Talking out of both sides of our rosy cheeks, aren’t we Brian? Re: Louis Marinelli’s defection from NOM, his conversion into a supporter of fairness and equality, and Brian Brown’s whining:
Brown said he does not consider Marinelli a friend and that he was not an important player in the NOM organization.
“Louis was a bus driver,” Brown said. “It’s pretty hilarious, this idea that he was a top strategist for NOM. He was a part-time consultant. He has since changed his position, and people have a right to change their minds.” Brown dismissed the attention surrounding Marinelli as a “tempest in a teapot” drummed up by the gay press. But a few hours after Brown spoke to The Daily Beast, Marinelli said he received an email from the NOM president saying the organization was exploring legal action against him, alleging he violated his confidentiality agreement. Marinelli’s conclusion: “He’s trying to get me to shut up.”
Haha, a “tempest in a teapot” that you’re threatening to sue, Brian? Try again, snake.
Very glad to see Louis calling Brian out. For days I’ve known how Brian’s been threatening Louis with legal action, even while minimizing his role in the press. I can now report that Brian’s even gone so far as to tell Louis to remove all of his blog posts (as if that would even accomplish anything at this point). So if Brian’s calling this a “tempest in a teapot,” then we’re gonna go ahead and call NOM “kettle.”
Also, Brian really needs to quit with the whole “it’s pretty hilarious…that he was a top strategist” thing. Beyond the fact — THE. FACT! — that Louis reported directly to Brian Brown as a NOM employee (an independent contractor, on salary) and was the one who came up with the tour idea, Louis also took with him nearly 300k Facebook users. NOM’s attempt at a F’book reboot is essentially a pro-LGBT site! Every time its “likes” go up, more pro-equality voices come on, currently commenting at about a 9-1 clip.
This must be sending Brian Brown and Maggie Gallagher completely off the rails. That brightens my day.
Jeremy Hooper just sent me this fun link, to an mp3 of Peter LaBarbera interviewing some lady. From what I heard, there’s nothing new in it, except there’s one really funny part when they’re talking about how there are “thousands” of “ex-gays,” though Peter has no proof of this. Since Peter is insistent on believing that sexuality is an actively mutable trait, when Science has proven that it is not, until and unless he starts showing us proof that “ex-gay” men do not get/fight off erections when they see guys they’re into, he still loses. Anyway, here’s how you get to the funny part:
Let’s start out our week with something light and fun, i.e. checking in with Peter LaBarbera’s last few posts to see who/what has him all mad ‘n’ sad.
1. Personal attack on Jeremy Hooper: Peter is really, really excited that there are still a couple newspapers left that defend bigotry and hatred, so when he heard that the Manchester Union-Leader in New Hampshire was sticking to discrimination by refusing to print same-sex marriage announcements, he got a tingle in his no-nos and wrote a piece about it! Of course, to illustrate that piece, he used Jeremy Hooper’s wedding photo and slapped the word “perversion” on it.
Peter (presumably) has his own conscience and shame system to answer to. Nothing I could say here would exacerbate the questions that surely (or at least should) weigh on his and his loved ones’ minds.
2. Personal attack on and straight-up lies about Autumn Sandeen: Pete really, really doesn’t like Autumn. He dislikes her so much that he willfully and repeatedly twists the facts of her story to serve his agenda, claiming that Autumn “left [her] wife and children,” despite the fact that Autumn has repeatedly corrected the story. This is the set-up for a piece where Pete uses juvenile slurs against transgender people and sticks his fingers in his ears, referring to a genuine, widely recognized medical condition and its treatment as “sickening.”
Autumn responds thoroughly here, and ends like this:
I hope no one ever manages to shut LaBarbera up. He has the right to free speech, for sure, and he should be free to exercise it. Beyond that though, I find his over-the-top style of writing quite entertaining. And, he makes a good case, by the negative example of his bigotry of trans people, as well as lesbian, gay, and bisexual people, of the real world need for LGBT people to be treated with dignity and respect by both government and corporate America.
