Connecticut Comptroller Kevin Lembo is the recent target of an aggressively anti-LGBT group.
Lembo has been inundated with thousands of calls and emails from people from out-of-state locations after the state comptroller challenged the American Family Association's "charitable" status.
"The state of Connecticut, once a bastion of religious liberty, has now become the epicenter of blatant anti-Christian discrimination," Bryan Fischer, former AFA director and current radio host, said on the group's website.
The messages to Lembo criticize his patriotism because last week the comptroller launched an investigation into determining whether or not the association should be disqualified from receiving donations from the Connecticut State Employee Campaign for Charitable Giving. The rules require that groups abide by anti-discrimination requirements to receive donations.
The Mississippi-based association is considered an extremist group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. Fischer says the association was "officially approved last spring by the state as one of the many non-profits state employees can donate to."
In August, the group encouraged followers to boycott Target after the company said it would allow transgender customers and employees to use the bathroom in accordance to their gender identities. Target later announced that it would spend $20 million dollars on single stall bathrooms.
"We're confident that our boycott has played a significant role in Target's financial results," said Walker Wildon, assistant to the president of the AFA, in an interview, NBC News reported.
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On Tuesday, Lembo said he reached out to the group with some questions, while noting that he is a gay father, in order to verify that it is in compliance with all state and federal laws that prohibit discrimination.
"The AFA is calling on Mr. Lembo to retract the accusatory letter he has published and to issue an apology to AFA for his religious prejudice and bigotry," Fischer wrote.
