On the same day a Mennonite pastor was convicted of abetting international kidnapping of the child of a same-sex couple, one of the girl’s mothers filed a civil Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) suit against that pastor and others who she alleges helped her former partner kidnap their child Isabella and flee the country.

The lawsuit, filed by Janet Jenkins Tuesday in the United States District Court for the District of Vermont, also names her former partner Lisa Miller, the Liberty University School of Law, and the Thomas Road Baptist Church, among others. Both Liberty University and Thomas Road Baptist were founded by the late Jerry Falwell and are based in Lynchburg, Virginia.

In Jenkins’ filing, she complains:

against Defendants for intentionally kidnapping and conspiring to kidnap Isabella Miller-Jenkins on or about September 21, 2009, and intentionally causing her continued detention outside the State of Vermont to the present day. The Plaintiffs also complain against Defendants for violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, 18 U.S.C. § 1962 (c) and (d) for participating and conspiring to participate in the affairs of the Beachy Amish-Mennonite Christian Brotherhood through a pattern of past and continuing acts and threats involving kidnapping, money laundering and mail fraud. Plaintiffs further complain against the above named Defendants for conspiring to violate their civil rights in violation of 42 U .S.C. § 1985 (3) and 42 U.S.C. §1986.

The suit seeks an immediate return of the kidnapped child to the U.S., as well as actual and punitive damages.

While anti-LGBT extremists have cheered this kidnapping, actually comparing it to the “Underground Railroad,” the verdict in the criminal case and this new case could finally hold those behind the kidnapping accountable for their actions.

This weekend, Prague began its second LGBT pride festival, which the U.S. embassy supported as an opportunity to “reject discrimination while embracing tolerance and respect for the dignity of all persons around the world.” The embassy’s support has sparked a backlash, however, and a broad coalition of anti-gay leaders and groups sent a letter condemning the embassy for advancing the “gay agenda” and “stigmatization and marginalization” of those who oppose marriage equality. Here’s an excerpt:

• Regarding “gay rights,” those caught up in this lifestyle have the same rights as other citizens. This does not include the “right” to force others to validate a lifestyle they find objectionable, for religious or other reasons. It also does not include the right of men to marry men and women to marry women.
• The foregoing pseudo-rights do not advance human freedom and dignity but debase them.
• We can not imagine a worse form of cultural imperialism than Washington trying to force approval of the “gay” agenda on societies with traditional values.

The letter features a veritable who’s-who of hate group leaders and purveyors of anti-gay stigma, including:

• Brent Bozell (Media Research Center/For America)
• Scott Lively (Author of The Pink Swastika who evangelizes anti-gay rhetoric in Uganda)
• Benjamin Bull, Piero Tozzi, and Roger Kiska (Alliance Defending Freedom)
• Linda Harvey (Mission America)
• Jim Garlow (Renewing American Leadership)
• Peter LaBarbera (Americans for Truth About Homosexuality)
• Tim Wildmon (American Family Association)
• Matthew Staver (Liberty University Law School/Liberty Counsel)
• Bill Donohue (Catholic League)
• Tom DeLay (former House Majority Leader)
• Brian Camenker (MassResistance/Parents Rights Coalition)
• Tom Shields (Coalition for Marriage and Family)
• Matt Barber (Liberty Counsel Action)
• Robert Knight (American Civil Rights Union)
• Lou Sheldon and Andrea Lafferty (Traditional Values Coalition)
• Jennifer Roback Morse (National Organization for Marriage’s Ruth Institute)
• Mike Huckabee (former governor of Arkansas)
• Alan Keyes (former UN ambassador)
• Alveda King (King for America)
• Diane Gramley (American family Association of Pennsylvania)
• Richard Land (Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission)

Some of these anti-gay figures may differ in the extremity of their rhetoric, but by signing onto this letter together, they demonstrate that they all believe homosexuality is a “lifestyle” choice that is “objectionable.”

The United States has committed to fighting LGBT discrimination and criminalization across the globe, but the Czech Republic already has sexual orientation nondiscrimination protections that exceed those in the U.S.

Kenneth Miller, a Mennonite pastor, has been found guilty of abetting international kidnapping of the child of a same-sex couple. The girl’s one mother, Lisa Miller (no relation), had declared herself ex-gay, refused to honor the custody agreement with her former partner Janet Jenkins, and ultimately fled with their daughter, Isabella, to Nicaragua, where she is still considered a fugitive. The pastor’s lawyers claimed he didn’t know Lisa Miller was defying court orders, but the fact that he disguised Miller and her daughter and made sure the flights they took didn’t touch American soil demonstrated he knew exactly what he was doing. The investigation and trial also revealed numerous ties to leadership within Liberty University and its Liberty Counsel, who defended Miller when she sought to block Jenkins from seeing Isabella.

Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association has fervently defended Lisa Miller, claiming that there needs to be an “Underground Railroad” to protect children by kidnapping them away from same-sex couples. When courts honor the parental rights of same-sex couples, as they did in Jenkins’ case, Fischer calls this “judicial kidnapping,” suggesting that those opposed to same-sex adoption can and should function outside the law. Upon Kenneth Miller’s guilty ruling yesterday, Fischer tweeted that he was a “Conductor of Underground Railroad” who was protecting a child from an “abusive lesbian environment” and suggested that he too should flee the country rather than face his judicial consequences:

FISCHER: Conductor of Underground Railroad to protect child from abusive lesbian environment found guilty. [Link]

RIGHTWINGWATCH: So Kenneth Miller should probably flee the country as well, right @BryanJFischer since he was just obeying God’s law?

FISCHER: @RightWingWatch Maybe Harriett Tubman can show him the way.

A spokesman for the Religious Right, who has proven he can influence the Republican presidential campaign, is encouraging his daily radio listeners to break the law and kidnap the children of same-sex couples — and feel righteous about doing so. It’s never been more clear that these conservative “family” groups (most of which have been identified as hate groups) do not care about the welfare of children at all, but will demonize and destroy the lives of LGBT people by any means necessary.