Bearing false witness is a sin, according to the Ten Commandments, and in some cases it’s a crime. For Rep. David Love, a New Hampshire state representative backed by “pro-family” groups affiliated with Focus on the Family, it’s a costly crime.
Love must pay $100,000 each to two drag queens he falsely accused of sexual crimes while promoting “pro-family” legislation in 2022, according to articles reported by local and national news outlets.
When Love introduced legislation requiring library employees and volunteers to obtain background checks, he claimed his bill was motivated by two drag queens who led story hours at libraries.
Clara Divine
But he publicly lied about the two men, falsely claiming one was a “convicted sex offender” and the other had danced with children in a sexual manner.
Community members and fellow legislators told Love he was spreading falsehoods, but he repeated the claims, which he claimed he had read in a news article, at a later public forum.
Love’s background check legislation never went anywhere, but the two drag queens sued Love for defamation, and now he has settled the case by agreeing to pay them and offer a public apology. His statement read, in part:
“After being provided with inaccurate information, information that I failed to verify, I publicly accused Robert Champion (aka Monique Toosoon) of being a registered sex offender and Michael McMahon (aka Clara Divine) of ‘rubbing butts’ with children.
Monique Toosoon
“I have since learned that those assertions were completely false. I wish to publicly retract those statements and apologize to Robert and Michael. I have agreed to monetary judgment against me for $100,000 for Robert and Michael each.”
Love was endorsed by Cornerstone Policy Research and Cornerstone Action, sister organizations that say they’re “non-partisan, nonprofit Christian advocacy organizations made up of caring, passionate people working for the people of New Hampshire.”
Cornerstone does not publicly acknowledge its connection to Focus, saying only: “We are one of 40 state organizations associated with each other.”
Cornerstone is part of a now-41-member network of conservative Christian state-based groups that are allied with the Family Policy Alliance, a nonprofit activist organization that Focus founder James Dobson launched four decades ago and is housed in offices on Focus’ Colorado Springs campus.
The Alliance, an advocacy nonprofit that claims to be nonpartisan, and its sister organization, Family Policy Alliance Foundation, create and promote legislation and train GOP legislators in how to impose a “biblical worldview.”
Together, the Family Policy Alliance and its Foundation have income of less than $4 million, but their national network has revenue of more than $50 million, employs more than 350 people and claims to reach a network of 50,000 churches.
The Alliance has helped promote legislation through its partnering state legislators that criminalizes drag queen performances, restricts access to online pornography, and restricted transgender medical treatments and athletic participation.
In July, the Alliance announced its merger with Christians Engaged in order to “sign up 1 million Christians to engage in the upcoming U.S. presidential election and local elections across the country for years to come.”
Christians Engaged was founded in Texas in 2019 by Bunni Pounds, a former political consultant who raised more than $10 million for Republican congressional candidates and made her own unsuccessful run for a U.S. House seat. Christians Engaged had revenue of $692,121 in 2022.
Rep. Love has publicly discussed being molested at age 6 and becoming an alcoholic and drug user before hitting his teen years. He says he sobered up by age 60.
Related articles:
Drag queens reading books to children are not the problem | Opinion by Susan Shaw
Focus on the Family affiliate is the unifying force behind campaign to restrict transgender rights | Analysis by Steve Rabey