3. Evan Hurst and Joe Jervis are sooooooo mean. In case you missed it, Joe Jervis pointed out that Peter is on the same side as the Ku Klux Klan on a very specific issue: that of Jennifer Keeton of Augusta State University, who, like a child, wants the counseling department at the school to adjust their degree requirements for her “special needs,” i.e., her religion-based bigotry against gay people. The school told her, “No, dear,” so now, of course, she’s a Religious Right cause celebre. Peter turned Joe’s post into something it really wasn’t, as all Joe did was point out the similar goals of the two entities on the issue. I agreed with Joe.
Here comes the fun part: Peter is trying to “get back at us” by saying that Joe and I are on the same side as NAMBLA when it comes to openly gay scoutmasters. Of course, this is not true, as Joe explained on our Truth Wins Out Facebook page, and which I will explain now: Though it is distasteful and wrong that the Boy Scouts don’t allow kids’ fathers who happen to be gay to be scoutmasters, thus depriving those dads and their kids of the same opportunities that kids with straight dads have, they are a private organization and are thus completely within their rights to discriminate. The Country Club near my house is a nice little Slice of the Confederacy, as the only faces of color you’ll see on that golf course belong to employees in white suits, or possibly the Mayor on a special occasion, and they’re not too keen on Jewish members either. Is it gross? Yes. Is it a stain on our otherwise lovely neighborhood, its only benefits being its scenic nature and what its proximity does to the property values in our historic district? Yes. Are they within their rights as an exclusive private organization? Surely.
And that, children, is what you call a “nuanced position.” Wingnuts do not have nuanced positions. Everything them to them is childlike: good vs. evil, black vs. white, made-up words like “Judeo-Christian” vs. Big Mean Outside World, etc.
The rest of Peter’s piece involves taking an interesting piece written by Johann Hari, about gays in fascist movements [interesting because there have never been any heterosexuals involved in fascist movements -- it's a purely gay thing, y'all], spices it up with a little revisionist [completely made up] history from notorious bigot Scott Lively, who has his paws on more hate groups [the real, certified kind, not the "Peter things these people are mean" kind] than you’d expect imaginable from one human, and who basically handed Ugandan homophobes the rhetorical gun they needed in their campaign against gays in that country, and then he attempts to sum it up:
Homosexual radicals’ deranged attempts to link pro-family conservatives to racist fringe groups are part of their larger goal of demonizing and marginalizing “homophobic” Christians and social conservatives.
Uh, it’s really not a big leap: ”Pro-family conservatives” tend to be more defined by who/what they hate than what they actually support, and it tends to come in the form of condemnation of large groups of people. Irrational fear and hatred of other races is very, very similar to irrational fear and hatred of sexual minorities. It’s no coincidence that social conservatives cynically exploit race in their fights against reproductive health, while simultaneously believing/being worried that every Muslim is a possible terrorist, while simultaneously imagining that gay people they’ve never met having equal rights will affect their lives in any way. The only thing our equality will ever change is white fundamentalists’ self esteem, because their self-created pedestal over society, which they have enjoyed for decades, is being eroded by the advancement of minorities. The only thing that is happening is that slowly but surely, their unearned status is being brought down to size with the rest of us. And I’m sure that messes with ‘em somethin’ fierce, as we Southerners say. But their status was never merit-based in any way! There is nothing special or worthy about Fundamentalists that suggests they should have the keys to society. Indeed, when one looks at the statistics, one finds that on most “moral questions,” fundamentalists do no better than anyone else, and often do much, much worse.
