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Homosexual ’Truth’ Group Blast Protesters for ’Insensitivity’by Kilian MelloyMonday Oct 26, 2009 Protesters assembled across the street from a benefit dinner for the anti-gay blog "Americans for Truth About Homosexuality" were lambasted for being so insensitive as to chant their message while a blind man was trying to cross the street and attend the event.
An article about the dinner posted at the anti-gay blog asserted that, "The only ’hate’ to be found [at the dinner] was outside the building at the (Marxist) Gay Liberation Network’s ineffective protest."
The blog posted a write-up of the event originally published at the Web site for Republicans For Fair Media, which dismissed the protest as having "fizzled," whereas, it said, the anti-gay group’s fundraising dinner was "a huge success" that attracted "over 100 pro-family leaders" to the even,t which took place in Illinois.
The keynote speaker was Liberty Counsel’s Matt Barber, who was on hand to sign copies of his forthcoming book The Right Hook: From the Ring to the Culture War.
Another speaker was an "ex-gay" individual named Pete Lines, who claims to have once been gay but now to be heterosexual.
The article quoted the executive director of Republicans For Fair Media, Dan Zanoza, who said, "I expected to be meet by a huge phalanx of pro-homosexual demonstrators."
The article said that only about 15 protesters turned out.
Even so, they evidently presented a formidable presence. Said Zanoza, "The pro-homosexual group blocked our access to the crosswalk leading to the banquet hall. As a blind individual, I was struck by the insensitivity of a group which calls for tolerance and recognition of what they claim are special rights homosexuals should receive under the U.S. Constitution."
Zanoza went on, "As I attempted to enter the crosswalk leading to the Academy itself, the pro-homosexual group proceeded to loudly chant their message which greatly increased the danger for myself and others, including the elderly, who depend not only on sight and sound to cross a street. The insensitivity demonstrated by the group was ironic."
The presentation made by Lines was commented upon by an attendee, who was quoted in the article as saying, "I learned a great deal about the negative impact the homosexual lifestyle has upon our culture and individuals who find themselves trapped in this lifestyle.... It is a sad story, but Mr. Lines is proof that there is hope for all who are living their lives contrary to Biblical teachings. However, it is also a message of hope for those with other addictions because I believe, as one of the speakers noted tonight, homosexuality is a form of sexual addiction that one can overcome."
The protest group was organized by Illinois LGBT equality grout the Gay Liberation Network, which posted a message about the event in advance, and noted on its We site, that AFTAH head Peter LaBarbera had mounted a "decades-long campaign against equal rights," and sketched out LaBarbera’s professional history, from his days as a reporter for The Washington times, his affiliation with the anti-gay group Concerned Women for America, and his stint as executive director of the Illinois Family Institute.
Read text at the site, "With his breathless ’undercover’ reports about Chicago’s International Mr. Leather and other events, LaBarbera’s obsession about gay sex has become legendary in political circles. His ’activism’ would be laughable if it wasn’t also dangerous--LaBarbera was the principal proponent of the two failed attempts to get anti-gay initiatives on the Illinois ballot."
Moreover, noted the site, "Appearing last year on the far-right Matt Barber program with lunatic legislator Rep. Sally ’homosexuals are worse than terrorism’ Kern of Oklahoma, he said that the gay lobby ’threatens America and threatens children.’"
An Oct. 26 press release from the Gay Liberation Network offered another view of the protest. Read the release, "We felt it was important to label LaBarbera and his guest speaker Matt Barber as ’bigots,’ because they not only oppose different sexual orientations and gender identities per se, they also oppose our equal housing rights, job opportunities and access to public accommodations. They are bigots, full stop, and the more that the public sees them as such, the less likely LaBarbera, et al are going to get the mass public hearing that they crave.
"It’s also important to note that ’Americans for Truth’s’ bigotry is confined not simply to LGBT people," the release continued. "Peter LaBarbera, for example, was a prime supporter of the many failed campaigns by Peter Oberweis, a man widely condemned for his anti-immigrant anti-Latino biases."
Conservative Web publication the Illinois Review reported on proceedings at the fundraiser, including LaBarbera’s warnings that if federal hate crimes legislation is signed by President Obama, "We can expect now a move towards legislating speech and thought."
LaBarbera also repeated the claims that extremist Christians have circulated of late to the effect that by simply standing up for "Biblical principles" they risk jail time. "Unlike the prolife battle, there aren’t a lot of warm and fuzzies in fighting the homosexual agenda," the article quoted LaBarbera as saying. "But we’re committed to the truth, even if that means going to jail. And these days, Christian activists are serious when they talk of possibly going to jail for standing for Biblical principles."
Of the protesters who showed up that evening, LaBarbera said, ""The people across the street are wrong. In Scripture, God places homosexuality between child sacrifice and bestiality."
While the protesters were slammed for their "insensitivity," the article noted that AFTAH itself was planning an protest to take place outside the Illinois state capitol, to agitate for an amendment to the state constitution that would legally exclude gay and lesbian families from legal recognition and protections.
Kilian Melloy reviews media, conducts interviews, and writes commentary for EDGEBoston, where he also serves as Assistant Arts Editor.
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