Your God-given right to record videos for hate groups

Why does the Advocate publish Dan Fagan? Their management constantly makes a big deal out of the need for us all to arrive at a more respectful civil discourse. But then they turn right around and hand over editorial space to Fagan's inflammatory disingenuous clickbait taeks. I really don't understand. The only explanation I can come up with is Fagan's product comports with somebody in charge over there's definition of decency.

Which means somebody in charge over there thinks it's perfectly within the bounds of decent, respectful, civil discourse to say that a well known hate group famous for promoting psychological torture and funding politicians who believe there is such a thing as "legitimate rape" is merely "advocating for the preservation of family values."

Brees did seem to waffle some on his association with Focus on the Family, claiming he was unaware of the religious group’s stand on gay issues.

 “I was not aware of any of the things they said about them lobbying for anti-gay (causes)… any type of messaging or inequality or any type of hate-type related stuff. I was not aware of that at all,” Brees said.

 But Focus on the Family is much like most Christian organizations advocating for the preservation of family values. Does Brees consider defending traditional marriage as “hate-type related stuff?”

Focus On The Family is not like "most Christian organizations." It is a politically active anti-gay hate group founded by a psychopath. Dan Fagan clearly knows this and yet chooses to tell us a blatant lie about it. And the Advocate then chooses to legitimize Fagan's deliberate lie by publishing it on its very civil and respectful op-ed page. Why would they do that?

Drew Brees ought to have known all of this as well although, as Lauren Theisen writes here,  the possibility that he did not is at least plausible.

I can’t see inside Brees’s head and don’t know what his beliefs are—given that he’s a rich, straight man who’s spent nearly two decades fanatically focused on playing pro football at a legendary level, I’d wager he might not even know what conversion therapy is. But his explanation has to do better than this. The video doesn’t mention Focus On The Family at all, let alone disavow them, and speaks in only the vaguest possible terms about the specific criticism Brees received. At best, the statement makes clear that Drew Brees will not directly attack any gay person for their sexuality, but whether or not he believes they should have full rights is still up for debate.

“I’m not sure why the negativity spread, or why people have tried to rope me into certain negativity,” Brees says in the video, most annoyingly. I know he’s hard at work preparing for the Texans, but literally five minutes on the internet, tops, would answer that question. He really doesn’t even have to do it himself! Just find someone who’ll tell him, “Hey, that video was produced by people who want to oppress gay people. Back away from it now.” Drew, if you’re reading, I’m telling you it right now.

For whatever reason, though, Brees, who makes an estimated $16 million a year renting out his carefully managed public persona for brands, doesn't always subject his partners to the most strict vetting process. Witness his association with cult like multi-level marketing schemes like Advocare, his support for an attempt by Tom Benson and Ron Forman to privatize and profit off of publicly accessible park space at The Fly, and his involvement in a diamond counterfeiting deal over the summer to name a few. We might expect that someone with this much money at stake in choosing the right business associates should pay a little more attention to what their business is all about.  But Brees is enough of a weirdo football nerd that it we can't be too surprised if it turns out he doesn't make time for all that.

That's hardly an excuse, of course.  Big Easy Magazine traces Brees's relationship with Focus on the Family at least as far back as 2010.  Certainly some basic awareness should have soaked through at some point. Maybe he really does support the hate part of the hate group's agenda after all.  Indeed even the "Bring Your Bible To School Day" event he promotes in the video is, at best, an iffy propaganda stunt aimed at undermining church/state separation by stoking the radical right's victimization complex.  That's certainly the angle Fagan takes in his bad faith (groan) defense of Brees from persecution at the hands of (checks notes) a small New Orleans based website.*

But the rules are different now. Are Christian groups no longer allowed to take positions on controversial social issues? Are organizations whose beliefs are Bible-based now off-limits for celebrities like Brees? Is this the new standard? The fact Brees had to defend, quantify and clarify his association with Focus on the Family speaks volumes. It should concern us.

Actually, no, none of this "should concern us."  The fact that the Advocate thinks so little of its readers that it would present such obvious bullshit as just one end of the ordinary spectrum of honest political argument might, however.

*Speaking of persecution complexes, maybe the folks over at Big Easy Mag can sit back and take a few breaths.  The way they've reacted via social media and subsequent commentary to the inevitable criticism that comes with publishing a critical story about a local icon seems a little out of proportion. On the other hand, maybe if the other various corporate outlets such as the several owned by the Georges Media virtual monopoly weren't #bothsidesing the issue to death, they wouldn't feel so out on a limb.