a certain force of credibility; because the broad masses of a nation are always more easily corrupted in the deeper strata of their emotional nature than consciously or voluntarily; and thus in the primitive simplicity of their minds they more readily fall victims to the big lie than the small lie, since they themselves often tell small lies in little matters but would be ashamed to resort to large-scale falsehoods. It would never come into their heads to fabricate colossal untruths, and they would not believe that others could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously. Even though the facts which prove this to be so may be brought clearly to their minds, they will still doubt and waver and will continue to think that there may be some other explanation. For the grossly impudent lie always leaves traces behind it, even after it has been nailed down, a fact which is known to all expert liars in this world and to all who conspire together in the art of lying.

You can see where it all leads,,,

Two prominent LGBT groups are urging journalists to stop conflating religious belief with anti-LGBT attitudes in their coverage of the upcoming midterm elections, pointing to the dramatic rise in support for LGBT equality in communities of faith across the country.
,,,
Instead of highlighting religious support for LGBT equality, media outlets tend to rely on the voices of some of the most extreme voices of anti-gay conservatism, treating them as broadly representative of religious voters. Nowhere was this more apparent than during the run-up to the 2012 presidential election, when even mainstream news networks relied heavily on commentators like Tony Perkins - president of the anti-gay hate group the Family Research Council - to speak on behalf of religious voters:
,,,
Perkins represents a tiny, fringe element of the religious right - the kinds of people,,,The media's unwillingness to distinguish anti-LGBT bigotry from sincere, mainstream religious belief isn't just inaccurate - it makes it more difficult to advance meaningful protections for LGBT people. Coverage of the upcoming midterm elections offer media outlets a new opportunity to dispel the "God vs. gay" mythology that has warped audiences understanding of faith in America for years.

As for the "fringe" I will reiterate something I wrote last year,

To those that criticize us that have differing beliefs (Pagan, Wiccan, atheist, agnostic,,, insert any non Judeo-Christian religion you wish) or attempt to silence us because of your ignorance, it is time to wake up.
_
"I would say that the moderates of any religion wouldn't condone extremism. That is the fringe that is held by the radicals of the given religion."
_
This is no longer true, it never has been. This ignorance that is being spread is utter bullshit, what was once "fringe" by some people’s thinking is the mainstream. As Anderson so readily demonstrates, it is a Sunday morning norm.

Sorry to say, if you do not speak out against the extremism you condone it, it is no longer fringe when it is occurs in our everyday life. To borrow a phrase from a wise friend, I leave you with this: "The religions of "love" teaching hate!!"

LGBT Groups To Journalists: Stop Conflating Bigotry With Religious Faith | Blog | Media Matters for America