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Fox News, media, Republican social liberals cheer on LGBTQ agenda in Cleveland
“Fake” Culture Wars? Donald Trump gave homosexual (activist) Republican and PayPal founder Peter Thiel a prime-time slot to address the Republican convention–and he used it to belittle the “culture wars” and pro-family campaigns against “transgender rights,” i.e., laws allowing men wearing dresses to use female restrooms. AFTAH does not cower to political correctness: we tell the truth: that God makes no special dispensation for Republican homosexuality as opposed to the Democrat variety.
By Peter LaBarbera, AFTAH Special Report, Part One
Quick Summary [see videos at bottom]:
Donald Trump is already taking the Republican Party in a pro-homosexual direction
Trump as a life-long New Yorker has a history of supporting homosexual “rights”
In his speech accepting the GOP presidential nomination, Trump went out of his way to affirm the “LGBTQ [Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and/or Questioning] community”
Meanwhile, Trump said nothing about overturning the Supreme Courts’s Obergefell ruling imposing homosexual “marriage” on the states
Trump also ignored the battle raging between “gay rights” and freedom of conscience [see this Colorado baker case update]. And his long speech did not mention abortion and the plight of the unborn
All these issues were featured prominently in the conservative 2016 GOP Platform approved in Cleveland
Trump did champion a repeal of the Johnson Amendment inhibiting churches from political involvement. This will greatly help Christians and pastors to engage culturally if he succeeds
Trump invited openly homosexual PayPal founder and “gay” activist Peter Thiel to give a prime time address at the GOP convention [watch video at bottom]
Thiel used the opportunity to deride the “Culture Wars” as “fake”; said he was “proud to be gay”; and he belittled pro-family efforts opposing “transgender rights” laws
Fox News and other major media applauded Thiel and generally celebrated the “gay Republican” cause
Fox News’ Megyn Kelly brought on young homosexual Republican Guy Benson and a liberal Democrat–but no social conservative–to comment on Thiel’s address
Homosexualism in the name of “freedom”…is being pushed in the GOP by groups like the American Victory Fund. Shown above are (left to right): Montel Williams, Margaret Hoover and Bruce (“Caitlyn”) Jenner at a widely covered AUL event held at the Republican convention in Cleveland. Watch Jenner’s and Williams’ presentation at the AUL event here. Photo: American United Fund website.
A convention event put on by the American Unity Fund–a pro-LGBT Republican group–featuring Bruce (“Caitlyn”) Jenner and Montel Williams also received wide media attention in Cleveland
In contrast, dissident conservative voices–e.g., pro-life and pro-natural marriage voices–will likely receive little media attention at the left-leaning Democratic convention this week
Socialcons, Beware: Throughout the GOP primary campaign, some socially liberal and libertarian Republicans welcomed Trump’s rise because, to quote one writer, it “appears to have broken the stranglehold social conservatives have had on the party’s primary process”
The pro-LGBTQ appeal within the GOP is being marketed to and in part driven by millennial voters (ages 18-29)–who, polls show, favor “same-sex marriage” and are more accepting of homosexuality than older demographics
However, transcendent, biblical morality is timeless and is not determined by polls
Unlike many politically correct conservatives who walk on eggshells when discussing “gay Republicans” and the GOP’s perversion-enabling “Big Tent,” we at Americans For Truth embrace and boldly defend historic truth: homosexualism is immoral whether advanced by Democrats or Republicans, or by young people or older people.
