Anti-gay writer boon for lgbt community

Yes the debate is still going on between me and you know who, but I want to talk about something else.

Robert Knight is back to doing what he likes to do best - smearing the lgbt community.

Knight has made a career out of trolling around various right-wing conservative groups as some sort of "culture analyst."

He was involved with the Family Research Council. Then he moved to Concerned Women for America. His last gig was with the Media Resource Center.

And now he is a writer at Coral Ridge Ministries.

The news of Knight's newest position was met with a huge amount of eye rolling by those who know of his history and a scratching of the head by those not familiar with him.

I personally met the news with a little bit of glee.

The way I see it, the religious right have been pushing hard the propaganda image of them being innocent Christians who are beset by an angry mob of radical homosexual activists when all they are trying to do is perserve so-called American values.

Knight's very presence shoots that image right out of the park.

A perfect way to describe him would be Truman Capote without the wit, the charm, the intelligence - all of the stuff that made Capote's verbal venom so palpable to many.

In other words, he makes Peter LaBarbera and Matt Barber look like Sunday school teachers.

My guess is that in today's climate if you put this nut on television for five minutes, you would have Michelle Bachman voting for gay rights (farfetched I know but bear with me).

I had the "privilege" of meeting Knight in 2004 when he came to the University of South Carolina as a part of a debate with former HRC head Elizabeth Birch.

He is a lot shorter in person. Shorter than me, even. But his audacity was gigantic.

I was able to ask him after the debate about why he continuously referred to the discredited research of Paul Cameron in many of his past writings.

His exact words to me were: “Yes we have used his research. So what?”

I can't say I was surprised. After all, I didn't expect him to drop to his knees and beg my forgiveness.

And that uncaring attitude about lying and being verbally ugly could work for us, if we take proper advantage of it

So I greet Knight's return by commemorating a few of his "best" comments against the lgbt community:

“If you look at the footage from Operation Rescue, um, vigils outside abortion clinics, you will see that the anti Operation Rescue demonstrators invariably have a pink triangle on and they are usually pretty big heavy set women who look like they’ve been over working October Fest for the last six years . . .” - Reclaiming America For Christ Conference, “Homosexuality” panel, February 28, 1999

“(Robert) Knight feels the festival organizers’ excuse that the kids’ films were being shown in a separate part of the theater is not good enough. He says there is a cavalier attitude on the part of pro-homosexual advocates, who believe there is nothing wrong with homosexual sex, and therefore, if the kids happen to get exposed to it, their response is ‘So what? Maybe some of them might be gay, and maybe this will inspire them.’” - Parents Warned Against ‘Family-unfriendly’ Film Festivals - Agape Press (One News Now) December 13, 2004

“Instead of being lionized,(sex researcher Alfred) Kinsey’s proper place is with Nazi Dr. Josef Mengele or your average Hollywood horror flick mad scientist.” - Associated Press, Nov. 10, 2004 (Knight did retract this comment. Too bad he has never done so with comments he says about lgbts)

“Just look at the human body . . . You can’t fool nature. The rectum was not made for sexual activity. It is an exit ramp, not an entry ramp.” - Rolling Stone, March 18, 1999

“Few public officials and businessmen realize that when they allow the addition of ‘sexual orientation’ to their nondiscrimination codes, they are tying their own hands when it comes to objecting to:

A man in a highly visible sales job coming to work in a dress and high heels;

A woman in a highly visible position coming to work in men’s clothes;

A person of indeterminate sex who insists on using either the men’s
room or the women’s room;

A person of either sex who indulges a taste for extreme sexual promiscuity and pornography during working hours despite being charged with representing the company’s tone and character;

A man who frequents prostitutes while on business trips and claims that it is none of the company’s business, regardless of the company’s public image.” - Why Nashville Should Reject the ‘Sexual Orientation’ Law, Concerned Women for America, March 4, 2003

“One pro-family advocate feels the ACLU, in its efforts to force the homosexual agenda in American schools, is using the bullying tactics of Chairman Mao to ‘reprogram’ staff and students on the issue of homosexuality.” - Knight: ACLU’s Pro-Homosexual ‘Bullying’ Tactics Reminiscent of Chairman Mao, Agape Press (One News Now), July 21, 2005

Tuesday mid-day newsbriefs

The war of words between me and David MacDonald continues. I swear if that man spins his head any faster in order to explain away his inaccuracies, I'm going to call the Exorcist. Or at least move out of the way so that the pea soup doesn't get on my shoes.

IL: The Peter's anti-gay speaking gig in Arlington Heights brings out demonstrators - Our friend Peter LaBarbera is speaking at a Christian Academy. I say why protest comedy events. Seriously though from the pictures, it looks like we turned out and turned it out in a good way.

Today Is The Day - President Obama's people meets with the religious right. I should have sent him my rosary beads.

VT Senate approves homosexual 'marriage' bill - The One News Now version of the story, complete with hilarious comments.

Coral Ridge Ministries Back In The Culture War Business - I say this is good news. Robert Knight is our Newt Gingrich - guaranteed to make us look good.

Fallout from Canadian ex-gay piece

Yesterday, I posted an entry about how ex-gay Christian singer James MacDonald manipulated a complaint by gay rights groups in Canada to give an inaccurate picture of lgbts.

He used the statistics of gay health in the complaint to blame the lgbt orientation for negative behavior such as alcohol abuse and depression (although in his defense, he is saying that he was talking about "gay sex" and not gay people).

MacDonald omitted the fact that the complaint placed the blame on homophobia and a lack of interest in lgbt health care for the negative behaviors.

Since last night, MacDonald and I have been going back and forth about what the complaint said, what he meant to say, and what he was actually saying.

I still say that he is not being honest and of course he disagrees.

Our exchange is in the comments section of the entry and it's an interesting read.