By Peter LaBarbera

OK, where do we start with the Perez Hilton-Carrie Prejean Miss USA controversy? Earlier today I was a guest on the Bob Dutko Show on WMUZ in Detroit, and observed that Hilton epitomizes the spoiled-brat aspect of “queer” activism. It’s bad enough that this obnoxious and rude “gay celebrity blogger” calls Miss California a “dumb bitch,” and then stands behind his ugly remark after initially apologizing for it. I want to know why this nasty fellow is then treated so deferentially by the media — first by this MSNBC anchor Norah O’Donnell and then NBC’s Matt Lauer? Are the liberal media — like those irresponsible parents who let themselves be manipulated by their spoiled children — now so indulgent toward homosexuals that they can’t even call out an angry activist whose vicious and juvenile conduct is obvious to most everyone else? Would NBC have accorded similar respect to a right-wing blogger who blasted a homosexual contestant as a “dumb fag”? Of course not (but they would have made an example of him as a hateful bigot, which is precisely what Mr. Hilton is). Watch this YouTube of this morning’s NBC Today Show, followed by more commentary after the jump:

… The reflexively pro-”gay” media have become the enablers of creeps like Perez Hilton because they allow themselves to be used and intimidated by them. (See Hilton’s penis-humor doctored photo of Carrie posted at bottom.) And when you give in to the bully, the bully steps up his abuse of others. In fact, Hilton with his absurd rationalizations for his misbehavior is himself the product of a media/Hollywood culture that rewards homosexual militants while demonizing sincere Christians. The good news is that the gay/liberal media overreach is starting to backfire: everyone can see that Hilton, and not Prejean, is the real hater here — just as most TV viewers who are not hardened liberal ideologues saw that MSNBC and CNN’s Anderson Cooper with their crude sex jokes about “Tea Party” rallies nationwide were the true extremists — while the ralliers themselves were mostly just good Americans with a beef against Big Government.

Check out his MSNBC clip (caption: “Miss California Stirs Controversy”! — in which O’Donnell is disturbingly solicitous of Hilton — how strange that she and the feminists aren’t coming to Prejean’s defense?:

Beyond the intimidation factor, many morally-challenged media professionals agree with Perez Hilton’s basic premise (minus the rudeness–except for potty-mouth MSNBC): they, too, barely acknowledge the anti-homosexual-”marriage” position as legitimate, as they stoke the “gay” story line that “same-sex marriage is inevitable” (despite 30 states passing anti-gay-”marriage” amendments). Here again note Hilton’s mindset, also representative of the GLBT movement: he is angry, stunned and horrified at Prejean’s answer — not because she disagrees with him on “gay marriage” (or so he says) — but because Miss California took sides and hence was “divisive.” This despite the fact that Prejean went out of her way not to alienate those who feel differently about this issue. Surely, the crazed Hilton would not have found Prejean “divisive” had she made an impassioned plea FOR “gay marriage.”

You see, it’s all about holding the “right” position — that is, the “gay” position — and shutting up or overriding your beliefs, or risk being smeared as a hateful “homophobe” if you dare to disagree. This is the emboldened Queer Lobby’s and their Amen Corner’s M.O. — whether it’s forcing a New Mexico Christian photographer to shoot a lesbian “wedding” against her convictions; trying to get Prop 8 thrown out and declared “unconstitutional” because you lost at the ballot box; equating opposition to “gay marriage” with rank bigotry, or moral opposition to homosexual behavior with “bullying gays”; or pressuring the media into rejecting ads featuring successful ex-”gays” (as GLAAD, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, has done).

God bless you, Carrie Prejean, for being, as you said, “Biblically Correct” and not “Politically Correct” when it came to sticking up for natural marriage — and for pleasing God rather than man in this defining moment of your young life. Yes, it’s sad that one state’s legislature has chosen to legalize homosexual marriage, but even if sizeable majorities of Americans turn against God and support these counterfeit, genderless “marriages,” that won’t make them right. Corrupt politicians can’t negate moral truth by a vote.

And as for you Perez, you need to ask this woman for forgiveness, but more importantly, you need to repent to a holy God for not only embracing sin in your own life, but shoving it down the throats of the rest of us with such callous arrogance.

One more request for Miss California: since you’re in the area, why don’t you pay a visit to Saddleback Pastor Rick Warren, or stop by the headquarters of eHarmony.com: they could use some of your courage and Biblical Correctness.

DOCTORED PHOTO FROM PEREZ HILTON’S WEBSITE: How Low Can You Go? — On his website, homosexual activist and celebrity blogger Perez Hilton doctors a photo of Miss California, Carrie Prejean, answering a reporter’s question, by drawing a penis ejaculating into the mouth of Carrie Prejean over the microphone. How dare the media treat the hateful Hilton as a serious commentator!