And with God’s help, people can overcome the sin of homosexuality: see this inspiring interview with former “gay” Frank Worthen
Conservatives have long condemned “moral relativism,” but that is the essence of the new campaign by GOP moderates and social liberals to rationalize homosexualism and gender confusion in the name of freedom and conservatism
Openly homosexual Republicans and their “straight allies” may be conservative on a variety of issues, but on homosexual and transgender issues they usually echo liberal, LGBT talking points
If the GOP becomes a party espousing homosexual “marriage” and “LGBT rights”–i.e., a “Democrat-Lite” party on moral and social issues–it will cease to be truly conservative and pro-family. It will dishonor God, and become an agent of destructive change in America
AFTAH article: “Affidavit and Video: Cross-dressing Transgender Voyeur Shauna Smith – Who Shot Video of Woman Undressing at Idaho Target Store – Says It Was Like Viewing Porn
Fox News’ liberalism: Author’s in-depth report on Fox News’ Pro-Gay Bias for America’s Survival (PDF)
New York Times article (4/22/16): “Donald Trump’s more accepting views on Gay issues set him apart in GOP”
Politico article (7/22/16): “Gay Republicans want more from Trump”
AFTAH article on Trump’s liberal, “gay”-affirming past: “Trump Called For Adding Homosexuality to the 1964 Civil Rights Act – in 2000 Interview with ‘Gay’ Magazine”
Conservative pollster Rasmussen Reports on Trump breaking social conservatives’ “stranglehold” on the Republican Party (3/3/16): “Why Trump Is Good for the GOP”
Video:American Unity Fund event at GOP Convention featuring Bruce (“Caitlyn”) Jenner and Montel Williams (who compares unchangeable race to homosexuality)
Trump’s Promise to Christians: Time article (7/14/16) on Trump and the Johnson Amendment: “Republican platform calls for repeal of ban on political organizing by churches”
“Gay conservatives” get nasty like other homosexual activists: “Tammy Bruce’s Nasty Ambush Interview [of this writer], and Cliff Kincaid on CPAC and ‘Gays'”
Like Gov. Mike Pence, the Indiana governor and Donald Trump’s choice for his vice-presidential running mate, for the last 30-odd years since I accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior, I have considered myself a Christian first, a conservative second and a Republican third—“in that order,” as Pence says.
I became interested in the “gay” (homosexual) revolution in America about 25 years ago. It has been fascinating to watch the interplay of homosexualism, Republicanism, media and Christianity in politics and culture even since. The treatment of homosexualism—which I define as essentially the celebration of homosexuality as a “civil right” and a proud, personal identity—is one indicator of the spiritual and moral health of a society.
As sober and biblically-minded Christians know, the news is not good in America. Like much of the West, we have a spiritual sickness—moral relativism, rooted in disrespect for God and his Laws. We love our sin and the tolerance thereof more than we love God and love Truth (capital “T,” what used to be called absolute truth).
Now that spiritual sickness has infected the Republican Party and “conservative” media, and the result can only be the further deterioration of the patient—because true “goodness” is rooted in God alone and His holy Word–not man’s fickle, transitory and self-rationalizing ideas. — @Peter LaBarbera, AFTAH
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Outstanding Resources:Order Robert Reilly’s excellent book, Making Gay Okay: How Rationalizing Homosexual Behavior Is Changing Everything, for $25 postpaid—and support Americans For Truth in the process! Give online HERE (note book in memo) or send $25/book (request “Making Gay Okay”) to AFTAH, PO Box 5522, Naperville, IL 60567-5522.]
Also: A Gem for Just $5: Get your copy of the late Dr. Charles Socarides’ book: Homosexuality: A Freedom Too Far: A Psychoanalyst Answers 1,000 Questions Abut Causes and Cure and the Impact of the Gay Rights Movement on American Society — for any gift to AFTAH of just $5 or more postpaid. Give online here.
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Will Trump Accelerate Republicans’ Pro-‘Gay’ Evolution?
The Donald’s Social Liberalism:New York Times headline for April 22, 2016 story by reporter Maggie Haberman reports on Trump’s pro-“gay” attitudes. Because most media agree with homosexuality, there was very little coverage in the GOP primary highlighting Trump’s record on homosexualism. Although Ted Cruz used code to mock Trump’s “New York values,” Trump’s past backing of radical, federal “gay civil rights” legislation in 2000 never came up during the campaign. Cruz did make an issue of Trump supporting “transgender” men (men dressed as women) using women’s public restrooms.
My mind is swirling with images from the Republican Party National Convention last week in Cleveland and the media’s skewed coverage of it. Here are some of my observations:
Donald Trump will lead the GOP further in a pro-homosexual, pro-“transgender” direction than it has ever gone. How far depends on whether Trump wins in November and whether social conservatives will be able to mount a counter-offensive in the GOP (and the larger culture) against pro-homosexual “conservatives.”
