Greg Gutfeld’s “Gregalogue” from the April 16th episode of FOX’s Red Eye, expressing his view on CNN’s Anderson Cooper and MSNBC’s David Shuster mocking the conservative, tax-day Tea Parties with their oral-sex “tea-bagging” theme. You won’t believe Shuster’s twisted on-air penis-humor–breathtakingly twisted even by the liberal Left’s standard and aptly assessed by Gutfeld. — Peter LaBarbera

CNN’s Anderson Cooper yesterday had a sex act called “tea-bagging” on his mind — rather than the Boston Tea Party that ignited America’s drive for independence — as he snidely poked fun at conservative Americans attending symbolic “tea party” rallies for responsible government. Cooper, who uses his CNN perch to promote the homosexual agenda, ranks high year after year on OUT Magazine’s “Power 50″ of the “most powerful gay men and women in America” — even as he remains mum on his alleged homosexuality. Watch the YouTube video with Cooper’s sick joke below. Write CNN HERE and Anderson Cooper HERE.

By Peter LaBarbera

Folks, Anderson Cooper embarrassed himself and his profession Wednesday with his vulgar “tea bagging” joke in an interview with David Gergen on CNN. Gergen was making the point that Republicans “still haven’t found their voice” as an opposition party, to which Cooper replied: “It’s hard to talk when you’re tea-bagging” — a reference to an oral sex act. (See the Urban Dictionary definition of “tea-bagging” with it’s “gay” example; and see the excellent MRC Newsbusters coverage of Cooper’s perverted quip HERE.) There’s more commentary following the YouTube:

Cooper — ranked Number 3 on this year’s OUT Magazine list of most powerful homosexuals — is a pro-homosexuality activist who pretends to be an objective reporter, but sometimes the contempt he holds for conservatives gets the best of him, as it did yesterday. Let’s be honest: this is only the crudest example of Cooper’s bias against the Right — remember the sophomoric stunt he pulled at a CNN-sponsored GOP presidential debate by enlisting a homosexual retired general (conveniently placed in the audience) to ask pointed questions critical of “Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell”? But it’s not just Cooper: I’d bet you could find college J-school students who could have produced more professional coverage of the nationwide conservative “tea parties” than what CNN did yesterday. (One CNN “reporter” chose to fixate on the lack of African-Americans at a Tea Party rally.)

And we would be remiss if we failed to note that as bad as CNN is, it could never approach the liberal bias and sheer anti-conservative animus of MSNBC, whose openly lesbian talker, Rachel Maddow, and others have been using the crude “tea-bagger” references all week to slam the decent Americans attending conservative “tea party” events. See the Newsbusters piece on MSBNC’s snotty “tea-bagging” coverage HERE.

Cooper travels to hot spots all over the world for CNN, but he can’t seem to muster up the guts to discuss his potential conflict of interest on the matter of homosexuality. At least Maddow is open with her lesbianism, even as she shills — with the subtlety of a sledgehammer — for “gay” rights causes such as homosexuals in the military. (And as fingernails-on-a-chalkboard irritating as the smarty-pants Maddow is with her nonstop conservative-bashing, she still can’t match the Obnoxiousness Factor of her MSNBC colleague Keith Olbermann — although the occasional Maddow-Olbermann interview should be banned by the Geneva Convention against Torture.)

But back to Cooper. He may remain silent on whether he is a homosexual — memo to Anderson: most men can answer that question pretty easily — but his ugly bias and bitterness toward conservatives is out of the closet. If he has any class, he’ll apologize to CNN’s world audience — and especially all those good people who attended the “tea party” rallies — for his perverted on-air remark denigrating their cause.

TAKE ACTION:  Write CNN News at www.cnn.com/feedback/forms/form5.html?92 and/or Anderson Cooper at http://www.cnn.com/feedback/forms/form5.html?10 to comment on their egregious lack of professionalism in denigrating conservative “tea parties” with his vulgar “tea-bagging” joke.

TAKE ACTION:  Watch the incredible CNN video below and click HERE to give feedback to CNN Headline News. See our comments on CNN’s bias beneath the YouTube video. 

It is simply mind-boggling that CNN chose not to include another viewpoint on this story about the Colorado elementary school encouraging gender-confusion in an eight-year-old (biological) male student who thinks he’s really a girl. (Click HERE for the One News Now story citing AFTAH on this.) You will note that CNN interviews only the parent of another gender-confused child — a girl whom the mother refers to as “he” on the CNN video.

Interestingly, the mother (CNN caption: “parent of transgender child”), Kim Pearson, describes how her daughter “pretty much lived like a boy growing up … He [editor: she] was just … all around very masculine, and I didn’t discourage that. I just let him [editor: her] — I just went with it. And so he [she] didn’t have a lot of discomfort around it because he [she] was freely expressing himself. It wasn’t until his [her] body started changing that he [she] started having a lot of difficulty.”

Could it be that permissive parenting plays a major role in encouraging a gender-confused identity in a child? Pearson says she felt “relief” on hearing that her daughter claimed to have a male identity. Relief? A wiser parent might have sought professional help from someone not beholden to “transgender” activist ideology — to guide the troubled girl into accepting the wonderful body and sex that God gave her. 

In the case of the eight-year-old boy, to what future are the politically correct adults — parents and school authorities included — consigning him with their “caring” embrace of deviance? Could a body-mutilating ”sex change” operation be down the road — funded by the taxpayers if the “GLBT” Lobby gets its way? In a saner era, it would be clear to all that the child — not society — has the problem. But what do we know? We’re just “trans-phobes.”

Also note that the Colorado school principal frames this as an issue of “diversity” — showing the elasticity of that term to include extremely disordered behavioral choices among even the youngest students. This story and the way it is being reported is a microcosm of America’s deep moral crisis.

Perhaps one day when historians write about the decline of the once-great American civilization, they will include this story about school authorities encouraging gender confusion in the life of a second-grade Colorado boy — and thereby helping to mainstream it to all his classmates. (Click HERE for WorldNetDaily’s story on the subject.) Here is the incredible story as reported by American Family Association’s One News Now (go HERE to listen and click “Hear Report”):

Colorado school encourages gender confusion in second-grader

Pro-family activist Peter LaBarbera says the case of a second-grade boy in one Colorado school who wants to be identified as a girl shows that the country has normalized deviance.

Staff at a public school in Highlands Ranch are preparing to accommodate the second-grader, who wants to attend classes dressed as a girl and be addressed with a girl’s name. The school will allow the boy to use a unisex bathroom, and they are giving parents packets of information on transgendered people.
 
Peter LaBarbera, president of Americans for Truth, says the real victims of the supposed “diversity policy” are the young man’s classmates. “If the parents are so misled to encourage their child in this gender-confused behavior, they should not be allowed to teach that same behavior to all the other students in the school,” argues LaBarbera. “I think it’s a terribly sad situation. This boy needs help, the parents need help, obviously.”
 
The pro-family advocate says it is also troubling that the pro-homosexual group “Trans-Youth Family Advocates” has been working with the school district. He says such groups are “in the business of mainstreaming gender confusion” — but somehow manage to work their way into the schools under the guise of being “consultants.”

By Peter LaBarbera 

Click HERE to listen to the first hour, and HERE to listen online to the second hour of my guest-hosting appearance Dec. 17 on WYLL (a Christian station outside Chicago, Ill.) for the Sandy Rios Show. Sandy is a dear friend, president of Culture Campaign, a commentator on FOX News, and — I almost forgot — a Great American.

The show features (in the first hour) some great exchanges with my friends, African Americans Rev. Al Cleveland of Rehoboth Empowerment Christian Church and Charlene Cothran, discussing DiversityInc publisher Luke Visconti’s nutty comparison of me to a 19th Century slavery advocate.

The second hour features: an interview with Dan Zanoza of Republicans For Fair Media on CNN’s “political ambush” using a supposed “gay general” at its YouTube Republican Presidential Debate to promote homosexuality in the military; a short but sweet exchange with AFTAH Board Member Mike Heath of the Christian Civic League of Maine on getting men back involved in the “culture war”: and a short interview with Dave Smith of the Illinois Family Institute on his campaign to get the NFL to stop allowing bawdy ads during football games.

You can also listen at the end for AFTAH’s first annual ”Gay Grinch” award for 2007. Hint: it involves the Boy Scouts of America.

