A hateful sermon to millions by a top Mormon apostle has driven home a simple point: words matter.

When extremism goes unchallenged, we see the results in blatant discrimination, in bullying and harassment in our schools, and in violent hate crimes – like the horrific anti-gay kidnapping and torture by nine men in the Bronx last week.

We need to fight back. That’s why I traveled to Utah this week to hand-deliver 150,000 letters to that same Mormon leader (watch the video here). It’s why we launched NOM Exposed to spread the truth about the so-called National Organization for Marriage.

And it’s why, as we face a make-or-break election, we’re warning voters about radical candidates who would spread this poison from the halls of Congress and make bigotry seem legitimate.

We need to raise $250,000 in the next seven days to support these efforts – to put more staff on the ground, expose extremist candidates, ratchet up efforts against NOM and Mormon Church leaders, and get hundreds of thousands of pro-equality voters to the polls.

It will take 26 donations from Seattle –

Help fight these extremists. Become an HRC member now.

Last week, nine men kidnapped and tortured two teenagers and a 30-year-old man in the Bronx and subjected them to hours of horrific torture because they were gay. Just days later, New York gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino gave a speech saying he didn’t want children “brainwashed into thinking that homosexuality is an equally valid or successful option.”

When will this cycle of bullying, incitement, and violence end?

At a time when every day seems to bring new stories of hate, I’m outraged that church leaders are spreading a message of intolerance – from the Mormon apostle who gave that sermon to the anti-gay DVD the Catholic Church mailed to every single parishioner in Minnesota – but I’m sickened by the thought of that intolerance coming from members of the United States Senate.

One candidate for Senate has crusaded to ‘cure’ gays through prayer. Another is so radical she won’t even accept donations from companies that are too pro-equality. A third is so far to the right that uber-extremist Rick Santorum himself called him “too conservative.”

Many voters are just starting to pay attention to their local races. And when they do, we’ve got to be there – in the media and at thousands of front doors, explaining extreme candidates’ fringe positions and radical beliefs.

We’ve got to go on offense against NOM and its cronies. We’ve got to get fair-minded voters to the polls. And we must increase the pace of our work in schools to fight bullying and in our innovative programs to work with communities of faith to promote equality.

Facing radical candidates and extremist hate, we can’t afford to fail. We need 26 donations from Seattle to kick our efforts into high gear and capitalize on the months of groundwork laid by our organizers.

Thank you for all that you do.

Sincerely,

Joe Solmonese
President

P.S. Please accept my deepest gratitude if you’ve already put a check in the mail or given to HRC by some other means. If you haven’t yet contributed, I hope you’ll join us today.