Trump’s choice of “proudly gay” PayPal founder Peter Theil as a prime time speaker last night–an hour or so before The Donald himself would give his own powerful speech to the nation–telegraphs Trump’s (and his family’s) determination to elevate “gay rights” in the Party.
This was not unexpected. Trump, living his whole life in and around New York City—with its long and unique history of tolerating and then celebrating homosexualism—has a history of being pro-homosexual. Unfortunately, this was rarely discussed in the GOP primary campaign (unlike Trump’s past pro-abortion-rights stance, which was widely covered by the media).
It appears that Trump will be the first Republican presidential standard-bearer to enthusiastically celebrate ‘homosexuals’ as a minority–even as he has heaped praise upon “evangelicals” and pledged to defend their religious freedom. (To his credit, Trump has promised to get rid of the Johnson Amendment inhibiting church political action—but he did not mention the battle between “gay rights” and Christians’ freedom of conscience in his speech.)
Conservative media like Fox News anchors Sean Hannity, Dana Perino and Megyn Kelly—and conservative commentators like openly homosexual Guy Benson (editor of Townhall.com and a Fox News Contributor)–are all well ahead of Trump when it comes to championing “gays and lesbians” in the GOP. [More on that below; also see my 2013 Fox News Pro-Gay Bias report for America’s Survival.]
The “Gay” Agenda’s Radical Roots: One-time Communist and “Radical Faeries” founder Harry Hay first envisioned the notion of “homosexuals” comprising a “minority” as a means of winning acceptance and building power. Here Hay is shown defending the right of the notorious pederasty group NAMBLA (North American Man/Boy Love Association) to march in the 1986 Los Angeles “gay pride” parade. Now pro-homosexual advocates in the GOP are pushing the line of Hay and other “gay” activist ideologues positing homosexuality as a “civil right.”
The evolving, pro-sexual-immorality transformation of America’s “conservative, pro-family” party is a stunning historical development: only a few decades ago, when homosexual practice was taboo and criminalized, it was a Communist, Harry Hay–who founded the group “Radical Faeries” and defended the pederasty group NAMBLA–who first sought to organized homosexuals in America as a political and cultural “minority.”
Democrat-Lite on Gay Rights? Although it is now clear that Trump and many Republicans want to compete specifically for homosexual voters’ affections, it is doubtful that the GOP will ever match the pro-“gay” zeal of the Democratic Party.Barack Obama is easily the most radically pro-homosexual, pro-transgender president in U.S. history; see a not fully up-to-date list of Obama’s LGBT actions HERE. Before Obama, another Democrat, Bill Clinton, became the first president to seriously advance the “gay rights” agenda. (And Jimmy Carter was the first president to invite homosexual activists to the White House; Carter is now radically pro-“gay.”)
True to form, Peter Thiel, in his high-profile convention speech, mocked the social conservative fight against allowing men in female bathrooms (“transgender rights”):“When I was a kid, the great debate was about how to defeat the Soviet Union. And we won. Now we are told that the great debate is about who gets to use which bathroom. This is a distraction from our real problems. Who cares?”
This is significant in that battling the public policy madness of enabling and institutionalizing gender confusion in its many forms–especially men who identify as “women” demanding entrance to female restrooms and female sports leagues–is the one arena where Republicans and conservatives are on the offense vis a vis their LGBTQ rivals. Most Americans are not comfortable with allowing gender-confused men with hormone-induced breasts and a penis entering the private spaces of women and girls.
Thiel went on to deride “fake culture wars” that “only distract us from our economic decline.” His speech, likely vetted by Trump forces, was enthusiastically applauded by Trump’s family and many in the convention hall. Though it serves Thiel’s self-interest to downplay moral issues, cultural battles over homosexualism and transgenderism are very real and critically important to America’s future. [See this AFTAH story on a male “transgender” pervert allegedly caught secretly videotaping a woman dressing in an Idaho Target store changing room; see my “Letter to Target” here.]
For the record, Theil and PayPal are very real players in the ongoing “culture wars.” PayPal pulled a plant out of North Carolina in protest of the state’s enactment of law mandating that people use only restrooms matching the gender on their birth certificate, costing the state 400 jobs.