There’s one big problem with the broadcast: I don’t think I said “um” enough…. Oh well, practice makes perfect. Thanks to Sandy for the opportunity. — Peter LaBarbera

CNN flew in Retired Brig. Gen. Keith Kerr — a homosexual activist and Log Cabin Republicans member who now crusades for allowing admitted homosexuals in the U.S. military — to its GOP presidential debate Wednesday, so he could CRITIQUE the candidates’ responses to his question about “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” At left is how Kerr — who calls the GOP candidates “partisanly homophobic” — appeared on video during the CNN/YouTube Republican debate. CNN also had another Log Cabin activist ask a pro-homosexual question at the debate. Photo: CNN/YouTube.

CNN’s pro-homosexual presidential debate was moderated by Anderson Cooper. A major homosexual magazine, OUT, has “outed” Cooper as one of the nation’s most influential homosexuals. Though Cooper is mum on his “sexual orientation,” his pro-”gay” bias is abundantly clear at CNN, as it was again at Wednesday’s debate. Homosexual activists would come harder after Cooper if his reportage was not so “gay”-friendly. See AFTAH’s adjoining story, “Does CNN’s Anderson Cooper Have a Conflict of Interest on ‘Gay’ Issues?”

TAKE ACTION: Write CNN News at www.cnn.com/feedback/forms/form5.html?92 and/or Anderson Cooper at http://www.cnn.com/feedback/forms/form5.html?10 to comment on their egregious pro-homosexual and anti-Republican bias and lack of professionalism in the CNN/Youtube presidential debate Wednesday.

____________________________

By Peter LaBarbera, www.americansfortruth.org

Dear Americans For Truth Reader,

The liberals over at CNN are so committed to open homosexuality in the U.S. armed forces that they flew in a retired homosexual Brig. Gen. Keith Kerr to participate in their Republican presidential debate Wednesday — so he could critique the GOP candidates’ responses to HIS OWN loaded YouTube question opposing “Don’t’ Ask, Don’t Tell.”

Is it just me, but could you in your wildest imagination picture CNN recruiting Stephen Bennett, a pro-family, EX-”gay” Christian, to ask Democrat presidential candidates a question opposing homosexuality, and then flying him in to critique their responses?

If Kerr’s sneak attack wasn’t bad enough, CNN followed it up a second YouTube question from a homosexual activist — this time it was David Cercone, a Florida Log Cabin Republicans member who, it turns out, is backing [another democratic presidential contender].

Needless to say, no conservative questions on the homosexual issue were heard from the floor or YouTube at the debate.

Much of the critical attention on CNN’s stunt has focused on the Democrat affiliations of the questioners, but since AFTAH, as a tax-exempt nonprofit, has to stay out of the presidential race, we will cover CNN’s blatant bias on homosexuality.

I will say this: thank God for FOX News, Rush Limbaugh and other conservative alternative media, which were all over the CNN/YouTube debacle yesterday. Twenty years ago, CNN’s shenanigans could never have been exposed so quickly to so many millions of Americans. The liberal press monopoly is dead: freedom and genuine media competition is a good thing!

In the end, CNN’s debate scam backfired, and ended up charging up Republicans — hardly their goal, I’m sure. The network committed fraud by not revealing its liberal questioners’ Democrat ties and making it look as if some questioners were undecided on the race when in fact they were liberal partisans.

What follows are the homosexualty excerpts from the Kerr and Cercone portion of the debate, which was hosted by CNN anchor Anderson Cooper — who himself was “outed” as one of America’s most influential homosexuals by OUT, one of the country’s two biggest homosexual magazines, earlier this year. (Cooper is mum on his “sexual orientation,” but his pro-homosexuality bias at CNN has been made abundantly clear, as it was again Wednesday.) See our adjoining story on Cooper, “Does CNN’s Anderson Cooper Have a Conflict of Interest on ‘Gay’ Issues?”

These excerpts come from the Federal News Service through the New York Times (pages 36-38 of the 44-page Times debate transcript):

MR. COOPER: Let’s get back to the debate. Another question from a YouTube viewer. Let’s watch.
Q: My name is Keith Kerr, from Santa Rosa, California. I’m retired brigadier general with 43 years of service, and I’m a graduate of the Special Forces Officer Course, the Command and General Staff Course, and the Army War College. And I’m an openly gay man. want to know why you think that American men and women in uniform are not professional enough to serve with gays and lesbians.
MR. COOPER: I want to point out that Brigadier General Keith Kerr is here with us tonight. Glad you’re here. (Applause.)
I’ll give the question to [a California Congressman and presidential candidate].
[California Congressman]: Yeah. General, General, thanks for your service, but I believe in what Colin Powell said when he said that having openly homosexual people serving in the ranks would be bad for unit cohesion. And the reason for that — even though people point to the Israelis and point to the Brits and point to other people as having homosexuals serve, is that most Americans, most kids who leave that — that breakfast table and go and serve in the military and make that corporate decision with their family — most of them are conservatives. And they have conservative values, and they have Judeo-Christian values. And to force those people to work in a small, tight unit with somebody who is [homosexual] — openly homosexual goes against what they believe to be their principles — and it is their principles — is, I think, a disservice to them. And I — I agree with Colin Powell that it would be bad for unit cohesion. (Applause.)
MR. COOPER: I want to direct that to [the former Governor of Arkansas]. Thirty seconds.
[Former Governor of Arkansas]: The Uniform Code of Military Justice is probably the best rule, and it has to do with conduct. People have a right to have whatever feelings, whatever attitudes they wish.
But when their conduct could put at risk the morale or put at risk even the cohesion that [the California Congressman] spoke of, I think that’s what is at issue, and that’s why our policy is what it is.
MR. COOPER: [to the former Governor of Massachusetts], you said in 1994 that you looked forward to the day when gays and lesbians could serve, and I quote, “openly and honestly” in our nation’s military. Do you stand by that?
[Former Governor of Massachusetts]: This isn’t that time. This is not that time. We’re in a middle of a war. The people who have watched –
MR. COOPER: Do you look forward to that time, though, one day?
[Former Governor of Massachusetts]: I’m going to listen to the people who run the military to see what the circumstances are like. And my view is that at this stage this is not the time for us to make that kind of a change.
MR. COOPER: Is there a change in your position from 1994?
[Former Governor of Massachusetts]: Yeah, I didn’t think it would work. I didn’t think “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” would work. That was my — I didn’t think that would work. I thought that was a policy — when I heard about it, I laughed. I said that doesn’t make any sense to me. And you know what? It’s been there now for what, 15 years? Seems to have worked.
MR. COOPER: So just on clear — at this point, do you still look forward to a day when gays can serve openly in the military, or no longer?
[Former Governor of Massachusetts]: I look forward to hearing from the military exactly what they believe is the right way to have the right kind of cohesion and support in our — in our troops, and I’ll listen to what they have to say. (Boos.)
MR. COOPER: All right. General Kerr is, as I said, is here. Please stand up, General. Thank you very much for being with us. Do you feel you got an answer to your question?
GEN. KERR: With all due respect, I did not get an answer from the candidates. (Applause.)
MR. COOPER: What do you — what do you feel you got?
GEN. KERR: American — American men and women in the military are professional enough to serve with gays and lesbians. For 42 years, I wore the Army uniform on active duty, in the Reserve, and also for the state of California. I revealed I was a gay man after I retired. Today, “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” is destructive to our military policy. Every — every day, the Department of Defense discharges two people not for misconduct, not for the unit cohesion — (mike cuts off).
MR. COOPER: The mike is — you’ve lost the — is the microphone not working? All right. Please, just finish your — finish your — what is your –
GEN. KERR: Not for the unit cohesion that [the Congressman from California] is talking about, but simply because they happen to be gay.
MR. COOPER: Okay. [the Senator from Arizona] –
GEN. KERR: And we’re talking about doctors, nurses, pilots, and the surgeon who sews — (boos) — sews somebody up when they’re taken from the battlefield.
MR. COOPER: I appreciate your comment.
[The Senator from Arizona], I want to give you 30 seconds. You served in the military. (Applause.)
[Senator from Arizona]: General, I thank you for your service to our nation. I respect it. All the time I talk to our military leaders, beginning with our Joint Chiefs of Staff and leaders in the field such as General Petraeus and General Odierno and others who are designated leaders with the responsibility of the safety of the men and women under their command and their security and protect them as best they can. Almost unanimously, they tell me that this present policy is working, that we have the best military in history, we have the bravest, most professional –
MR. COOPER: Time.
[Senator from Arizona]: : — best-prepared, and that this policy ought to be continued because it’s working.
MR. COOPER: All right. We’ve got another question. Let’s listen. (Applause.)
DAVID CERCONE (POMPANO BEACH, FLORIDA): Hi. My name is David Cercone. I would like to ask all the candidates if they accept the support of the Log Cabin Republicans. And why should the Log Cabin Republicans support their candidacy? Thank you.
MR. COOPER: [to the former Governor of Arkansas], would you support — would you get — would you allow support from the Log Cabin Republicans, a group of gay Republicans?
[Former Governor of Arkansas]: You know, in my position in this entire election, I need the support of anybody and everybody I can get. (Laughter, applause.) So I’m happy –
MR. COOPER: Should they support you?
[Former Governor of Arkansas]: : Sure they should. I disagree with them — strongly disagree with them — on the idea of same-sex marriage. But in a democracy, we can have disagreements over some policies and still agree on the greater things that make us Republicans.
So would I accept their support? Of course. Would I change my position on same-sex marriage? No, I wouldn’t. But if they’re willing to support me — (applause) — I’ll be their president. I’ll be anybody’s president, but I’ll be true to my convictions. And I think that’s what Americans look for — not someone they’re going to agree with on everything, but somebody who at least has some convictions — (applause) — sticks with them, can explain them, and can at least have respect for people who have different ones. (Applause.)

