In about a minute, the Family Research Council's "I Stand Sunday" rally, which is backed by NOM, will commence in Houston.
3:59 PM PT: Rick Santorum wants to defeat "the encroachment of secularism", calling it a "great threat".
4:04 PM PT: From a promo video about the Houston ordinance:
"There was nothing equal about it. It was more about special rights."
"The imagery I have in my mind is a grown man standing next to a six year old girl using the restroom."
"I believe the whole thing is wrong."
4:09 PM PT: The pastors have acknowledged that the subpoenas have been withdrawn.
4:15 PM PT: Two of the pastors have told Mayor Parker "let the people vote."
4:17 PM PT: The third pastor to speak also says "let the people vote".
4:20 PM PT: From Pastor Willie Davis:
"How can you call something equal when it divides? How can you call something right when it's all wrong?"
"It piggybacks on the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which has nothing to do with this ordinance. They should be ashamed of themselves."
4:21 PM PT: Pastor Dave Welch:
"You have the petitions. You have the signatures. Let the people vote."
4:23 PM PT: Attorney Andy Taylor, who represents the pastors:
"I want to say something directly to Mayor Parker.
It's never too late to make the right decision. Pull down the defense. Stop violating our rights. Let the people vote."
4:26 PM PT: Pastor Ed Young:
"Freedom of religion. Freedom of speech. Freedom of press. Freedom of the right to assemble. Four great freedoms. They are being systematically attacked by the humanistic culture in which you and I live."
4:27 PM PT: Young:
"This gathering will be construed by a lot of people as a political gathering."
4:30 PM PT: Young just referred to "Ibola" instead of "Ebola".
4:35 PM PT: Ronnie Floyd, President of the Southern Baptists:
"Regardless of the laws or ordinances that may be made to appear to stop us, I remind the city of Houston and every city in the world. The Kingdom of God is unstoppable."
4:37 PM PT: Floyd:
"We need to stand unwaveringly, unapologetically, but always compassionately with those who may choose to disagree."
4:39 PM PT: They are currently undergoing a rather long prayer.
4:43 PM PT: There's a video:
"The reason religious liberty is so important is that it's one of those things that's really not reversible if you get it wrong."
4:44 PM PT: The video is talking about freedom of religion in Nazi Germany.
"Image not linking arms against Adolf Hitler. Here [in Houston] you have such a clear enemy of the Church."
4:44 PM PT: Imagine, not image.
4:45 PM PT: "I'm not [being hyperbolic by talking about Nazi Germany]."
4:46 PM PT: Perkins quotes MLK:
"The Church is the conscience of the state, the guide and the critic of the state but never its tool."
"Few leaders today understand the the of the Church and its intersection with government better than Mike Huckabee."
4:47 PM PT: Mike Huckabee is speaking.
"A lot of people thought that it was okay because they thought it was okay to render unto God which is God's, but not to render unto Caesar which is Caesar's."
4:48 PM PT: He's talking about the importance of evangelical Christians voting.
4:49 PM PT: "When 55 million babies in this nation have been murdered in their mother's womb since 1973, you are already involved."
4:55 PM PT: "If you love this country, if you love God, if you love your family, and I believe you do, then love them enough to vote, to stand, to speak, to change this country, and to make us once again proudly and unapologetically one nation under God."
4:56 PM PT: Todd Starnes is coming up.
4:58 PM PT: Starnes:
"About six or seven years ago, president Obama was talking about folks like you and me, people who cling to their guns and religion. I'm proud to call myself a gun-toting, chicken-eating, son-of-a-baptist.
There is a war on religious liberty in America."
5:01 PM PT: Starnes is telling the story of a valedictorian in South Carolina who made his graduation speech by saying the Lord's Prayer.
5:04 PM PT: There's another video:
It's the Oregon bakers who discriminated against a gay couple.
5:09 PM PT: Aaron:
"I'm really sorry. I think I wasted your time, We don't do cakes for same-sex ceremonies."
