Activist Hijacks Domain Names of Antigay Indiana Politicians

An LGBT activist is using the names of antigay politicians to promote equality.

Konrad Juengling has purchased the domain names of Indiana state representatives who supported the controversial Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which was criticized by activists as a "license to discriminate" against LGBT people.

Now, if one were to visit DaleDevon.com -- named after Republican Rep. Dale Devon -- one would be redirected to the website of the Human Rights Campaign, a leading LGBT advocacy group, reports The Huffington Post.

The specific Web page has a list of memes that detail what it's like to grow up LGBT in the United States, including a statistic that LGBT youth are twice as likely to be physically assaulted than their straight peers.

In addition to Devon, Juengling also purchased the domain names for Donna Schaibley, Kathy Kreag Richardson, Martin Carbaugh, Douglas Gutwein, and Don Lehe.

A week ago, he wrote a letter to these representatives, informing them of his purchase as well as the reason: "to help educate you about the population you are trying to undermine," which is "already disadvantaged and have less accesses to family, community supports, and healthcare."

He said he would forfeit control of the URLs, if the reps help pass nondiscrimination legislation that would protect LGBT people in Indiana.

"Live up to your word. Protect your constituency from discrimination. Protect a minority population. Do so, and I'll happily sign over the domains," he concluded.

Gov. Mike Pence incited a national firestorm when he signed the RFRA into law in late March, with many celebrities and public figures calling for a boycott of Indiana.

As a result, Pence was pressured to sign an amendment to the act to prevent what many feared would occur -- businesses using religion as an excuse to refuse goods and services to LGBT customers. Pence's approval ratings recently plummeted as a result of the original legislation.