CNN just doesn’t get it
To add insult to injury, yesterday CNN responded to the debate scandal criticism with a very friendly interview between its correspondent, John Roberts, and Kerr. Roberts used the interview to ask Kerr softball questions that were blatantly sympathetic to his viewpoint of changing military policy to allow open homosexuals.

Apparently CNN’s braintrust didn’t think Americans got enough pro-homosexuals-in-the-military advocacy the previous night. Roberts said CNN might not have used the Kerr question had it known of his affiliation with a Democratic candidate’s campaign.

You can view Roberts’ biased interview by going to this link and then choosing the video link “Debate Question Controversy”: http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/11/28/debate.main/index.html#cnnSTCVideo

Folks, get ready for 2008 and another year of the liberal media putting its politically correct agendas above fairness and objective coverage of the various candidates. Click here to read the FOX News story on this blatant breach of media ethics (if there is such a thing): http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,313681,00.html.

_________________________

Here are some highlights from the Fox News story on Kerr:

CNN Allows [Homosexual General] to Question GOP Candidates in YouTube Debate

A CNN host acknowledged the participation of a retired Army colonel linked to [a major Democratic presidential candidate] in a televised Republican debate Wednesday.

Keith Kerr of Santa Rosa, Calif., who revealed himself as gay, challenged the eight candidates via video message and on stage at the CNN/YouTube debate in Florida on the right of gays and lesbians to serve openly in the U.S. military.

The broadcast, however, failed to mention that Kerr, who served as a brigadier general in the reserves, is a member of a gay and lesbian steering committee for [a top Democratic presidential candidate] …

Kerr submitted the question for Republican candidates at the video debate “a couple months ago,” and said last Saturday CNN called him and said they’d like him to come to the debate. He said the cable news network paid for his flight, his hotel and his transportation to and from the event. ……

He added that he had been a Log Cabin Republican for a long time and recently changed from Republican to independent in California. He said he had supported the GOP but “these guys are just partisanly homophobic.”

Following the debate, CNN anchor Anderson Cooper said in a broadcast statement that Kerr’s political ties to [a top Democratic presidential candidate] were unknown to the network. …

During the debate, Kerr said he wanted to know why the GOP candidates think that “American men and women in uniform are not professional enough to serve with gays and lesbians.” …

 CNN’s Anderson Cooper, who moderated CNN’s scandal-ridden, pro-homosexual presidential debate Wednesday, was listed by the homosexual magazine OUT as one of the nation’s most influential homosexuals. Though Cooper is mum on his “sexual orientation,” his pro-”gay” bias is abundantly clear at CNN, as it was again at Wednesday’s debate. Would homosexual “outers” go after Cooper if he were less pro-homosexual in his reporting?

By Peter LaBarbera 

Does Anderson Cooper, who moderated CNN’s woefully biased Republican presidential debate Wednesday — with its planted questions from pro-Democrat partisans, including two homosexual activists – have a conflict of interest when it comes to covering homosexual issues?

Cooper has been the target of periodic “gay” outing speculation but he remains mum on his “sexual orientation.” At CNN, Cooper’s pro-”gay’ sympathies are not hard to discern, as exemplified by his recent grilling of a pro-family spokesman on the question of same-sex parenting.

Homosexual “outing” activists like Mike Rogers target for public exposure alleged ”closeted” homosexuals who publicly criticize or act against the homosexual political agenda – while leaving alone those who do not. This puts added pressure on the likes of Cooper to engage in pro-homosexual advocacy. (Ditto for alleged secret homosexual politicians like Rep. David Dreier (R-CA), who recently broke ranks with the GOP House majority by voting FOR the pro-homosexual ENDA bill.)

Rogers told me once that he doesn’t ”out” legislators who toe the “gay” line politically. His strategy is illustrated by his note below on his own blog begging for alleged homosexual “outing” targets on Capitol Hill (most of Rogers’ victims have been Republicans):

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE send me — at tips@blogactive.com — the names of:

 

1. Democrat politicians who are GAY and IN FAVOR OF THE FEDERAL MARRIAGE AMENDMENT or MARRIAGE PROTECTION ACT.

 

2. Staffers of Democrats who are GAY and work for Democrats who FAVOR THE FEDERAL MARRIAGE AMENDMENT or MARRIAGE PROTECTION ACT.

Cooper is not a politician, but the same forces may be at work in his situation. “Outing” remains controversial among homosexuals, but note the word choice of this homosexual letter-writer who is complaining (anonymously) about an article by Michael Musto in the homosexual magazine OUT that labeled Cooper as “gay”: “There was nothing in the article that indicated Mr. Cooper is doing anything against our community that would require an outing.”

Require an outing? Translation: if Cooper were to do a hard-hitting piece against homosexual “marriage” or ”gay parenting” – or perhaps if he were to start treating pro-family guests on his CNN “360″ program with the same respect he accords pro-homosexual guests — then the ”gay” outing machine could swing into action against him, without the polite playfulness characterizing questions about his “orientation” today.

If he wanted to, Cooper could easily put the homosexual speculations to rest (what straight guy doesn’t forcefully deny rumors or allegations that he’s gay?), but he may have a built-in incentive to continue with his on-air pro-homosexual advocacy (masquerading as disinterested journalism) – to keep the peace with “gay” activists.

Meanwhile, the rest of America gets biased, pro-homosexual coverage, without being informed that a particular journalist may have a private ax to grind. This happens not infrequently when homosexual journalists cover “gay” issues. (Of course, some openly or hidden homosexual reporters are fair and cover both sides of the issue, as do some in the “gay” press; also, homosexuality is hardly the only private bias at work in journalism: years ago, New York Times Supreme Court reporter Linda Greenhouse caused a mini-scandal by marching in a huge “pro-choice” march in Washington, D.C.)

For the record, here is what Musto writes regarding getting a reaction from CNN or Cooper for his OUT Magazine story about his sexuality:

I asked CNN for a comment from Anderson and/or themselves. They apparently didn’t even forward it to him, they just responded by sending me a blanket No comment. Besides, in the past, Anderson’s turned down the chance to be labeled “gay.” And when New York Daily News columnist Ben Widdicombe asked him if he had any comment about the Out piece, he said “No.”

If Anderson Cooper is a homosexual, he ought to admit it, for the sake of full disclosure (ditto for secretly homosexual politicians, especially those who call themselves pro-family conservatives). But even if he isn’t — or is but doesn’t want to disclose it — he should return to journalistic impartiality on homosexuality-related stories, or recuse himself from covering them rather than go to bat for the “gay” cause — like he and CNN did in a most unprofessional way at the GOP debate Wednesday night. 

