Life

Blogger uncovers ‘secret’ Facebook group aimed at disseminating anti-gay information

Blogger uncovers ‘secret’ Facebook group aimed at disseminating anti-gay information

LGBT activist and blogger Alvin McEwen this week uncovered a “secret” Facebook group — whose memberships reads like a “who’s who” of anti-gay activists — aimed at promoting and disseminating anti-gay information through websites, including Youtube, Twitter and Facebook.

The group, “Truth4Time,” was designed to serve as a library of anti-gay articles, blogs, and other materials for its members to use in their fight against the “gay agenda,” reported McEwen, but shortly after his report, the group was reportedly disbanded.

Among its members, reported McEwen, were Maggie Gallagher and Brian Brown of the National Organization for Marriage, Scott Lively, author of the Pink Swastika, who is being sued for his alleged involvement in fostering Uganda’s notorious “Kill the Gays” bill.

McEwen provided this screen shot of a partial list of the ‘Truth4Time’ members.
Additional member lists were posted on Huffington Post.

Appearing on the Michelangelo Signorile radio show on SiriusXM Monday, McEwen revealed many of the group’s members by name, including — in addition to Gallagher, Brown and Lively — Peter LaBarbera of Americans For Truth About Homosexuality; Oklahoma state representative Sally Kern; Matt Barber from Liberty Counsel; Dr. Keith Ablow, the Fox News pundit who warned parents against allowing their children to watch Chaz Bono’s appearance on “Dancing with the Stars,” and Christian rocker Bradlee Dean.

McEwen, an LGBTQ Nation contributor, and editor of the website “Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters,” said he was tipped to the group by one of its members who expressed concerns over the group’s planned tactics, which included “ganging up” on “pro-gay pages with comments and flagging Facebook pro-gay pages multiple times with the intent on getting these pages removed.”

The group maintained its anonymity by employing a little known Facebook group privacy option called “secret” — which prevents non-members from being able to find the group in search results, or seeing status updates related to the group.

In effect, Facebook treats “secret” groups as if they don’t exist, so members usually must know of other members and be added to the group by invitation.

Michael Brown, an anti-gay activist and preacher with the Coalition of Conscience, who was listed as one of the group’s administrators, refuted the group’s intention, said the group has not been disbanded, and that “access to the site was given to people like Maggie and Keith, but to my knowledge they were never active on the site and might not even know of its existence.”

For more on the group “Truth4Time,” and its planned tactics, read McEwen’s posts here, here, and here.

Don't forget to share:

Support vital LGBTQ+ journalism

Reader contributions help keep LGBTQ Nation free, so that queer people get the news they need, with stories that mainstream media often leaves out. Can you contribute today?

Cancel anytime · Proudly LGBTQ+ owned and operated

California Senate committee advances bill to limit reparative therapy

Previous article

Karger’s ‘sexy frisbee’ campaign video yanked by YouTube as ‘inappropriate’

Next article