Thiel reiterated the main falsehood of self-styled “moderates” and secular conservative Republicans: that social issues don’t matter and that the GOP should focus only on economy and national security matters. President Ronald Reagan would not agree. The gipper’s “three-legged stool” for Republicans includes the third leg of social conservatism (along with free market economics and a strong defense and foreign policy). Reagan was passionately and eloquently pro-life and strongly backed natural family values over the homosexual agenda (he was a faithful ally of Anita Bryant, the singing star who led the fight to successfully repeal several homosexual “rights” laws in the 70s).
The Cultural Threat Is Real: Perhaps as a homosexual man Peter Thiel does not understand it, but most women do not want men wearing dresses to occupy a restroom or locker room with them or their daughters. See this story on the arrest of a “transgender” man dressed as a woman who secretly videotaped a woman getting dressed in a women’s changing room in an Idaho Target store. The gender-confused fellow above was attending at the recent “International Mr. Leather” homosexual perversion-fest held every year in Chicago.
Trump himself, like Thiel, has downplayed if not belittled the fight against “transgender rights.” He has been on both sides of North Carolina’s HB2 “bathroom bill,” but courted Bruce (“Caitlyn”) Jenner by telling him (Jenner) that he could use any gender restroom he wanted at Trump Tower. Jenner, a Trump-supporting Republican, gladly obliged (standing up or sitting down?). In Cleveland, he spoke at a GOP convention event sponsored by the pro-LGBT-Republican group American Unity Fund–which promotes homosexualism and transsexualism in the name of “freedom.” [This event predictably drew huge media interest; see this People Magazine article on Jenner and view the AUF video talk here.]
Of course, Theil also declared that he was “proud to be gay.” As I tweeted, Thiel should be proud to have created an amazing corporation—but not his embrace of homosexuality because same-sex behavior is morally wrong. Although being tempted homosexually is not a sin, homosexual behavior itself is sinful, and we know as Christians that people are NOT to be proud of their sin but rather ashamed of it.
Apply my “Sexual Sin Substitution Test” here: would a person ever say that he is “proud” to be a “pornography-using American” (or have that inclination)? Would fellow Republicans welcome him to publicly identify with them on that basis? We must not make a “truth exception” for homosexuality just because it is alien to most people. [See Prof. Rob Gagnon’s excellent website for more on the Bible and homosexualism.]
Celebrating homosexuality in any way is not a “conservative” nor a Christian thing to do. Too judgmental, you say? As Christian believers or Jews who follow the Old Testament, we must agree with God’s judgments on sin and righteousness. As conservatives we must “conserve” that which is good, including the Judeo-Christian foundational truths undergirding American liberty and exceptionalism. Our liberty is derived ultimately from God, and the God of the Bible opposes homosexual behavior as sinful (see Romans 1), so how can homosexuality be the basis for “constitutional rights”? Most Republicans, I suspect, would still say they do not want the Party undermining both Christianity and conservatism.
Getting “gay” votes vs. promoting “gay” Ideology: Of course, Republicans and conservatives like this writer have always welcomed anyone to vote Republican, and many ‘homosexuals’ have. (AFTAH is non-partisan.) But there is a big difference between encouraging people to vote Republican based on various ideals–low taxes, law and order, national security, etc.—and actually promoting the normalization of homosexual behavior and LGBTQueer identities through the Republican Party (or any party).
Although the conservative Republican Platform Committee rejected inserting LGBT-affirming language in addressing the Islamic terrorist slaughter of 49 people at a “gay” nightclub in Orlando, Florida, Trump not only mentioned the “LGBTQ community” but went out of his way to do so in his main speech. (By the way, the “Q” stands for “Queer” [and Questioning]—a rebellious self-description encompassing various aberrant-sex-and-gender identities that turns around a putdown against ‘homosexuals’ into a proud self-label.)
It is sad but true: some conservatives, and many homosexual activists and allied liberals, are using the threat of Islamic jihadi terrorism—and the cruel excesses of Islamic Sharia law—to promote the acceptance of homosexualism in the West. This is especially true after the horrifying Orlando terror-attack. Embracing the semantics of a sexual sin movement is not the proper response to Islamic extremism—even as we reject the outlandish and draconian punishments under Sharia law for sodomy. [More on this in Part Two.]