The following is Allyson Smith’s first installment on the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association (NLGJA) conference in San Diego — which she attended representing Americans For Truth. Note the casual mixing of homosexual media with “mainstream” media – all sharing and strategizing around a pro-gay perspective — and the complete lack of opposing voices present at the NLGJA panels. (Allyson tells me that at one panel on “Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell,” the moderator said that opponents of homosexuals in the military were invited to speak but declined to attend.)

All this begs the question of whether homosexual reporters working in establishment media can truly be objective — i.e., fair and balanced –  especially when they are assigned to cover homosexual-related issues. Also, note that for ease of reading, we have not put quote marks around the word “gay” as we would normally do. – Peter LaBarbera

By Allyson Smith

Gay Activists & Journalists Mingle and Strategize Together at National Gay Journalists Conference: Day 1 at the NLGJA

On Thursday, August 30, I attended the first of three days of the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association convention, held at the Westin Horton Plaza Hotel in downtown San Diego. Although I have been to many homosexual conferences and events since the dawn of the millennium, at times using my real name and at other times an assumed name, this would be my first time to attend such a convention as a totally “out” Christian conservative reporter under the auspices of an organization many homosexual activists hate: Americans for Truth About Homosexuality (AFTAH), headed by longtime pro-family activist Peter LaBarbera.

“What will all these homosexuals do,” I wondered, “once they find out someone from Americans For Truth is here? Will they kick me out? Will they try to embarrass me? Will they call me names? Will they just ignore me?”

Having “prayed up” before arriving at the NLGJA convention, I felt that deep peace which passes all understanding as I opened the Westin’s door. After checking in at the registration desk – so far, so good – I headed to the first session, titled The Right Approach: Covering LGBT Conservatives.

Wayne Besen ’Outs’ Me
Entering the conference room, I encountered session moderator Wayne Besen. Besen is the executive director of Truth Wins Out, described on its website as “a non-profit think tank and educational organization that counters right-wing disinformation campaigns, debunks the ex-gay myth, and provides accurate information about the lives of GLBT people.” Besen is also author of the books Anything But Straight: Debunking the Scandals and Lies behind the Ex-Gay Myth and, most recently, Bashing Back: Wayne Besen on GLBT People, Politics and Culture.

[Editor's Note: for more on Wayne Besen, see AFTAH's posts: Wayne Besen Has Been Taking his Hate Pill again; ‘Gay’ Militant Seeks to ‘Shut Down’ Americans For Truth and Files False Complaint to Illinois AG; CWA Interviews LaBarbera Regarding Deceptive Wayne Besen Complaint.]

It wasn’t the first time I’d encountered Besen that day. Earlier in the morning, while I was still at home getting ready to go to the convention, his name had appeared in my inbox as the result of his copying me on an e-mail discussion he was having with pro-family advocate Guy Adams of ValuesUSA, over the cause of Idaho Senator Larry Craig’s recent bathroom bust. According to Besen, such episodes occur because “fundamentalists” “drive people deep into the closet (or ex-gay ministries, a fancy closet).” Adams and other conservatives, on the other hand, had attempted to point out that homosexual behavior is actually the cause.

Thus, this e-mail conversation was fresh on my mind as I met Besen in the conference room doorway. He glanced at my name badge, noting that I was with AFTAH. I shook his hand, introduced myself, and told him that Peter LaBarbera had sent me. Using the epithet he coined and by which a few of the more nasty homosexuals activists refer to Mr. LaBarbera, Besen in turn told me to say hello to “Porno Pete.” (Ironically, the conference would later feature a session about how to cover stories involving name-calling against homosexuals.)

“Now, just wait,” I thought, “he’ll announce me to the whole room.”

Besen opened the session by introducing the other three “LGBT conservative” panelists:  Dan Blatt, a Los Angeles-based writer who blogs on the GayPatriot.net website and founded the Log Cabin Republican Club of Northern Virginia; Scott Olin Schmidt of West Hollywood, an elected member of the 42nd District Republican Central Committee who also serves on the executive committee of the Los Angeles County Republican Party; and James Vaughn, director of Log Cabin Republicans of California, who said it’s his job to tell Republicans why they’re wrong.

That Larry Craig was on many conference-goers’ minds was evident when Besen fired off his first question to the panelists, asking them for their take on the scandal.

Blatt responded that there had been “terrible saturation” coverage by the media and that Craig had exercised “terrible judgment.” Schmidt said, “This isn’t a gay issue; this is an issue of people who pursue anonymous sex.” Vaughn asserted that Craig’s behavior “shows how dangerous the closet is.” Most of the scandals, he said, came from people living in the closet, not those who live as open homosexuals.

About 20 minutes into the discussion, Besen announced, “We have a friend of ours here, Allyson, from Americans For Truth Against [sic] Homosexuality.”

Waving my hand, I said light-heartedly, “I’m from the right wing. I’m the opposition researcher.” Many people in the room laughed. “I’m friendly; I don’t bite,” I assured them, and the discussion continued.

GOP Drifting ‘Gay’-ward?
Besen asked what it’s like for a gay Republican to walk into a party convention. “Is it better or worse than when you walk into a gay bar?” Here he was joking about his expose a few years back exposing that John Paulk – then an ex-gay spokesman with Focus on the Family – had visited a homosexual bar while on a business trip to D.C.)

The gay Republican, Vaughn, drew laughter as he answered, “Absolutely. It is much easier . . . to walk into a Republican convention and say you’re gay than it is to walk into a gay bar and say you’re a Republican.” Vaughn said he’d been having a lot of meetings recently with elected officials — and that most of them or their staffers said, “We’re with you,” and that homosexuality is not an issue for them.

Vaughn said that conservative groups like Lou Sheldon’s Traditional Values Coalition can’t hold a meeting that would fill a small conference room these days, when in the past they used to fill convention centers, “because they’re just not relevant anymore. They’re fading; they’re going away. People are getting over the gay issue.”

“What we lack in the Republican Party is not support. What we lack is leadership,” he said, confirming that elected officials have told him privately they support same-sex “marriage” but don’t dare say so publicly for fear of their constituents’ reactions.

Blatt, the Los Angeles writer, confirmed a similar experience, saying he finds it easier to be gay in Republican circles than to be Republican in gay circles. Libertarian in many of his views, Blatt said he does not support hate crimes legislation or the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), because he favors less government.

Schmidt asserted that there is a big divide between activist Republicans and the rank-and-file. “Most Republicans are moving toward the center.”

Blatt said, “The party knows it can’t win by being anti-gay.” Vaughn added that if enough GOP leaders “come out” in favor of homosexual issues, it will help to change the party’s rhetoric.

As I was leaving this session, a young woman approached and asked if she could interview me. She turned out to be a Georgia State University student who was attending the conference, along with several other college students from throughout the United States, to report on the NLGJA conference proceedings. According to the NLGJA conference booklet, this is the 10th year that student journalists have come to the convention. We made arrangements to conduct the interview later in the day.

‘Gay Games’/Clear Channel Media Marketing
The next session I attended was Mainstream Media and the LGBT Press: Co-opting or Cooperation? Moderated by Court Passant, executive producer of CBS News on Logo, the panel included Cynthia Laird of the homosexual newspaper Bay Area Reporter, San Diego Union-Tribune writer Pat Sherman, Jared Cohen of Clear Channel Communications, and Kevin Boyer, director of public relations and marketing for All Terrain in Chicago.

Cohen described his experience being interviewed by Clear Channel. Cohen told the interviewer that, if hired, “I would develop a gay and lesbian wing for Clear Channel,” adding that he explained a model and a method for a national development that could be tailored to local markets. “Two years later, we’re in 19 markets . . .”

Boyer discussed some of the strategies and methods he used to publicize the 2006 “Gay Games,” held in Chicago. He said that he had to do a mainstream public relations effort because he wanted the mainstream media to report on the Gay Games the way the LGBT press would, through sports stories, business stories, and the like. [The event was covered that way by the local, Chicago-area media – especially the Chicago Sun-Times, which also sponsored the “Gay Games” -- as if an event for homosexual athletes was something of daily interest to the media-consuming public. – Editor]

Boyer said he employed one strategy for the mainstream press and another for the homosexual press. Key themes were “inclusion,” “everybody enjoys sports,” “personal best,” and “straight people are always welcome at the Gay Games.” With the mainstream media, he helped educate reporters on homosexual issues; did athlete profiles, making sure to include men, women, elders, youth, and heterosexuals; and promulgated the message “This is a human interest story, not just a gay story.”

