Republicans for Fair Media: LaBarbera in His Own Words

RFFM National Director Dan Zanoza interviewed Peter LaBarbera for this monthly feature (emphasis added).

From In Their Own Words, published Mar 1, 2007, by Republicans for Fair Media:

The liberal media now see themselves as “protectors” of the homosexual cause

Dan Zanoza: To say the least, you have had an interesting career. However, I think you would agree your role with AFT may be the most difficult challenge you have undertaken in your professional life. Why did you think it was important to take on such a controversial subject?

Peter LaBarbera: Well, I’ve been exposing and fighting the homosexual activist lobby for 15 years, and the Left for longer than that, for groups like Family Research Council, CWA (Concerned Women for America), Illinois Family Institute, and (my first job) Accuracy in Media (AIM). AFTAH was always a part-time endeavor, but now by re-launching it as a full-time organization, I’m taking it to a new level. “Gay” power has expanded exponentially just in the time I have been monitoring it. They may have more money and influence than ever, but that doesn’t change the fact that they are promoting a monumental fraud. Their “big lie” is that homosexuality is about “civil rights”; it’s really about normalizing behavior that is always wrong. Unnatural homosexual practices are very dangerous, at least for men, which is why we still see “gay” men dying in the prime of their life. Yet, strangely, the same liberals who decry smoking promote this very unhealthy lifestyle as OK to children in schools.

The good news is that homosexuality is not inborn and need not be permanent in a person’s life. Nobody has to be “gay.” There are no “ex-Blacks” or “ex-Latinos.” Thankfully, there are thousands of ex-“gays” who have left that lifestyle behind and now live contented lives in accordance with God’s wonderful design for sex and marriage. We are trying to inform the public about these truths because unfortunately the liberal media now see themselves as protectors of “gay rights” and they spike stories that they regard as unfavorable to the cause. My first boss coming out of college was the late, great media critic Reed Irvine of AIM, and I worked for several years under Bob Knight (now director of Brent Bozell’s Culture & Media Institute), so I have been blessed with wonderful mentors in that area.

DZ: The mission statement of AFTAH is clear. But I’m sure there is more you want to do with the organization. Can you expand on what you want to achieve with the organization besides what is presented in the mission statement?

PL: We will be concentrating in several areas:

1. Putting out reliable information and correcting media-fed myths: we aim to create the most comprehensive website countering the homosexual activist movement in the world. It will become a much-needed resource for those opposing the “gay” movement; we will send reporters to “gay” events and publish first-hand information about the lifestyle and radical “gay” activism that the media routinely ignore or cover up. AFTAH will also seek to debunk politically correct “gay” misinformation such as the idea that homosexuality (“being gay”) defines a person. Nobody should be defined by sinful and aberrant sexual conduct/desires; homosexuality is about what you do, not who you are.
2. Inspiring activists: we hope to motivate Americans and people all over the world to stay in the battle to preserve marriage and God-ordained sexuality. Many good and decent people have given up on the “gay” issue because they are intimidated by false notions of “tolerance” and the overwhelming pro-homosexual bias in the media and Hollywood. We’re telling them that it’s OK to be “anti-gay” (behavior) as long as you don’t hate people; get back in this fight because you cannot afford to drop out if you care about freedom and morality in America. Ultimately, we plan to create a grassroots network of highly informed people committed to standing for truth on this issue.
3. Exposing the “gay” threat to freedom: we will be highlighting the immense threat to our God-given liberties posed by homosexual activism. Across the world and here in America, the evidence is in that homosexual “rights” come at the expense of our basic freedoms of conscience, speech and association. The struggle between “gay rights” and religious freedom is a zero-sum game, as a prominent lesbian legal strategist, Chai Feldlum, recently admitted. This is why pastors must not abandon this struggle. To preserve our freedoms, AFTAH supports the full repeal of all “sexual orientation” laws.
4. Educating youth and empowering parents: younger generations are very confused about homosexuality and gender issues because they are bombarded by pro-“gay” propaganda. We are distressed that kids are “coming out” at younger and younger ages — even as preteens! — so we will be looking for ways to guide them toward truth and help their parents deal with an agenda that threatens to corrupt their children.