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We commend Knight (my former boss) for keeping his composure: how many of us could calmly withstand the over-the-top pummeling from the smug (and very unfunny) Abrams like Bob did on this broadcast? We don’t know about “homophobia,” but it seems more and more liberals are coming out as “homo-snobs”: those so committed to supporting all things ”gay” that they won’t acknowledge that there are any rational arguments against homosexuality. (And of course there is no need to marshal arguments to defend homosexuality since that is self-evidently “true.”) To the committed homo-snob, any attempt to defend traditional sexual mores or protect children from moral corruption is just a big joke. — Peter LaBarbera

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.

The girls on “The View” are unanimous: Homosexuality is not only morally right but probably ought to be encouraged if we want to keep our military strong.OK, maybe mandating homosexuality in the military won’t fly just yet. For now, the ABC morning show’s talkers will have to be content fighting amongst themselves as to who is more outraged by Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Peter Pace, who told the Chicago Tribune that homosexuality, like adultery, is immoral.

The gals were in good media company. Not one of Tuesday’s morning or evening news shows on ABC, NBC or CBS featured a single person defending the general’s remarks. The tone was overtly hostile, with stories moving smartly through a laundry list of talking points found on homosexual activist groups’ websites. The Washington Post managed a March 13 trifecta: an editorial, “The Right to Serve,” an op-ed by Republican homosexuality booster and former Wyoming Sen. Alan K. Simpson, “Bigotry That Hurts Our Military,” and a news article by Ann Scott Tyson, “Sharp Drop in Gays Discharged From Military Tied to War Need.”

It’s not as if the American people are clamoring for the military to welcome open homosexuality. Despite some profoundly distorted polls like the recent Zogby survey of military personnel, a large segment of the American people believe, as Gen. Pace does, that homosexual behavior is immoral. According to the Cultural and Media Institute’s National Cultural Values Survey released on March 7, which polled 2,000 demographically representative Americans, 49 percent say flatly that homosexuality is “wrong.” Only 14 percent of Americans say homosexuality is “right.” The stampede to end the ban isn’t coming from the public, but from the media and some liberal politicians backed by the homosexual lobby.

On “The View,” the ladies opened the March 13 program by trashing the general, who wasn’t there to defend his honor.

Nor was anyone else inclined to do so, even designated “conservative” Elizabeth Hasselbeck. She openly wondered whether Pace harbors vices of his own that drove him to say what he did. This is a standard homosexual propaganda technique: Attribute dark motives to anyone who won’t salute the rainbow flag. You can look it up in their strategy manual, a book entitled “After the Ball.”

Rosie O’Donnell, a famous out lesbian, predictably came unglued. Over the past few years, she has defined herself primarily by her sexual behavior, and then claimed that people with moral qualms about homosexuality are bigots who are assailing her identity.

Here are portions of the five-minute discussion:

Joely Fisher: “We need to open General Pace’s closet and see what’s in there.”

Joy Behar: “Do you think people who are homophobic are gay closeted cases themselves?”

Fisher: “Or sexually repressed or uncomfortable with their own sexuality in any way?”

O’Donnell: “So if you are a gay person you are immoral. You are innately bad. You are less than, because you are gay. It’s like saying all lefties are witches.”

Hasselbeck: “He likened it to adultery, an adulterous person in the armed services would face some sort of punishment or some sort of slap on the wrist. …”

Fisher: “But it’s OK to kill people.”

Behar: “If you’re saying it’s immoral the way adultery is, then let gay people get married. Then it won’t be immoral.”

O’Donnell: “Can you be a straight person who is a horrible person, who is adulterous and has no morals?”

Fisher: “And have a leg up”

O’Donnell: “But it’s impossible for a gay person ever to be treated equal, which is the premise of this country, that all men and women are created equal, they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, all people, even the gay ones. (Bares her teeth, shouts) General Pace, wake up! It’s 2007. There’s a war on! Leave the gays alone!” (applause)

After Rosie’s outburst, Hasselbeck explained why everyone doesn’t just go ahead and cheerfully accept homosexuality as moral:

“What happens is there’s this group of, you know, religious believers, be it Christian or whoever, who believe certain sins are worse than others. They do believe homosexuality is a sin, because they are not guilty, guilty of it, then they say, ‘It’s not my sin so I will focus on that,’ then pretty much hide the fact that I’m guilty of some other things as well.”

Later, she opined that, “We should not judge one another. I feel that’s the root of Christianity. You shall not judge.”

Does that mean we’re not to judge adultery? Promiscuous sex? Polygamy? Prostitution?

