On a conference call today, prominent LGBT leaders from Massachusetts roundly condemned Sen. Scott Brown’s (R-MA) decision not to participate in a video for the It Gets Better project. Every single member of the Massachusetts congressional delegation besides Brown collaborated to make the video, which sends a hopeful message to LGBT youth who are being bullied. Sen. Brown (R-MA) was invited to be in the video, but declined. When asked about the decision, Brown spokesman Colin Reed said it was because Brown’s “main focus right now is on creating jobs.”

The LGBT leaders, including two Massachusetts lawmakers, agreed that Sen. Brown’s refusal to participate in the video sends a disturbing message to the staggering number of LGBT youth who are being bullied and harassed every day. They also said the snub was simply the latest in Brown’s long record of “being anti-LGBT friendly,” in the words of Jennifer Chrisler.

For Chrisler, the executive director of the Family Equality Council, Brown’s history of attacking gay families is personal. Brown once said it was “not normal” for Chrisler and her wife to be raising children, their twin 9-year-old boys. Chrisler said she is waiting for Brown to “walk the walk, not just talk the talk,” when it comes to LGBT issues.

Grace Stonewall, the executive director of BAGLEY (Boston Alliance of Gay Lesbian Bisexual and Transgender Youth), said he showed the Massachusetts delegation video to young people in his support organization. “They were all aware Scott Brown had not participated and had the same reaction that we’re having, that he didn’t support [them].”

State Rep. Liz Malia (D), an openly gay representative from the 11th Suffolk District, served with Brown for many years in the state legislature. She said that he was never very active on legislative issues, but when then-Gov. Mitt Romney (R) tried to dissolve an independent commission on gay and lesbian youth, Brown “went out of his way” to join Romney and vote against it — the only Massachusetts senator to do so. Malia notes that Brown has received tremendous support from “virulently anti-gay groups,” and has consistently voted against marriage equality and equal rights for the LGBT community. In this instance, “his absence speaks very loudly for where his true feelings are,” she says.

As for Brown’s defense that he didn’t participate because he’s so laser-focused on jobs, no one seemed to think that passed the laugh test. “We need to see that he can do more than one thing at once,” said Massachusetts Rep. Carl Sciortino (D). Stonewall pointed out that the video was “not difficult to do, it wouldn’t have taken much of his time,” so why would he “deliberately choose not to do it without a good excuse?”

Chrisler added, “I want to see the message that not only will it get better, but he‘ll get better.”

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) dodged a question about reports that her family’s Christian counseling clinics practice “pray away the gay” reparative therapy during an appearance this afternoon at the National Press Club. “I’m extremely proud of my husband,” Bachmann said in response to a question from the Washington Blade’s Chris Johnson, but stressed that her business was “not running for the presidency of the United States”:

BACHMANN: I’m running for the presidency of the United States. My husband is not running for the presidency, neither are my children, neither is our business, neither is our foster children and I’m more than happy to stand for questions on running for the presidency of the United States.

Watch it:

Bachmann — who in 2004 said that an ex-gay group will “present the truth about homosexuality” — has repeatedly avoided answering questions about ex-gay therapy since an undercover investigation captured a counselor suggesting that homosexuality could be overcome through prayer and therapy. Bachmann’s campaign even black listed a local Iowa station for asking about the revelation.

Bachmann’s husband Marcus, meanwhile, has admitted that the clinic would perform reparative therapy upon request. Michele Bachmann insists that she is still “very proud of the business that we created.”

The Florida Family Policy Council (Florida’s affiliate of the anti-gay hate group, the Family Research Council) will welcome Republican presidential candidate Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) to its annual “policy awards dinner.” Despite Bachmann’s refusal to discuss the harmful ex-gay therapy offered by her family business, the appearance is a fresh reminder that the candidate is a fierce opponent of LGBT equality.

The FFPC raises hundreds of thousands of dollars every year to oppose abortion rights, “the gay agenda,” and Islam. In 2008, they successfully led the charge to ban same-sex marriage and civil unions in Florida’s state constitution. The group’s president, John Stemberger, used a “protect children” strategy to scare voters into voting for the ban:

Failing to ban gay marriage in the state constitution could result in the indoctrination of schoolchildren into a gay lifestyle. Florida schools might have to teach that gay weddings are the same as traditional unions if the proposal fails at the polls.

In 2010, when a judge overturned Florida’s ban on same-sex adoption, FFPC ran a story attempting to discredit the couple who won the case by misrepresenting them with an absurd photo. The actual couple is on the right; FFPC ran the photo on the left:

By associating with the Florida Family Policy Council, Bachmann adds to her long list of anti-gay affiliations, including Exodus International, You Can Run But You Cannnot Hide Ministry, FRC, and AFA.

Radio minister and former rocker Bradlee Dean canceled his appearance with SiriusXM’s Michelangelo Signorile yesterday afternoon (claiming that he was overwhelmed with “interview requests”), but felt well enough to appear on Alex Jones’ show to discuss his lawsuit against MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow and the Minnesota Independent’s Andy Birkey. Dean alleges that Maddow and Birkey defamed him and his ministry when they suggested that he wants to kill homosexuals and ignored a “very clear disclaimer” on his website saying that he does not endorse such action.

In his appearance on Jones’ show, Dean doubled down on his long record of anti-gay rhetoric, claiming that his lawsuit aimed at “protecting the young in public high schools” from homosexual indoctrination and agreeing with Jones that gay people teach fisting to young children:

DEAN: It’s about protecting a particular people who are being attacked, namely the young in public high schools and that’s what this is really about and what they want to do is they want to keep me on the defense so they can stay on the offense so they can continuously play the victim.

JONES: All over the country, it is a fact, and I wouldn’t want heterosexuals recruiting 7-year-olds. They target children and I can’t even say on the radio for 20 years what’s been taught.

DEAN: Yep.

JONES: But they teach children sexual acts that can kill you.

DEAN: Yep.

JONES: I mean, we’re talking about fisting, ladies and gentlemen. Things like that are taught to 7-year-olds.

Watch it:

Dean has a long friendship with Michele Bachmann, dating back to her days as a Minnesota state senator. In 2005, Bachmann sent Dean’s ministry a letter of endorsement, saying, “Your work is a testament to the struggle our youth are facing in making the right choices in the face of controversy and peer pressure. [...] I commend you on writing this book for parents and youth alike,” she wrote.

Bachmann has also appeared on Dean’s radio show and attended his fundraisers. “It a tough job that you do, but someone has to do it. I thank God that he has given you the strength and the resolve to fight for our timeless values,” she said of Dean in 2009.

During a press conference announcing the lawsuit yesterday, Dean returned the favor and specifically referenced Bachmann, saying, “It is clear that Rachael Maddow, Phil Griffin, NBC, and its subsidiary MSNBC intended to use my ministry and me to destroy the presidential campaign of Michele Bachmann who they despise for her conservative Christian beliefs and her opposition to the ‘gay rights’ political agenda.” [HT: Dump Michele Bachmann ]