Cynthia Laird talked about some of the areas of cooperation and dissension between the mainstream media and the homosexual press. For example, she said there was a lot of support in the mainstream media for “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” after General Peter Pace commented that homosexuality is immoral. On the other hand, she said, mainstream papers fail to give credit to GLBT papers. 

Citing Bill Gates’ recent $26.2 million investment in PlanetOut, Pat Sherman said the gay press is not in danger of being usurped by the mainstream media. “People will always want to go to the gay press” because it can provide history that the mainstream press cannot.

Sherman later added that there is room for both types of media, but the gay press may have to adapt and move toward niche publications, since it lacks the money or resources of the mainstream media.

During the question and answer period, discussion ensued regarding whether homosexual newspapers should report the names of men arrested for public sex. David Webb, a staff reporter for the Dallas Voice, noted that the Dallas police department has begun publicizing names and wondered how such stories should be reported if they involve prominent gays. One respondent said both the good and the bad must be reported.

After this session, I gave an interview to the college student.

Hillary Goes to ‘The Advocate’
Sponsored by the Gill Action Fund and Gill Foundation, organizations founded by Denver software entrepreneur Tim Gill to advocate and finance homosexual causes, the luncheon plenary was themed 40 Years of The Advocate: A Conversation with Anne Stockwell. The Advocate is a national homosexual magazine and website.

However, editor-in-chief Stockwell was unable to participate, so the magazine sent publisher Michael Phelps and deputy editor Rachel Dowd in her place. During the plenary, which was moderated by homosexual blogger and news reporter Rex Wockner, Phelps and Dowd discussed how The Advocate, whose parent corporation is PlanetOut, has evolved and stays relevant, as well as upcoming style and editorial changes planned for the magazine.

Dowd said “The Advocate used to be the only place to hear gay news, and now that’s just not the case . . . We’re not only covering same-sex issues, but we’re also covering things the New York Times is covering.”

When Wockner asked what the magazine will do to make gay people want to pick it up, Phelps answered, “We do a lot of exclusive interviews that you can’t find anywhere else.” An upcoming issue, he said, would feature an exclusive interview with [a major Democratic presidential candidate]. “She decided to do an interview with gay media, and of course sees The Advocate as the one and only place so far. And for a presidential candidate to come and seek you, a gay publication, this far in advance, really is groundbreaking.”

Larry Craig, Covering ‘Public Sex,’ and ‘Emotional Entrapment’
Wockner brought up the Larry Craig scandal and noted that there are some questions he hasn’t seen answered yet: “Why is it illegal to tap your foot in a bathroom? How is that breaking the law? To what extent was he [Larry Craig] entrapped into this?”

“How are you going to cover this story?” Wockner asked the panelists.

The Advocate’s Dowd said she had been involved in an editorial meeting about that topic just the previous day. “When did the bathroom become a beat? It’s kind of an odd question. So that was one angle we were actually looking at.” Another angle, said Dowd, is “perspective.” “We reached out to [former New Jersey governor] Jim McGreevey to write a piece for us on what happened to Larry . . . and it’s from his perspective. We look at it as a Republican phenomenon, what’s going on of living a double life, but that Jim understands perhaps emotional entrapment as being in Congress, and how political personas and political life creates a natural closet.”

Not all was sweetness and light, however, in the open question and answer period that followed. One audience member said, “I don’t feel The Advocate has much relevance to me and my life as I get older” because he isn’t familiar with a lot of the pop culture personalities it features. Another complained that the magazine used to address police entrapment issues, but not anymore, and wondered how many readers had canceled subscriptions as a result.

Gays in Charge of Gay Images
The final session I attended was Gay Panic: LGBT Media Merger Mania, where participants discussed mergers within the homosexual media and whether “gay” media will ever merge with “straight” media.

Moderated by Libby Post, a nationally syndicated commentator on homosexual issues for Q Syndicate and WAMC/Northeast Public Radio, the panel included Stephen Macias, a senior vice president at here! Networks; Sue O’Connell, publisher of Bay Windows, New England’s largest homosexual newspaper; Fred Kuhr, editor of Press Pass Q; editor Kevin Naff of the Washington Blade, “the nation’s oldest and largest LGBT newspaper;” and Joanne Jacobson, vice president of business development and operations at Logo, MTV Network’s homosexual cable channel, whose parent company is Viacom.

Post asked Macias how media mergers impact the way the gay community sees itself. He answered that one benefit is “you have gays and lesbians in charge of gay and lesbian images, whether it’s a media company that is as enormous as Viacom or an independent company like our company predominantly being run by gays and lesbians.”

O’Connell talked how homosexual community newspapers lose local flavor when they are owned by large conglomerates, harkening back to the early days of the homosexual press: “We were all picking up the mimeographed bar rags, and we were not looking at them to see where our rights were coming from. We were looking at them to see where drag night was going to be held.”

Kuhr lamented the fact that there are often identical stories on homosexual websites such as Gay.com and Advocate.com because they are owned by the same parent company.

In response to a questioner who said he still picks up the Washington Blade every Friday but no longer reads it because it lacks “local voices,” editor Naff responded in part, “I always tell people, ‘Write something.’” O’Connell agreed, citing the difficulty getting and keeping good writers due to the fact that they can now write for the mainstream press or blogs, as well as the poor pay.

As she said this, I nodded my head, remembering some of my own experiences as a freelance writer trying to collect payment. Fred Kuhr noticed and said, “Even she’s nodding.”

“We have the same issues in the conservative press,” I said.

One audience member asked Jacobson why there was no one from the gay press, yet there were non-journalists like lesbian rock musician Melissa Etheridge, on the panel during the recent presidential forum on homosexual issues, which was broadcast by the MTV offshoot Logo.

Jacobson replied that she had been at Logo from the beginning, and that she was one of the people who “pitched” Logo to Viacom chairman Sumner Redstone. “Is everything we do perfect? No. But were we able to do a national forum where these guys were seen in 28 million homes about issues that are important to us? Yes. Would I have picked Melissa Etheridge personally? I’m not answering that question (laughter). . . Afterwards, the quotes that were picked up [were hers], and everyone said that she really had the voice of the community.”

After this session, I left the conference for the day, missing the LGBT Media Summit Closing Reception, the Chapter Meet & Greet, the NLGJA Newcomers’ Reception, the Welcoming Reception with remarks by NLGJA national president Eric Hegedus (whose column equating pro-family critics of homosexuality to racists can be seen HERE on the NLJGA site) and executive director David Barre, and a screening of the documentary film Tell – a film critical of the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy on homosexuals.

Look for the Next Installment on the 2007 NLGJA Conference

The photo at right appeared in the homosexual newspaper Dallas Voice’s story on Allyson Smith, who attended the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists (NLGJA) conference in San Diego representing Americans For Truth. Smith received a lot of attention at the annual event as a lone voice opposed to homosexuality. The NLGJA event is financed and sponsored each year by “mainstream” media corporations, including FOX News, which also recruited there. 

The following article first appeared on the blog of Mike Heath, who directs the Christian Civic League of Maine, and who is Chairman of the Board of Directors at Americans For Truth. As one who has both attended several National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association (NLGJA) conferences (openly, as a critic), and even spoken as a panelist at one, I will add that the NLGJA events have an odd mix of activism and journalism. They prominently feature activists like Besen who can fairly be described as pro-homosexual culture warriors, but they also are attended by professional journalists who claim to be objective, mostly as open homosexuals. (I would suspect that the typical media consumer has no clue that the NLGJA reporter they’re reading, watching, or listening to is “gay.”) 

Wayne’s predictable jibes are far less important than the question of whether openly (or “closeted”) homosexual journalists can cover homosexuality-related issues with any semblance of objectivity and fairness. — Peter LaBarbera 

A ‘Christian Crusader’ amidst the World of ‘Gay Journalism’
By Mike Heath | September 7, 2007

Most of us don’t even know that there is such a thing as a homosexual press.  If someone told us there was one we’d look at them askance and wonder which airport bathroom stall they just crawled out of.  Alas, not only is there such a thing … it is thriving.  How do I know?  It wasn’t FoxNews that told me.  Turns out FoxNews sponsors the homosexual press, and recruits from their ranks.  Fox was one among many familiar news sources who showed up to sponsor the National Gay and Lesbian Jounalist Association convention in San Diego a couple weeks ago.

