蜜桃传媒

The letters expressed concern about the organization paying for the trip, the American Family Association (AFA), which the 蜜桃传媒 has listed as an anti-LGBT hate group since 2010.

In particular, the letters asked RNC members not to lend their good offices to an organization with a long track record of making anti-LGBT, anti-Muslim and other hateful statements. An email to Priebus鈥� director of communications about this matter was not responded to.

As a follow up to our letters, 蜜桃传媒 staff also called all of the for comment about the trip. In particular, we wanted to ask if members were aware of AFA鈥檚 extremism. Here are some notable examples:

• An AFA leader has said, 鈥淗omosexuality gave us Adolph Hitler, and homosexuals in the military gave us the Brown Shirts, the Nazi war machine and 6 million dead Jews.鈥�

• The same staffer said African Americans 鈥渞ut like rabbits鈥� and women have no place in politics or the military.

• Another has argued that Hispanics are 鈥渟ocialists by nature鈥� and come to the United States to 鈥減lunder鈥� our country.

• And the group has repeatedly made the point that non-Christians are second-class citizens鈥斺�渨e are a Christian nation, and not a Jewish or Muslim one.鈥� (Find a comprehensive look at AFA鈥檚 extremist statements and positions here).

In early December, reported that 60 members, or about a third, of the RNC had decided to travel to Israel. But you wouldn鈥檛 know that from the calls we made. We left dozens of voicemails and sent many, many emails, none of which were replied to.

In Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Oklahoma and Tennessee, communications directors were unaware of the trip and promised to speak with RNC members and get back to us. They did not. Other state communications directors, like those in Maryland and Louisiana, said they knew nothing of the trip and could not answer questions. In Idaho, a communications staffer told us she had no idea what we were talking about, but that she would have known about a trip if there was one.

The communications director in New Mexico had not heard of the trip, but was shocked at AFA鈥檚 views. And the communications director in Utah was quite surprised about AFA鈥檚 views, but knew nothing about the trip. A communications staffer in Mississippi verified that none of his members would be traveling with AFA. No one from Massachusetts will be attending, nor will the chair of the Connecticut RNC.

The bulk of the states simply ignored our requests for comment, but in some cases, our calls were met with hostility. That happened in Wyoming, where a woman who answered the office phone refused twice to identify herself. She did say that no one from Wyoming was going on the trip and that she had 鈥渘o idea who that group [AFA] is,鈥� nor did she seem to care. Then she said 鈥測our argument [about AFA鈥檚 extremism] is kind of moot since no one is going鈥� and hung up on me.

Meanwhile, AFA staffers continue to put out a stream of extremist propaganda. Just in the last few weeks, AFA鈥檚 Director of Issues Analysis for Government and Public Policy Bryan Fischer you can鈥檛 support gay rights and call yourself a Christian, railed about a Muslim congressman being appointed to the House Intelligence Committee and claimed that Duke University is 鈥渋nviting the Demons of the Abyss鈥� onto its campus by planning a Muslim prayer rally. And those comments are only from the second half of January. Imagine what is to come in the rest of 2015.