I’ve heard so much about the WinShape Foundation’s “anti-gay” contributions that I decided to do a little checking. Here’s what I learned, beginning from the Equality Matters site , which tells us the following:
WinShape Gave Over $1.9 Million To Anti-Gay Groups. In 2010, WinShape donated $1,974,380 to a number of anti-gay groups:
- Marriage & Family Foundation: $1,188,380
- Fellowship Of Christian Athletes: $480,000
- National Christian Foundation: $247,500
- New Mexico Christian Foundation: $54,000
- Exodus International: $1,000
- Family Research Council: $1,000
- Georgia Family Council: $2,500
Please note that the most frequently mentioned contributions—to the Family Research Council and Exodus International—amount to roughly 0.1% of the foundation’s gifts.
The largest gift went to the Marriage and Family Foundation, which seems to be a Cathy family charity. This becomes sinister through a bit of innuendo tying the foundation to the Marriage CoMission , which has been “supported by anti-gay activists.” From where I sit, the Marriage CoMission looks like an organization devoted to helping couples have successful marriages. I’d bet that its services aren’t available to same-sex couples, but that wouldn’t make the organization anti-gay, any more than a church could be regarded as bigoted because it only provides pastoral marriage counseling to its members.
So the WinShape Foundation supports an organization that helps traditional heterosexual marriages succeed.
The second largest donation went to the Fellowship of Christian Athletes , not exactly at the forefront of our culture wars.
The third largest donation went to the National Christian Foundation , whose raison d’etre has nothing to do with the culture wars.
An organization with which I’m affiliated—the Georgia Family Council —received $2,500 in 2010. While I’d never pretend to speak for the GFC, its concerns run more to promoting school choice, helping marriages flourish, and calling attention to human trafficking than to taking high-profile stances on hot-button social issues.
Finally, we come to the grand sum of $1,000 a piece for the FRC and Exodus.
Much of the sound and fury here has to do with guilt by association. Others have called this McCarthyism. On the basis of this glance at the evidence, I’m inclined to agree with them.
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