DZ: Recently, third grade students in a public school were required to watch a video depicting homosexuality as just another lifestyle equivalent to their own nuclear families. You know the type of indoctrination, “Heather Has Two Mommies” and that sort of thing. How have we gotten to this point in our culture where children as young as seven or eight years old are not only forced to deal with sexual issues, but sexual issues that many psychologists say would be confusing to older children?

PL: Sadly, we have. The homosexual activists are using children as pawns in their larger agenda — whether it’s foisting inappropriate pro-homosexual lessons on students — even kindergartners — or insisting that “gay” couples not be treated differently than a normal, mom-and-dad married couple in adoption and foster care situations. What you learn about the homosexual activist movement is that it’s all about the wants of homosexual adults. What I mean by that is there is this sort of selfish impulse to see everything in terms of how it advances their supposed “rights.” They know they can’t teach toddlers about sex so they push for classroom instruction about “gay families” — discounting the rights and feelings of kids who are raised to believe that homosexuality is a sin. Schools simply should not become re-education centers for the societal experiment of “rights” based on aberrant sex, with innocent students being used as the guinea pigs. Of course, the long-term goal of homosexual activists is to overturn the sexual morés of this nation by changing the minds of the future generations, and polls show that their strategy appears to be working:

• On AIDS, “gay” activists push for more and more taxpayer funding despite the fact that government spends vastly more per death on HIV/AIDS than any other disease.
• On marriage, homosexual activists push to radically redefine the very foundation of family life because they want their relationships to be treated as equal. Obviously, they are not equal: homosexuals cannot produce children without heterosexuality.
• In the world of religion, homosexual religious activists are causing deep schisms in historic denominations by crusading for approval despite the Bible’s clear teaching that homosexual behavior is one of the sexual sins.
• On adoption, the (adult) “gay” lobby seems more concerned about what they want (children) than the best interests of children to have both a mother and a father.

It is a narcissistic movement but we need to continue to reach out to them with the love of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, who has helped many “gays” abandon that lifestyle.

DZ: There seems to be a wall of protection constructed around the issue of homosexuality by the dominant media. Obviously this has made — and will make — it harder for you to deal with the issue of homosexuality without being attacked by the press. Why do you think this atmosphere exists in our modern culture?

PL: The homosexual lobby has been cultivating and intimidating the media for decades. GLAAD (Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) is a very powerful group that actually gets access to Hollywood scripts on programs or movies about homosexuality — before the shows are produced! As I said, the media have decided for us that this is a “civil rights” issue, and so they often don’t even take seriously the idea that there is a whole other side on this issue. In the 1980’s, two homosexual activists and marketing experts laid out a strategy to “mainstream” homosexuality, and one of the goals was to “make straights the protectors of gays.” That is how most media see their role when it comes to the homosexual issue. They shy away from tough investigative journalism that might discredit homosexuality as a “rights” issue — for example, the existence of homosexual bathhouses that continue to thrive today despite facilitating dangerous, anonymous orgies. We also rarely hear about the disproportionately dysfunctional upbringing of homosexuals because that would call into question the idea that people are “born gay.” And of course, the media are not keen to highlight former homosexuals because that also undermines the core “gay” myth that people are intrinsically “gay” and have no control over their “orientation.”

DZ: Recently, you received some death threats posted on an Internet blog. The threats were obviously serious; your address was published on the blog for over three weeks and the thread went so far as to describe how snipers could lay in wait for you. How has this affected you on a personal level?

