One News Now distorts controversy, insults gay parents

 Editor's note - Today is a first on my blog. I usually write one post in the morning but two things happened which deserves comment. After finishing this piece about how One News Now distorted a controversy to insult gay parenting, pan down to the second post and read about the American Family Association admitting that its boycott against Home Depot has NOT been successful.


If you want a good reason why the American Family Association's phony news source, One News Now, is a detriment to truth rather than an asset, then take a look at the following piece entitled School: Let him who 'screams loudest' get his way.

The piece is about how a column in a Wisconsin school newspaper about the gay community raised a huge controversy.

However, take a look at how One News Now phrases what happened as opposed to how the Green Bay Press Gazette tells the story:

One News Now:

Officials of a Wisconsin school have censored a student's editorial column printed in the city paper and "sincerely" apologized for his words in support of natural mother-father adoptions.

Both sides of the adoption issue were presented in separate articles, each written by students. But Shawano High School officials pulled the article written by a 15-year-old student who used scripture to support his argument. He wrote: "If one is a practicing Christian, Jesus states in the Bible that homosexuality is [a] detestable act and sin, which makes adopting wrong for homosexuals because you would be raising the child in a sin-filled environment."

The superintendent apologized, calling the editorial a form of bullying. But Steve Crampton of the Liberty Counsel thinks the school's action is reprehensible.

Green Bay Press Gazette:

A gay couple with school-age children is outraged over a Shawano High School newspaper column that cites Bible passages and calls homosexuality a sin punishable by death.

The column ran on the editorial page of Shawano High School's Hawks Post recently as part of an opinion package about gay families who adopt children. The other side said sexual orientation does not determine a person's ability to raise kids.

"This is why kids commit suicide," said Nick Uttecht, who is raising four children with his partner, Michael McNelly.

One News Now:

According to Crampton, the school caved after it received a complaint from one homosexual in the community. And in a public statement, the superintendent claimed the censored article created a "negative environment."

Green Bay Press Gazette:

Uttecht said his 13-year-old son, Tanner, who is in eighth grade, saw the article and asked about it.

"When I saw this I was in shock," said Uttecht, who is raising four children, three who are his biological kids and the biological daughter of his partner. Three are in the Shawano school system; the youngest is 4.

"I talked to the school superintendent; he said he was shocked," Uttecht said.

I think the column should have ran since it was a part of a pro/con duo of columns regarding gay adoption. However, I would have edited out the part about homosexuality being punishable by death.

But what intrigues me is what One News Now did to the story. It deliberately omitted the part which seemed to have been the basis of the controversy, i.e. the column stating that homosexuality is punishable by death.

And even more insulting, is the phraseology in the article by Crampton of the Liberty Counsel:

According to Crampton, the school caved after it received a complaint from one homosexual in the community.

That one homosexual happened to be a gay parent who was concerned about how reading the article would affect his son.

So not only does One News Now omit details from a controversy to put the gay community in a bad light, it also insults gay parents.

All in day's work for a phony news source.