One intrepid truth teller took time to show up.  Allyson Smith, a San Diego resident, attended the entire conference representing (openly) Americans For Truth.  It is important to know that Allyson lives in San Diego.  Truth tellers about homosexuality in the west have learned to live on fund-raising fumes.  It is harder to raise funds for truth telling about homosexuality than it is for Larry Craig to figure out his “intent.”  If Smith didn’t live in San Diego, the important and underrated organization Americans for Truth wouldn’t have had anybody at the conference.  They don’t have the money.  It is easy to raise money by loving all things gay, hating gays or helping gays.  It is hard to raise money to tell the truth about the so-called “gay” movement.

Send your check today to Americans for Truth by visiting their website HERE.

Since Allyson Smith was close by, she was able to attend the conference that was a sinkhole for immorality — sponsored by many in the mainstream media.  Maybe it would be more accurate, given the news these days, to describe the conference as a toilet down which the objectivity and credibility of the media is being flushed.

I’ll bet you didn’t know there’s a homosexual newspaper called “The Dallas Voice.”  Being that this Convention was for journalists it is only right that they would practice on Allyson.  The Dallas Voice wrote a story about Allyson’s presence entitled “Christian Crusader.”  While they obviously use the term “crusader” to evoke scary images of Muslim fanatics, Allyson is — I’m sure – undeterred.  Allyson, unlike most people today, knows what the Crusades were really all about.

Included in the “Voice” article about Allyson is the token soundbite of what passes for “gay” reasoning these days.  Wayne Besen is a master.  He is the one the “Voice” turned to for a quote.  Besen allows that Allyson is nice, and turns her kindness around on her.  He perverts, if you will, her motives.  No surprise that a master of perversion would use this tactic, I suppose.

Then Besen is quoted indicating that Allyson represents something terribly evil and insidious.  He says that, “Her sole purpose of being at this conference was to demean and smear gay and lesbian people and to distort and twist everything that was said. That was her mission.”  He then concludes, “they are just really trying to take away your rights and essentially put you in a cage by passing sodomy laws and having you arrested.”

In the lexicon of gay-speak, “demeaning and smearing” is what reasonable people call truth-telling.  If you don’t believe me, just go to the Americans for Truth website and read it.  There is nothing “demeaning or smearing” on it.  And, the only distorting and twisting I’ve seen over the years has been done by “gay” activists.  They are always distorting and twisting everything.  Everybody knows that.

The last point Besen makes might be worth addressing.  He suggests that we want to take away rights and jail homosexuals.  There is a problem with this argument.  There is no such thing as a legal right to do wrong.  Think about adultery.  Homosexuality is morally no different from adultery.  If there were a loud and powerful adultery rights group clamoring for rights, would that mean that adultery isn’t wrong anymore?  Substitute any sinful behavior.  You see what Besen is doing.  I don’t know what the technical word is to describe this rhetorical twisting and distorting, but I’m no fool.  Only fools are drawn in by arguments like this.  There are many fools around today, aren’t there?  You need look no further than FoxNews.

The Bible says that only the fool says in his heart that there is no God.  Paul the Apostle tells us in Romans that the end of foolishness is vile affections for one another.  Paul reports that the public embrace of homosexuality is a clear sign of Godless priorities.

Thank God for courageous truth tellers like Allyson Smith.  Go and read the truth today.  Go to the Americans for Truth website.

As at past NLGJA conferences, conservative-leaning Fox News Network was among the sponsors and recruiters.

Titled “Breaking Stories, Breaking Waves,” the convention, held in downtown San Diego’s Westin Horton Plaza hotel, featured a one-day LGBT media summit, six receptions, and more than 50 sessions and workshops ranging from “Covering LGBT Conservatives” (oddly, the Christian-conservative-bashing Wayne Besen was a panelist), to “Will Gays Matter in ’08?” to “Sex Writing for Fun and Profit.”

Attendees included print and broadcast professionals from top U.S. mainstream news agencies such as CNN, Associated Press, ABC/Primetime, NBC, CBS, Fox News Network, Hearst Newspapers, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Bloomberg News, Newsday, the Boston Globe, Los Angeles Times, New York Post, CNBC, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Time Warner/Turner Broadcasting, Washington Post, Hartford Courant, People Magazine, NPR, Clear Channel Communications, Wired Magazine, Cox Enterprises, and USA Today.

Among major homosexual media outlets represented were the Washington Blade, Dallas Voice, San Diego’s Gay and Lesbian Times, GO Magazine, Gay News Watch, Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), Bay Area Reporter, IN Los Angeles Magazine, Sirius OutQ Radio, CBS News on LOGO, and here! Networks.

Other organizations who sent employees to the convention, according to an attendee directory distributed with the registration package, included Cirque de Soleil; MGM Mirage; USC Annenberg School of Communications; Human Rights Campaign (HRC); Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund; Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN); Arizona State University Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication; JetBlue Airways; Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard; several Canadian tourism agencies; Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN); Lambda Legal; Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation; Out and Equal Workplace Advocates; Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Bureau; and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The convention included plenary sessions on the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy and immigration issues affecting homosexuals, as well as a general session featuring a conversation with Larry Kramer, founder of the AIDS Coalition To Unleash Power (ACT UP), a radical, “in your face” demonstration group that made headlines in December, 1989, for disrupting a Catholic Mass and destroying a consecrated Communion host at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City.

The Canadian Tourism Board was the presenting sponsor for the convention. Other sponsors included JetBlue Airways, CBS News, CNN, ESPN, General Motors, Toyota automobiles, Orbitz, Bloomberg, Coca-Cola,  the Gill Foundation, Sony Pictures and Television, visitBritain, ABC News, Fox News Network, the San Diego Union-Tribune, and the Washington Post.

Among “Career & Community Expo” participants were the Associated Press, Dow Jones, Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation, MGM Mirage, Reuters, Dallas Convention and Visitors Bureau, the New York Times, Fox News Network, and NBC Universal.

Other events occurring during the convention included a student projects, a documentary film screening, a “not so silent” auction, 12-step meetings, and a “San Diego Night Out.”

Americans For Truth sent reporter Allyson Smith to the convention for three days, where she attended more than a dozen sessions and raised issues of concern to pro-family advocates — including the biased manner in which “mainstream media” covers homosexuality-related issues. A full report about the sessions that Smith attended will follow in coming days.

http://www.townhall.com/columnists/RobertKnight/2007/08/30/the_story_stalls_here

The Story Stalls Here
By Robert Knight
Thursday, August 30, 2007

As Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) was figuratively dragged out of the restroom and into the spotlight this week, the media have been ignoring another compelling story about sex in public toilets.

Fort Lauderdale’s Democratic mayor, Jim Naugle, has incurred the wrath of homosexual activists for publicly addressing the problem of men having sex in public places. 

It all came to a head, so to speak, in July, when the mayor backed an idea that would frustrate the thrill seekers: switching to automated stalls.  Automated stalls make it difficult for trolling swingers to hook up, and they protect small boys from walking in on lewd behavior. 

The reaction was brutal.  The local South Florida Sun-Sentinel ran a piece effectively accusing Naugle of gay-bashing.  Predictably, the “gay community” came out of the woodwork, attacking the mayor as “homophobic,” “bigoted” and full of “hate.”  Critics said Naugle was undermining Broward County’s carefully cultivated reputation as a “gay-friendly” vacation destination.

Responding to the media-fed flood of criticism, the mayor, like so many pols before him, announced that he would apologize at a press conference on July 24.  The local press gathered, notebooks ready and cameras rolling, to enjoy the latest example of self-immolation on the pyre of political correctness.

Naugle delivered an apology all right, but not the expected groveling before the rainbow flag.  Instead, he apologized to “the children and parents of our community” for not being informed about “how serious the problem was of sexual activity that’s taking place in bathrooms and public parks.” Then he made a shocking assertion: that Broward County leads the nation in new AIDS cases. 

Say what? Did he just do what we think he did? How many Americans do you suppose would have found this interesting: a newsy city’s mayor under siege who, instead of kowtowing, comes out fighting and even raises the stakes? 