PL: This will not deter me in any way. Actually, I have heard from several pro-family activists and groups that fight the self-styled “queer” agenda and many others have received death threats. My old boss, Beverly LaHaye, founder of Concerned Women for America, used to travel with bodyguards, as I’m sure other pro-family leaders do today. The Left in America is an evil force. It’s that simple: the blog that Barry Wick, the guy who made the “sniper” threat, posted on is run by a fanatical lesbian activist named Pam Spaulding who is quite open with her anti-Christian bigotry. She’s a hater, through and through. Because the Left defines “hatred” in ideological terms — in this case the Judeo-Christian worldview that homosexual behavior is wrong — they take an ends-justifies-the-means approach toward their enemies. And so Spaulding heaps the most vile accusations against Christians — she agreed with one post on her blog that compared an African-American minister who prayed against “gay marriage” to mass-murdering cultist Jim Jones — yet somehow she views herself as tolerant. With the Left being as extreme and radical as they are, we have to be careful but we will never let them intimidate us from telling the truth.

DZ: What kind of cooperation, if any, have you received from law enforcement?

PL: I was referred by the FBI to local law enforcement. Ultimately, I heard from one police investigator in Rapid City, S.D., where Barry Wick lives, who said the threat was “too vague” to prosecute, but that they would call in Mr. Wick to warn him about the seriousness of what he did.

DZ: Besides RFFM.org, some other conservative media sources have reported on the threats against your life, including World Net Daily. However, to my knowledge, there has been little or no reporting on the issue by the so-called mainstream media. If the situation were reversed, and you or another conservative leader made threats against a “gay” activist, there would probably be headlines dealing with the story. Why do you think there is a double-standard in the way the press covers stories like this?

PL: Of course the media has a double-standard. After all, most of the major media are now pro-“gay” almost as a matter of official policy. They love trumpeting “gay” victims, but never Christian victims. My goodness, right here in Chicago, the media almost completely ignored the murder trial of the homosexual killer of Mary Stachowicz despite the horrifyingly interesting story of this gruesome crime. Had a religious fanatic murdered a lesbian woman and then stuffed her body in the crawl space of his apartment — and then claimed that she attacked him (which Nicholas Gutierrez did to Stachowicz) — you had better believe that all the Chicago media would have devoted huge coverage to the case. But most media just don’t see homosexuality and abortion as very important, which is why they don’t try to cover our side with anything close to the sensitivity that they devote to “gays.”

DZ: I think most average citizens would say homosexuality has been promoted by the media in Hollywood and New York. What can those of us in “fly-over country” do to counter the inordinate impact plays, movies and television have on our society?

PL: Ultimately it comes down to answering their lies with truth. Hollywood and the media excel at telling compelling personal stories that tug at people ‘s heartstrings — even if the facts aren’t always straight (pardon the pun), as in the case of Matthew Shepard. (Shepard was a homosexual college student in Wyoming who was murdered by two men; the media falsely hyped the case as a “hate crime.”) We must raise up creative people who will do the same for our side. There are lots of moving personal stories that reveal the lies and hurt of the homosexual lifestyle: moms who have lost their sons to AIDS after they got caught up in the “gay” life; husbands and wives who have lost their spouse to homosexual adultery, and then have to battle like heck to keep custody of their children because their “ex” wants to raise them in a “same-sex” household; men and women who have overcome homosexuality and now live happy lives that are faithful to God.

It’s up to us to educate ourselves and then others about these realities, and then to confront the media when they distort the pro-family cause or ignore stories that might not serve the “gay” agenda. Who was it who said eternal vigilance is the price of liberty? There is a powerful movement in this great nation seeking to establish “rights” based on changeable and unhealthy conduct that offends a holy God. We cannot abide that movement and pretend that our freedoms will stand. They won’t. In Canada, Christians are being forced to pay tens of thousands to defend themselves against charges of “discrimination” merely for living out their belief that homosexuality is wrong. A pastor in Sweden, Ake Green, was jailed for preaching against homosexuality. In California, a lesbian legislator has put forth legislation to ban anything in textbooks that “reflects adversely” on homosexuality — a can of worms if there ever was one. More and more, it is becoming clear that the homosexual agenda cannot succeed without censorship and trampling over other people’s rights. So we must guard our freedoms and fight for our right to proclaim truth on this issue — and reach the next generation before America gets swept up in a sexual revolution that will lead to many people being persecuted simply for speaking their mind and “agreeing with God” on this crucial moral issue.