Minnesota for Marriage, a group supporting the state’s proposed anti-gay marriage amendment, says someone hacked its Facebook page and posted a Bible verse condoning “death” for homosexuals.
Late Tuesday night, the verse Leviticus 20:13 appeared on the group’s Facebook page. It reads:
“If a man has sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They are to be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.”
The post remained online until mid-afternoon Wednesday. Andy Parrish, the group’s deputy campaign manager and Rep. Michele Bachmann’s former chief of staff, tweeted Wednesday morning that his online accounts were “hacked” and “garbage” was posted on Minnesota for Marriage’s Facebook page. “I won’t be intimidated,” Parrish added.
My Twitter, Facebook, @gmail.com @me.com were all hacked and garbage was posted on the Minnesota For Marriage FB. I won’t be intimidated.
— Andy Parrish (@AndyParrishMN) June 27, 2012
Minnesota for Marriage Communications Director Chuck Darrell told TPM that the Facebook page was hacked. “There’s always somebody in this game that wants to inflict or inject a hateful, divisive message, and that’s what happened here,” he said. “We’ve been running our message for over a year now, and it’s been a very pro-family, pro-children, pro-marriage message, and promoting respectful discussion. We’ll be searching for the person who committed this act and we’re prosecuting them to the full extent of the law.”
Parrish tweeted that the post remained online as long as it did because Facebook needed to verify the IP address. It has now been taken down.
Recent polling shows that gay rights advocates might be poised for an electoral breakthrough in Minnesota. Voters in November head to the polls to vote on the ballot amendment. The Democratic-leaning firm Public Policy Polling’s (PPP) latest survey of Minnesota shows 49 percent of voters do not believe the state constitution should be amended to ensure marriage is legally defined as a relationship between a man and a woman. Forty-three percent of voters support the amendment.
Here’s a screen shot of the post on Minnesota for Marriage’s Facebook page:
h/t City Pages.
David Taintor
David Taintor is TPM’s News Editor. He contributes to TPM’s Livewire coverage, among other areas. David is from Chanhassen, Minnesota, where, yes, it gets very cold. Reach him at taintor [at] talkingpointsmemo.com
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