Melissa:
We got a lot of emails, people calling me and Aaron a hater.
Aaron:
It blows my mind that to simply say "I don't want to take part in this" gets that kind of a backlash.
Melissa:
"I don't have anyone that refers me any more. I've lost all of them."
They're upset that a government agency tried to avoid putting them out of business by "rehabilitating" them.
5:10 PM PT: Perkins is praising the Alliance Defending Freedom.
5:10 PM PT: Speaking now is Eric Stanley, an ADF attorney.
5:13 PM PT: "The philosophy underlying this conflict is that sexual liberty trumps everything, including religious liberty."
"This is behind the New Mexico Supreme Court decision that the compromise of religious beliefs is "the price of citizenship."" (That was a concurring opinion, not a majority opinion.)
He's talking about the Idaho couple who has the legal right to discriminate as if they are under attack, even though they have not been sued, nor faced a threat of being sued.
5:15 PM PT: He's promoting a resource called "Protecting Your Ministry From Sexual Orientation/Gender Identity Lawsuits."
5:16 PM PT: There's another video:
It's the Idaho couple who was not threatened.
5:16 PM PT: Tony Perkins:
"These laws are in direct conflict with our religious liberty and our freedom and we must stand against these ordinances that trample upon our freedom."
5:18 PM PT: Perkins:
"Ordinances give special rights to some based on their sexual orientation imperils religious freedom for all."
Serving gay couples is "an unfair and un-American choice."
Phil Robertson just got a big round of applause. Must be a lot of homophobes here. He and Al will speak now.
5:20 PM PT: Robertsoin:
"When you're seated in your restroom, putting on your Maybeline, when I need to take a leak, I'm not going there."
5:22 PM PT: "The apostle Paul said the Gospel has divine power to demolish strongholds.
The political pundits argue ad hominem, ad infinitum, they call each other liberal, conservative, right wing, left wing, but there's never any gospel. There's no talk about sin. None. No talk about Jesus, the Son of God. None. And we wonder how we got here."
5:25 PM PT: Some overt homophobia:
He said that "they will die a horrible death for their sexual sins, that six foot hole they're all going in."
"[I'm] just trying to convince America that good loves them. [sighs] All the opposition, all the hatred directed towards us."
"What in the world are they thinking?"
5:27 PM PT: "Those who oppose you, this is a sign to them, your opposition, that they will be destroyed."
Conservative Christians justifiably criticize violent verses in the Qur'an, but they also promote violent verses from their own text.
5:28 PM PT: Al Robertson is on now.
5:28 PM PT: Al encourages Texas to secede, and the crowd erupts.
5:31 PM PT: More homophobia from Al:
"The dire consequences of unrestrained living against the will of God will destroy us all.
I don't want to be in Sodom and Gomorrah and not look up until it's too late."
5:32 PM PT: "There is an evil one, an enemy, who is against us.
The evil one is attacking our family because we speak truth."
5:32 PM PT: Jason and David Benham are up next.
5:35 PM PT: In a video, Eric Bolling refers to "the war on traditional values."
In the same video, Fox News says "a country founded on freedom of religion and freedom of speech now faces fundamental questions."
The brothers:
"Jesus loves all people but he does not love all ideas."
"There is an agenda that silences people of faith, especially from men and women and profess Jesus Christ."
5:40 PM PT: There's another video:
I'm not sure what this is about, but the speakers are pretty freaked out.
5:41 PM PT: There was a newspaper article about Brendan Eich.
5:43 PM PT: There has been absolutely no discussion of any specific incident here, so I'm not sure what everyone is freaking out about.
5:45 PM PT: Perkins is inviting Rick Scarborough onto the stage.
5:53 PM PT: It's hard to know exactly what his point is. He's saying something about sex education.
5:59 PM PT: Perkins is back.
To finish the event, there will be a song.
6:00 PM PT: The song is by Moriah Peters, a Christian musician.
6:03 PM PT: It's now officially over.
That does it for me.