Anyway, he rambles for approximately 1400 paragraphs, and even figures out a way to talk about fisting, which is like, his favorite subject besides that photographer in New Mexico who [tragedy!] had to abide by the same laws as everyone else as a business owner, who he also mentions. Oh, and he takes some time to cry and lie some more about Catholic Charities being “forced” out of business in Massachusetts. Of course, they freely chose to close up shop, unwilling as they were to follow the same laws as everyone else. [Sensing a pattern here? It's sort of like dealing with preschoolers who don't like to share, and moreover, have not had good naps that day.] It’s kind of a Wingnut Fever Dream Greatest Hits.
Finally, he asks, “Could the American state become a national, homo-fascist agent?”
Uh, I don’t know Peter. Could unicorns come to life and force us all to eat sparkly cupcakes? Could pie be any more delicious? Could puppy fur BE any softer? These are all questions, to be sure. I don’t know what kind of questions they are, but they’re certainly questions.
Read his entire million word piece if you have nothing better to do with your life.
Contact: Wayne Besen
Phone: 917-691-5118
E-Mail: wbesen@TruthWinsOut.org
Demonstration Against ‘Ex-Gay’ Group Takes On New Urgency Following LGBT Teen Suicide Crisis
PHILADELPHIA – Truth Wins Out launched the website, Lift My Luggage.org, today and announced a Saturday, Nov.6 protest against the “ex-gay” organization, The National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH), at their annual convention in Philadelphia.
The notorious “ex-gay” group is hoping that Americans have amnesia and won’t remember that its most “prominent” board member, George Rekers, was forced to resign in May. Rekers stepped down from NARTH after he was caught vacationing with a male escort he met on Rent Boy.com. When asked why he had hired the young man, Rekers said it was to, “lift his luggage.”
“As the infamous quacks at NARTH gather for their annual convention, let’s remind America that NARTH is a pseudo-scientific organization that is more about luring Rent Boys than conducting legitimate research,” said Truth Wins Out’s founder Wayne Besen. “In light of recent gay teen suicides, we must stand up and show how NARTH’s lies harm LGBT youth and create an intolerant climate where persecution, bullying, and violence occur.”
The Lift My Luggage demonstration is co-sponsored by the Equality Forum, The William Way LGBT Community Center, MCC Philadelphia, Pam Spaulding (Pam’s House Blend), Joe Jervis (Joe.My.God) and Jeremy Hooper (Good As You), Zack Ford (Zack Ford Blog). If your organization would like to consider co-sponsoring this event, please contact Wayne Besen, wbesen@truthwinsout.org.
Protest Information:
What: Protest of NARTH’s annual convention. We are asking that you bring your own luggage to the demonstration (pink luggage would be ideal).
Please consider attaching signs to the luggage such as:
NARTH = Junk Science
“Ex-Gay? No Way”
“Rent Boy Rekers”
Where: Renaissance Philadelphia Airport Hotel
500 Stevens Drive
Philadelphia, Pa.
I wrote yesterday morning that Peter LaBarbera seemed to think better of a post he had written castigating the National Organization for Marriage, having pulled it soon after it was written. In that piece, he was upset with NOM affiliate Louis Marinelli for tweeting that he didn’t care about DADT repeal, and that their goal was solely to keep marriage from the gays.
Wayne Besen’s hateful sidekick over at the comically-named Truth Wins Out, Evan Hurst, speculates that AFTAH pulled a post from today because we did not want to offend National Organization for Marriage (NOM). Yes, and no. We pulled the post because a Tweet we thought was produced by NOM was actually put up by a NOM ally, Louis Marinelli. The tweet, shown at right, is unfortunate – coming as it does from a pro-family leader who should know better – but much less so than if it had been produced by the leading advocacy group for traditional marriage.
Yeah, I’m so hateful, Pete. I spent my week speaking out on behalf of kids who have been bullied, literally, to death, partially as a result of “pro-family” teachings which create a climate that fosters a sense of self-hatred in innocent children. Such a meanie, I am.