National press coverage of the Naugle saga has been skimpy.  CNN finally covered the story on August 6.  In a news segment of 5 minutes, 10 seconds, CNN gave Naugle a total of 35 seconds to speak. Reporter Susan Candiotti noted Naugle’s explosive claim that Broward has “a record increase of new AIDS cases in the county, the highest in the nation,” but she didn’t explore the significance of the statistics.

Here’s what Candiotti ignored:  According to the Broward County Health Department, AIDS Surveillance data, in 2006, 70.2 percent of new HIV cases involved men having sex with men (MSM) and another 2.8 percent involved MSM who inject drugs intravenously, for a total of 73 percent.

On August 13, CNN gave the story another 5 minutes, 12 seconds. Anchor Rick Sanchez affected a skeptical, aggressive tone, but to his credit, Sanchez gave Naugle time to make his case.  Sanchez showed no interest in the public health concerns. ….

Click HERE to read the rest of Bob Knight’s column on Townhall.com

For Michael Rajner, tolerance is a one-way street. 

By Peter LaBarbera 

If an honest historian ever writes an objective history of homosexual activism in America, he or she will have to document many incidents of the sort witnessed (and enabled) by reporters in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida on Tuesday.

At the press conference in support of Mayor Jim Naugle’s opposition to male-on-male “public sex,” HIV-infected Michael Rajner of the “Campaign to End AIDS” (or was that the “Coalition to End Others’ Free Speech Rights”?) decided he didn’t like what pro-family advocate Janet Folger of Faith2Action was saying in support of Naugle.

So Rajner did what radical homosexual activists have done for years (think way back to Anita Bryant getting a pie in the face …): he began shouting over Folger, who was speaking at the microphone, drowning out her message and disrupting the Mayor’s press conference. (He even accused Folger of “demonizing AIDS!”) The media didn’t seem to protest.

You can watch it all on this Sun-Sentinel website — just click on the third video on the right, the one innocuously titled, “Mayor Naugle’s latest press conference turns heated.” (The video could have been titled, “Homosexual activists shouts down speaker at press conference.”)

Memo to Michael Rajner: next time just call your own press conference. 

If Rajner’s self-important outburst wasn’t bad enough, the Sun-Sentinel then proceeded to reward him for for it. The liberal newspaper gave its camera to Rajner for a one-on-one web-video “reaction” to the Naugle press conference. You can view Rajner’s cliche-ridden rant against Naugle and his supporters on the same Sun-Sentinel website (the second video down on the right), “Reaction to Mayor Naugle’s press conference.”

Nothing like creating an incentive for intolerance. Now try to imagine the Sun-Sentinel or any liberal media being similarly solicitous of a conservative activist who shouted down a “gay” speaker. Right. It’s time for the media to return to some semblance of objectivity, and to stop coddling spoiled “gay” activists who do not understand, or simply refuse to abide by, the rules of fair play and civil discourse.

  Should transsexual and transvestite (cross-dressing) men get legal “rights” based on their gender-confused “identity” and behavior? Above, a man who has become a ”she-male” using female hormones rides “topless” for blocks atop a float in this year’s Chicago’s “gay pride” parade. Police did nothing. Photo: Americans For Truth.

When [CNN's Larry] King asked [male-to-female transgender activist Steve Stanton] if he stands up when he goes to the bathroom in a woman’s restroom, he replied: “No, I don’t. No, I sit down in the woman’s bathroom.” — Traditional Values Coalition report

By Peter LaBarbera

Remember that joke about a lesbian trapped in a man’s body? … It’s not a joke anymore! Folks, it just doesn’t get any stranger than the “transgender” movement. We pity the men and women who struggle with gender issues and rebel against their God-given sex, but the gender-bending warriors (activist groups like GenderPAC) are serious about radically changing our culture. They’re even promoting “gender nonconformity” among our youth. Do not underestimate them.

The “transgender” lobby has copied aggressive “gay” activist tactics and is on the verge of creating federal “civil rights” based on gender confusion. Their top goal? Passage of the “Thought Crimes” and “ENDA Our Freedom” bills. If these become law, we’re talking about federal “rights” — and that means federal lawsuits — for “she-males” — biological men who act as if they are women and even demand to use female restrooms (see our story, “The Transg-ENDA: Man in Purple Suit Invades Ladies’ Restroom in Md.”). 

When gender-twisting groups are publishing papers titled, “Peeing In Peace: A Resource Guide For Transgender Activists And Allies” (click HERE for TVC’s analysis of the paper), you know ”civil rights” is being contorted beyond recognition.

TAKE ACTION:

1. Read the reports at bottom by this message by Traditional Values Coalition — a leading pro-family group on Capitol Hill opposing the homosexual- and transsexual activist movements. See the related the AFTAH links as well.
2. Contact your U.S. Senators and U.S. Representative (e-mail: www.congress.org; phone: 202-224-3121). Tell them to oppose the ENDA (Employment Nondiscrimination Act), which would subject businesses to lawsuits by homosexual and “she-male” (”transgender”) activists;
3. Also ask your senators to vote against the S. 1105, the so-called “Hate Crimes” bill, which passed the House and is expected for a vote in the Senate soon. This “thought crimes” bill will make it easier for homosexual- and transgender activists — working hand-in-hand with liberal prosecutors — to harass conservative businessmen and Christian/pro-family advocates by falsely claiming themselves as victims of “hate.”

______________________________  

TVC reports:

Larry King Shills For Transgender Movement

Traditional Values Coalition website

August 14, 2007 — Larry King’s August 10 show featured a panel of men and women who think they’re the opposite sex. Some have already undergone so-called “sex reassignment” surgery, while others have not.

King let them tell their stories about feeling like they were the opposite sex, and he interviewed two sons of a father who decided he was a woman. The teens expressed support for their father, even though he now looks like a Hollywood actress. Their father, who now calls himself Jessica, told King that he’s a lesbian and dates women. He told King, “I identify as lesbian, yes, absolutely.”

King also interviewed Steve Stanton, the former city manager of Largo, Florida. Steve decided he was a woman and currently dresses like one. He has not had a sex-change operation but is scheduled for one. When King asked him if he stands up when he goes to the bathroom in a woman’s restroom, he replied: “No, I don’t. No, I sit down in the woman’s bathroom.”

TVC’s reports, “A Gender Identity Disorder Goes Mainstream”  and “Will Transgender Activists Come To Your School?” explain how the transgender activist movement is seeking to destroy the idea of male and female.  In addition, transgender activists are seeking to have their “gender identity” given federally protected class status under three key bills being considered in Congress: ENDA, Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act, and the Clarification of Federal Employment Protections Act.

We are intrigued by the fact that the same movement that once cried out for “privacy” and “to be left alone” feels free to publicly declare people’s homosexuality for them (Anderson Cooper, No. 2, and Jodie Foster, No. 43). On the other hand, if OUT is right, it might explain Cooper’s bias in his reporting on the homosexual issue: in a recent interview that the CNN host did with pro and con advocates on a ”gay parenting” story, he blatantly favored the “gay” side in his questioning.

Regardless of whether Cooper practices homosexuality, as a professional he should be completely even-handed in his treatment of this controversial moral question. So, by the way, should the New York Times — Gay Mafia (No. 7) or no Gay Mafia. — Peter LaBarbera

1. David Geffen
2. Anderson Cooper
3. Ellen DeGeneres
4. Tim Gill
5. Barney Frank
6. Rosie O’Donnell
7. The New York Times Gay Mafia: Richard Berke, Ben Brantley, Frank Bruni, Stuart Elliott, Adam Nagourney, Stefano Tonchi, and Eric Wilson
8. Marc Jacobs
9. Andrew Tobias
10. Brian Graden
11. Jann Wenner
12. Andrew Sullivan
13. Suze Orman
14. Joe Solmonese
15. Fred Hochberg
16. Christine Quinn
17. Perez Hilton
18. Scott Rudin
19. John Aravosis
20. Sheila Kuehl
21. James B. Stewart
22. Nick Denton
23. Tom Ford
24. Nate Berkus
25. Adam Moss
26. Jim Nelson
27. Lorri L. Jean
28. Adam Rose
29. Annie Leibovitz
30. Simon Halls and Stephen Huvane
31. Bryan Lourd
32. Bryan Singer
33. Jonathan Burnham
34. Brian Swardstrom
35. Robert Greenblatt
36. Chi Chi LaRue
37. Dan Mathews
38. Neil Meron and Craig Zadan
39. Ingrid Sischy
40. Marc Cherry
41. Carolyn Strauss
42. Irshad Manji
43. Jodie Foster
44. Christine Vachon
45. André Leon Talley
46. Hilary Rosen
47. Matthew Marks
48. Benny Medina
49. Mitchell Gold
50. David Kuhn

Homosexuality is what you do,
not “who you are,”
as proved by the many ex-”gays” and ex-”lesbians”
now living joyful lives, whether celibate or in heterosexual marriage.