Inquiring Viewers want to know.

More homosexual activist lies: On Saturday on MSNBC, I debated Jason Cianciotto of the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force. Cianciotto repeated the company line that groups like Americans For Truth contribute to “harassment and violence” against homosexual youth:

Watch the MSNBC segment HERE

Cianciotto alleged that:

“…Organizations like Mr. LaBarbera’s only contribute to this harassment and violence by pitting students against each other and that’s a tragedy. It’s also gravely immoral.”

We were debating the controversy over a pro-homosexual “Freshman Advisory” class at Deerfield High School in Illinois. Deerfield’s principal has now apologized for requiring students who attended the freshman class to sign a “confidentiality agreement” stipulating that they would not discuss what transpired in the class. (Congrats to my friend, parent Lora Sue Hauser for exposing the liberal shenanigans at Deerfield High.)

On MSNBC, taken aback by Jason’s reckless accusation, I said it was a “terrible thing to say.” Homosexual activists routinely conflate disagreement over their destructive lifestyle with violence and hate against homosexuals. It’s a dirty tactic, and totally irrelevant to the Deerfield story, which is about parents having the full right to know exactly what is being taught about homosexuality in their child’s classroom.

Also on Saturday, Matt Foreman, who leads the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force — and who yesterday called Gen. Peter Pace “immoral” — said in a debate with the Family Research Council’s Peter Sprigg [click HERE to watch it]: “Your propaganda creates bullying and violence against gays.”(Another calumny: Sprigg is a former pastor and caring Christian who only wants to protect kids from harmful lifestyle choices.)

The fact is, both Peter Sprigg and I want men like Jason Cianciotto and Matt Foreman to live long and healthy lives — something made less likely by their practice of homosexuality. Click HERE to read our story about the latest untimely “gay” death, of Democratic “AIDS activist” Bob Hattoy, at 56.

Foreman is not one to define morality or lecture others about it. Veteran Americans For Truth readers know how evil the Task Force’s agenda is — and we have only scratched the surface in describing it. This organization works hand-in-hand with sadomasochist, “polyamory”-, bisexual and “transgender” grassroots activists nationwide — and has a pretty shoddy record when it comes to protecting the innocence of youth: click HERE for our shocking expose on the Task Force’s most recent “Creating Change” conference.

“Gay” Tactic: Link Christians to Violence

An astute observer will discern the underlying Task Force/”gay” strategy evident in the MSNBC video:

• Systematically allege that Christians and Christian organizations foment hatred by teaching traditional, Biblical morality; accuse them of inciting violence — not only against “gays,” but even against school children;
• Lobby for “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” to be added to federal “Hate Crimes” legislation, making “hate crimes” against a homosexual or “transgendered” person more serious legally than a crime against a pregnant or elderly woman (Call Congress at 202-224-3121 and tell your Representative and Senators that you OPPOSE the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crime Prevention Act.)
• Silence Christians and pro-family organizations by urging the media to ignore their viewpoint in stories, by urging papers to drop conservative columns, by expressing indignation when public officials speak at conservative events, etc.
• Happening now in Canada and Great Britain but coming to the USA? … Prosecute Christians and Christian organizations criminally and in civil court for “hate speech.”

Please accept this challenge:

I will be as committed to standing against the “gay” political/cultural agenda as the homosexual activists are in pushing their Big Lie of “civil rights” based on destructive and immoral homosexual behavior.

Watch the MSNBC debate HERE.

Matt Foreman suggested the “gay” panel was simply part of broader program that includes blacks, Latinos, etc. (We’re not sure how he knows that since District 113 officials have refused to release the curriculum to local parents.) He claimed that “gay” students are disproportionately the victim of bullying & violence.

Peter Sprigg said that FRC would prefer that the school do away with whole program, in part because they’re presenting only one side (which is viewpoint discrimination) which may encourage kids to prematurely label themselves as homosexual or bisexual. He pointed to studies that demonstrate younger kids are often unsure/confused but later heterosexual.

Matt Foreman asserted that only a small minority of parents object and claimed that opponents are spreading “lies & myths” about the panel — “this is part of gay agenda,” homosexual students are recruiting, etc.

Peter Sprigg suggested that anyone interested in learning about the homosexual agenda might go to www.frc.org.

Matt Foreman said to Peter Sprigg: “Your propaganda creates bullying and violence against gays — Why are you so obsessed with gays?”

Peter Sprigg said, and we agree: “We believe all kids should be protected against bullying & violence.” He went on to say that most bullying occurs because of appearance & body size and asked “Are we going to have a panel of obese students telling kids it’s good to be overweight?”

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.