The media—including Fox News—eagerly promoted “gay Republicans” at the convention at expense of social conservatives. I mostly watched Fox News’ coverage of Trump’s speech accepting the GOP presidential nomination. As supposedly the most “fair and balanced” network, its talking heads were hardly balanced in their giddy discussion of pro-LGBTQ “firsts” at the Trump convention. Of course it helped that the Trump team gave Peter Thiel top billing.
Young, Appealing, Sexually Confused, and a Paid Emissary for “Gay Conservatives” at Fox News: Guy Benson, a Fox News Contributor and the political editor of Townhall.com, appearing on Megyn Kelly’s Fox News show last year, in which he declared, “I’m gay.” Kelly was obviously supportive of Benson’s sexual declaration, in a protective sort of way. She and other on-air personalities at Fox, like Dana Perino, are increasingly vocal in their LGBT-affirming advocacy. On the final night of the Republican convention in Cleveland, Kelly brought on Benson to analyze Peter Thiel’s “I’m proud to be gay” speech. [see interview below]. No social conservative was invited on to defend the historic, Judeo-Christian viewpoint that homosexual practice is immoral and unnatural. Pray for Benson, that he would find Truth, repent of his homosexuality and be transformed through Christ, like former “gay” Frank Worthen.
Megyn Kelly: no ‘socialcon’ representation: Fox News star Kelly brought in two Fox “Contributors” to analyze Theil’s speech: Guy Benson, the well-spoken, rising young Townhall.com political editor who last year announced that he is “gay”; and a liberal Democratic spokesman. Missing was someone defending the traditional conservative viewpoint that: 1) the culture wars are not “fake”; and 2) homosexual activism is immoral and against the principled Platform of the GOP.
When Kelly pressed Benson for his thoughts on the “anti-LGBT’ provisions of the Platform, he said there should be more Platform language affirming LGBT “inclusion,” and complained about the Platform defending “conversion therapy.” (Note: although it is supposedly the guiding document of the GOP, in reality the Platform guides too few Republicans.) “Conversion” therapy is the favored term used by homosexual activists to demonize pro-heterosexual (“reparative”) therapy for young people with unwanted same-sex desires. Five states—including Gov. Chris Christie’s New Jersey—plus the District of Columbia have enacted laws banning such therapy for minors.
Here is the passage in the GOP Platform referenced by Benson: “We support the right of parents to determine the proper medical treatment and therapy for their minor children.”
It is amazing how much propaganda homosexual activists generated about this simple sentence, which is set in the context of defending parental rights. Read it in context in the Platform section headed, “Protecting Individual Conscience in Healthcare”; go here for key social issues excerpts or read it on page 38 of the full GOP Platform here.
Guy Benson: influential “gay” advocate for today’s youth: The growing prominence of Benson as the most famous openly homosexual young conservatives in America is a lesson on the immense strategic, political value of “coming out” for LGBT activists. His declared (and proud) “gayness” has served as a catalyst for Megyn Kelly’s own growing pro-LGBT advocacy on the Fox network [see my 2013 Fox News Gay Bias report for background], beginning with her sympathetic, puff “coming out” interview with Benson announcing his self-declared homosexuality last year. [Watch that interview with Benson below.]
*Coming out” is a key homosexual activist political tactic from the 1970s onward and the engine of their marketing strategy building LGBT visibility and power. It converts the person “outing” himself into a “change agent” of sorts for the normalization of homosexuality. This is true whether he or she becomes a bold “gay” propagandist or just a prominent person who “happens to be gay” and works in pro-homosexual comments here and there in arguing larger points. (The latter is the far more persuasive approach; it is the main method used by Hollywood in programs like “Modern Family” to mainstream sexual perversion: nice, likable characters who “happen to be gay” but whose homosexuality is not the focus of the show.)
Once a conservative (or family member, or anyone) “comes out,” the person’s friends and associates—in this case, Megyn Kelly, are freed to become bolder LGBT advocates themselves. There are a lot of psychological, emotional and manipulative factors at play, enough to write a book about. But essentially this is how homosexualism advances in GOP circles through popular “gay conservatives” like Benson, Tammy Bruce (also a Fox News Contributor), and Gateway Pundit blogger Jim Hoft, who “outed” himself as homosexual following the Orlando terror-massacre.
