Friday, May 29, 2009

LaBarbera, Americans for Truth having money problems

One of our favorite anti-gay activists, Peter LaBarbera and his group Americans for Truth seem to be having money problems.

Now before you continue to read this, stop your laughing and get that smile off of your face. It's not that I feel sorry for LaBarbera. I just don't want anyone to take what's happening lightly. If LaBarbera's group is truly having money problems, then I'm glad because it's one less liar the lgbt community has to worry about.

For years, LaBarbera via various groups (Americans for Truth is only the latest) has unfairly attacked and maligned the lgbt community under the guise of Christian values. This situation is truly a case of karma biting him in the ass.

However, I am reluctant to talk about it. I don't our reaction to elicit sympathy for LaBarbera and thereby generate a way for him to get out of his alleged financial hole.

But since this blog is mostly geared on the lies of the religious right, I will steer towards this story, albeit slightly cautiously.

LaBarbera's piece was supposed to be about civil unions. But apparently he included a rambling plea for money by saying the following:

Dear Readers,

I am writing to ask your help to lift Americans For Truth about Homosexuality (AFTAH) out of a financial crisis, but also to you to do your part to lift America out of her moral crisis. If you support Americans For Truth, it’s probably because you appreciate our direct approach to the problem of homosexual activism. We at AFTAH don’t play politically correct games by trying so hard not to offend anyone that we water down Truth. No, we just tell it like it is, and the homosexual activists hate us for it.

Every day, I receive vicious letters like this from an e-mail containing the name Seth Yatovitz (who gave his e-mail name as “Jesus”) [WARNING: VULGAR]:

Thank You ….For letting me know who you are so I can ream you in your ass even though I am straight. Burn in Hell Father [F–ker]! God loves everyone, even gay people like Jesus! I will be saying prayers for your enlightenment even though you disgust me more than any deviant sexual act ever could. Gays are NOT child molesters, they are the children of God.

Day in, day out, Americans For Truth gets bashed by hate-filled bloggers who strangely see themselves as “tolerant.” Of course, there is the childish name-calling (”Porno Pete”) and the lies (I’m a self-loathing, secret homosexual, you know). One godless “leatherman” was so angered by AFTAH’s role in exposing and closing down a homosexual “pig sex” orgy in a Washington, D.C. hotel that he posted a piece titled, “Peter LaBarbera Wants to Have Sweaty Mansex with Every One of You”

Someone should tell LaBarbera that Maggie Gallagher has already cornered the market on the "gays are unfairly calling me names" talking point.

LaBarbera then continues to play the victim and accuses the lgbt community of "destroying" people who speak out against us:

. . . it’s hard to stay committed to truth and principle knowing that a tiny but powerful army of homosexual militants will target you as a “homophobe” and a “bigot” — and try to destroy your career — if you publicly disagree with them. This is precisely what they did to Rick Warren (who appears to be caving), Dr. Laura Schlessinger, and – back in the 1970’s – a brave Christian woman named Anita Bryant.

Maybe that statement reveals why Americans for Truth is having monetary problems. Anita Bryant was a homophobe and a bigot.

For the benefit of the young folks who may not know, Bryant led a successful repeal of a pro-gay ordinance in Florida during the 1970s. Calling the campaign, Save our Children, Bryant used fear and ignorance to unfairly link gays to pedophiles. She consistently said statements like the following:

"As a mother, I know that homosexuals cannot biologically reproduce children; therefore, they must recruit our children"

Bryant villified thousands of lgbts through her ignorance and hatred. Some of us are still angry over what happened as we should be. For LaBarbera to call her a brave Christian doesn't get me angry. It makes me sad that he considers the standard for being a Christian to be so low.

I guess LaBarbera thinks the commandment about not bearing false witness is irrelevant when fighting the alleged gay agenda.

LaBarbera even promises a gift to those who send money:

If you will help Americans For Truth with a tax-deductible gift of $25 or more, we will send you a free copy of the hard-cover book Homosexuality: A Freedom Too Far, by the late Charles Socarides, a man who dedicated his life to understanding homosexuality and helping people overcome it.

He would have done better to offer a free album like Jim Bakker used to do at PTL. At least that would have been more credible.

For the record here are a few facts about Socarides that LaBarbera will never tell you:

- he helped to found NARTH (National Association for Research & Therapy of Homosexuality) which is mostly ignored by the scientific community because of its advocacy of reparative therapy (i.e. ex-gay therapy) and its members' tendency to distort credible information.

- he had suggested that serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer was an extreme example of a gay man, writing "Every homosexual who wants to incorporate the body of his male lover is utilizing the same mental mechanism: incorporation. Most homosexuals are content to do this symbolically. Dahmer was psychotic; he took his homosexual disorder beyond the limits."

- for all of his talking about "curing lgbts," Socarides's son was not only openly gay but also special assistant to President Bill Clinton and White House liaison to the gay community.

In short, no one took Socarides seriously.

Something LaBarbera can no doubt empathize with.



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