That battle is made tougher by the liberal media’s push-back from the opposite direction. Note how talk show host Larry King, in his CNN interview last week with a GOP presidential candidate, distorted Gen. Peter Pace’s statement against “homosexual acts”:

LARRY KING: “The chief of staff of the American military said, the joint chiefs, said that he believes that being gay is — I’m going to quote him exactly — ‘is a sin’ and that he’s opposed to gays in the service. Where are you?”

Quote him exactly? Here is what Gen. Pace actually told the Chicago Tribune: “I believe homosexual acts between two individuals are immoral and that we should not condone immoral acts…” — you can listen to the Tribune interview with Gen. Pace HERE.

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The following is taken from a transcript of yesterday’s CNN “Larry King Live” interview with a GOP presidential candidate dealing with homosexuality and “gay marriage”:

LARRY KING: The chief of staff of the American military said, the joint chiefs, said that he believes that being gay is — I’m going to quote him exactly — “is a sin” and that he’s opposed to gays in the service. Where are you? ….

Tonight (Thursday), Mar 15, 2007, the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association (NJGJA) hosts its 12th Annual New York Benefit. This isn’t the first time that FOX has given to the homosexual journalists’ group — whose national president made the spurious analogy that seeking both sides in media coverage on homosexuality is like going to “white supremacists” for a story about interracial marriage.

The following are sponsors for tonights event:

• FOX News is a “Silver Sponsor” with anchor Martha MacCallum (pictured below) as “special guest.”
• ABC News is the “Diamond Sponsor and Host” with anchor Brian Ross serving as master of ceremonies.
• CNN is a “Platinum Sponsor” with Soledad O’Brien of American Morning as “special guest.”
• NBC is a “Platinum Sponsor” with Rita Cosby of MSNBC, Natalie Morales and Meredith Viera of Today Show, and Carl Quintanilla of Squawkbox (CNBC) as “special guests.”
• CBS News is a “Gold Sponsor” with anchor Jason Bellini of LOGO, anchor Russ Mitchell, and Erin Moriarty of 48 Hours as “special guests.”
• The New York Times is a “Bronze Sponsor” with Robert Lipsyte as “special guest.”

Tickets to the VIP reception cost $500. With polls showing that about half the country supports Gen. Peter Pace’s belief that homosexual acts are immoral, we wonder how FOX and the dominant media can claim to be impartial in covering “gay”-related issues when they financially support pro-homosexual organizations like the NLGJA?

TAKE ACTION – Let FOX News know that you are not pleased with their contribution to tonight’s event.

The Washington Post claims in an editorial that there is an “uproar” over General Peter Pace expressing his view that homosexuality is immoral. This is another manufactured “scandal” designed to put a top official, in this case the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, in a bad light. This “uproar,” such as it is, has come from papers like the Post and homosexual rights activists. It is an effort at intimidation, pure and simple, and thought control.

At this point in the media-generated controversy, Pace has not apologized but has been forced to say he should not have emphasized his own personal views on the subject. Some stories are saying Pace has expressed “regret” or “mild regret.”

Whatever the outcome, and it is still possible that Pace could be forced to resign over this, the message has been sent: do not offend the powerful homosexual lobby, including the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association (NLGJA), which on Thursday, March 15, will be sponsoring a New York benefit hosted by ABC News reporter Brian Ross. The “special guests” will include Natalie Morales and Meredith Vieira of NBC News, Martha MacCallum of Fox News, Soledad O’Brien of CNN, and Robert Lipsyte of the New York Times. Corporate sponsors include ABC News, CNN, and NBC Universal.

As the NLGJA website puts it, the event is a “special evening for a great cause,” bringing together “a glittering collection of some of the brightest names in media, journalism and entertainment.”

Is it any surprise that the media have made the Pace comments on homosexuality into a national controversy, even scandal? The national media and the homosexual rights movement seem to be one and the same. But that’s a story that news consumers aren’t being told.

Leading the charge, the Post found Pace guilty of making “public expressions of intolerance.” The subheadline of the editorial was, “Gen. Peter Pace denounces gays and lesbians who are busy defending their country.” But he said nothing of the kind, and the paper knows it. The deceitful editorial is another attempt to intimidate people into not expressing opinions that contradict the politically correct views of the radical left. The Post, which runs announcements of homosexual “weddings,” will not be content until homosexuality is celebrated in the military and the schools as just another alternative lifestyle. Pedophilia, of course, can be defined by its apologists in that manner.

Peter LaBarbera of Americans for Truth points out that the Pace view is consistent with the writings of the Apostle Paul, who denounced homosexuality as an unrighteous behavior that would keep someone out of heaven. So if the Post finds what Pace said objectionable, it is also taking issue with the traditional Christian view of homosexuality. Of course, it’s easier for the Post to write an editorial denouncing Pace than attacking a disciple of Jesus Christ who doesn’t serve in the Bush Administration.

This controversy says more about the Post than it does about Pace. It shows that a major American newspaper has become a virtual house organ of the gay rights movement. And it shows that this paper will not hesitate to use its power and influence to try to intimidate those with different views. It is the Post, in fact, which is being intolerant.

I was among those who strongly criticized Ann Coulter for using “faggot,” a disparaging term about homosexuals. What Pace did, by contrast, was simply express his personal view, in an interview with the Chicago Tribune, that homosexual conduct is immoral. The Post editorial said in passing that Pace was “entitled to his opinions, of course,” but went on to complain about the impact of his words. What the paper is really saying is that he is entitled to his opinions but he should keep them to himself. Frankly, the paper wants him to shut up.

We are living in strange times when smoking is considered a serious danger to one’s health, and something which cannot be tolerated in most areas of public life, but a lifestyle linked to a raging epidemic of disease and death is regarded as a civil right that must not be criticized and even deserves to be celebrated.

The Post, in its editorial, carefully avoided the issue of what exactly male homosexuals do. Howard Phillips of the Conservative Caucus calls them “anal-sex practitioners.” That may sound shocking to some, but it is a fact nonetheless. The Post omitted this information in order to make the case that open and out-of-the-closet homosexuals should serve in the U.S. military. We don’t want to think about such things but we must as long as we have a media establishment, led by the Post, which wants public approval for engaging in such practices in the U.S. military and other areas of society.

When the Post devotes some of its precious and limited editorial space to denouncing Pace for his personal view of homosexuality, this is a big deal. You can be sure the paper isn’t doing this just to be fashionable. It seems obvious that one or more editorial writers on the paper are card-carrying members of the homosexual rights movement or sympathizers. In this connection, it is interesting to note that the paper has made financial contributions to the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association.

Also consider the fact that the Post ran a February 24 editorial about the “Death of a Gay Rights Pioneer” by the name of Barbara Gittings. I have been writing about the homosexual rights movement for over 20 years and I had never heard of her before. It turns out, according to the Post, that she is the “Founding Mother” of the homosexual rights movement, a lesbian who led the fight to bring more homosexual propaganda into the public libraries. As long as we are on the subject, Post readers are also entitled to know that the founding father of the gay rights movement was Harry Hay, a communist who supported pedophilia as just another “sexual orientation.” But don’t look for any investigations by Post Watergate reporter Bob Woodward into the sordid history of the homosexual rights movement.

The Post is one strange paper. On some matters, such as its treatment of the Joe Wilson/Scooter Libby affair, the Post can break through the liberal mold and offer straightforward and well-researched editorials. But on the issue of homosexual rights, the paper is strident to the point of sounding like the Washington (Gay) Blade, the local homosexual paper.

The Post has not yet called for Pace’s resignation. But that could come if this media-generated “uproar” continues. Those who believe in freedom of speech, traditional values, and fair and responsible journalism should stand solidly behind Pace.