Most prominent media conservatives have embraced Benson’s “coming out” as somehow noble and grant him a sort of “teaching authority” on homosexual issues—see this recent CPAC discussion on “gay marriage” and religious liberty. The errant supposition is that this is part of “who he is” (as opposed to aberrant–yet changeable–behaviors he is practicing and sinful, confused thoughts he is indulging). Meanwhile, especially in this age of Political Correctness, few conservatives have either the desire or the courage to criticize Benson’s tragic embrace of a misguided “identity” based in sexual sin. With confident Christian and moral counter-advocacy waning, homosexualism wins by default as there is little thought given to the philosophical and theological implications of fusing the proud embrace of sexual perversion with “conservatism.”
Benson also claims to be a “gay Christian”—another identity affirmed by Megyn Kelly in one interview, despite it being an oxymoron with zero basis in the Bible. Perhaps Benson will latch on to the work of another young man selling a same-sex heresy, Matthew Vines, whose terribly misnamed “Reformation Project” seeks to penetrate evangelical churches with pro-LGBT “missionaries” bringing pro-homosexual messages.
I asked Benson in a tweet about the irony of him criticizing a pro-parental rights GOP plank defending the freedom of parents (and minors) to pursue their own identity—since Benson’s new book, “End of Discussion,” criticizes leftist activists, including homosexual militants, who seek to shut down debate. Here’s a portion of our Twitter exchange:
Guy Benson’s public rhetoric as a Fox News contributor is evidence that “gay” advocacy becomes dominant in the advocacy of “gay Republicans,” to the detriment of genuine conservatism. Benson remains civil on the issue but as his confidence as an “out gay conservative” rises, I suspect that the ardor of pro-homosexual advocacy will grow. This is the pattern of other “gay conservatives” like Tammy Bruce—who, though a harsh critic of intolerant leftists, cruelly tried to set up this author in a “mock homophobic sting operation” (my words) when I was a guest on her radio show (not knowing she was a lesbian activist). Bruce ably fights for conservatism on a number of issues, but somehow she was driven to sabotage and demonize this writer because she sees me as “the enemy.” She acted like a leftist on the one issue that matters to her most.
Self-interest and self-rationalizations tend to dominate: I cannot see Guy Benson–an immensely talented and likable fellow–getting vicious like this against Christian conservatives. Quite the contrary. But there is a lesson here on homosexual “conservatives.” Self-interest matters. They may be truly conservative on any number of policy questions (taxes, gun rights, etc.), but when it comes to homosexuality, “gay conservatives” typically become committed ideologues because they have so much invested in that self-rationalization (see Robert Reilly’s “Making Gay Okay” book below).
Let’s all pray for Guy Benson and all our homosexual friends, family members and acquaintances–that they would find Truth and freedom in righteousness through Christ–like the venerable overcomer Frank Worthen, who lived 25 years as a “gay” man before he started living for Jesus [watch this interview].
Truth is more important than politics. But lots of LGBT political energy is now focused on the GOP. Sadly, “homocons” (homosexual conservatives) are actually far more effective at changing minds on this moral and spiritual issue among Republicans than radical LGBT leftists (mostly Democrats)–for whom the average conservative has little respect.
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Outstanding Resources:Order Robert Reilly’s excellent book, Making Gay Okay: How Rationalizing Homosexual Behavior Is Changing Everything, for $25 postpaid—and support Americans For Truth in the process! Give online HERE (note book in memo) or send $25/book (request “Making Gay Okay”) to AFTAH, PO Box 5522, Naperville, IL 60567-5522.]
Also: A Gem for Just $5: Get your copy of the late Dr. Charles Socarides’ book: Homosexuality: A Freedom Too Far: A Psychoanalyst Answers 1,000 Questions Abut Causes and Cure and the Impact of the Gay Rights Movement on American Society — for any gift to AFTAH of just $5 or more postpaid. Give online here.
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Megyn Kelly and Fox Contributor Guy Benson cheerlead for Peter Thiel during Fox News’ coverage of the Republican convention:
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Megyn Kelly’s celebratory 2015 puff interview with Townhall.com political editor Guy Benson after Benson declares his homosexuality:
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PayPal founder Peter Thiel’s speech t 2016 Republican National Convention: