It’s always pretty thrilling when a local person’s name pops up in the national media.
Well, maybe not always.
Last night, viewers of “The Daily Show” might have caught the name of Scott Lively, the conservative Springfield minister and gubernatorial candidate, during an interview with filmmaker Roger Ross Williams. Williams’ new documentary, “God Loves Uganda,” looks at the American evangelicals—among them, Lively—who’ve traveled to that country to preach their anti-gay message. In December, the Ugandan government passed a harsh law that includes prison terms for homosexual acts and for gay-rights advocacy and counseling. An earlier version of the bill had called for the death penalty in certain cases.
Lively has, in fact, appeared on the Daily Show in the past, when he was interviewed about his book, The Pink Swastika, which argued that the Nazi party was a gay organization.
I didn’t catch last night’s Lively reference live (who can stay up that late?), but rather learned of it through a social media Friend (that is, someone I don’t think I’ve ever met in person but whose cute baby I’ve seen more photos of than some of my own relatives’). My Friend expressed dismay at the mention of Lively’s name on national television and suggested that, as a sort of corrective action, people check out one of the organizations that’s been actively fighting Lively’s agenda: Springfield’s (award-winning) LGBTQ youth group Out Now.