To be clear, though, and here, Peter, I’m trying to help: Jeremy Hooper conclusively showed in August that Louis Marinelli is not simply a NOM ally, but indeed a NOM strategist, closely linked with their organization. Louis Marinelli IS a representative of NOM. So your first post was not in error, at least on that level.
So yes, Pete: that tweet might as well have the name NOM written directly on it. Now, if the NOM bigwigs have a different opinion and you want to suss that out from them, go for it.
How do you feel about the spate of gay teen suicides reported this month, Peter?
I sorta had a feeling this was going to happen. Jeremy started, fought (and won) the good fight (and then GLAAD stepped in) when the Today Show’s wedding contest began and was limited to heterosexual couples, but we still won’t be seeing any gay couples among the finalists:
After GLAAD targeted the Today show for not allowing same-sex couples to participate in their “Modern Love” wedding contest, NBC relented and agreed to include them.
But the four finalists were announced and introduced today – and there are no same-sex couples.
Excellent article in today’s New York Times on the business of LGBT weddings:
Martha Stewart Weddings, a publication of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, had already broken precedent in its winter 2010 issue, with a pictorial that showed Jeremy Hooper and Andrew Shulman (Yay, Jeremy and Andrew!!!) stomping on glass and sharing a kiss.
In the six years since Massachusetts broke the barrier, there have been an estimated 40,000 legal same-sex marriages in the United States, according to the Williams Institute for Sexual Orientation Law and Public Policy at the University of California, Los Angeles. A comparable number of gay Americans have married in other countries, and an additional 84,000 couples may be in civil unions or domestic partnerships, according to the institute.
I referred to this below, but now we have the video. In a pathetic attempt to appear “fair,” CNN decided to bring Richard Cohen, noted expert on nothing, on to spew his disproven nonsense. He claims that he’s helped “thousands” of men and women “overcome” their homosexuality, and change into heterosexuals, a specious claim that even most of the anti-science zealots on his own side have given up. He uses a “factsheet” [sic] from a group calling itself the American College of Pediatricians in order to lend credence to his claims that homosexuality is caused by Richard Cohen’s mom, whom he has forgiven through the holy power of tennis racket and pillow. Jeremy Hooper has done the legwork in exposing the “American College of Pediatricians” as a group of like-minded fringe anti-scientific, non-credentialed wingnuts attempting to pose as experts by using such a smarty-pants sounding name. Also, there’s a plug for NARTH, the group which lies and claims to be secular, while being wholly staffed by extremist gay-obsessed conservatives Christians. The dishonesty of these people is stunning, really.
Note, also, that the subject matter they brought Richard in to discuss has nothing to do with Richard’s for-profit business. Nothing.
On the subject of Maggie Gallagher’s performance art at Southern Evangelical Seminary:
Marriage has, can, will, and should change with the times. Nobody should understand this more than a Catholic woman who’s married to a Hindu man who is not the father of her out-of-wedlock child.
Snap.
He has video and more commentary, too.
I’ll try to pop in and write things here and there, but my blogging may be light this week, so fair warning.
He seems to be genuinely burned by the fact that he’s being held accountable for his words and deeds over the past years, his Americans For Truth [sic] website having been newly classified as a hate site by the Southern Poverty Law Center. The designation, of course, was a long time coming, and as Jeremy Hooper has been reminding us, this is not the first time Peter LaBarbera’s dishonesty and vitriol has been recognized by the SPLC:
Back when Peter was the executive director of the Illinois Family Institute, Pete gave what the SPLC called a “full-throated endorsement of [Paul] Cameron” when he, in a piece on the discredited researcher’s work, said: “Paul Cameron’ work has been targeted for ridicule by homosexual activists, and he’ been demonized by the left”…”but this should not discount his findings.“). This endorsement of Cameron earned the IFI a place on the SPLC’s dubious “hate groups” list in the anti-gay category: Solely because of Peter’s actions. After current IFIer Laurie Higgins (a major LaBarbera pal) took down the offending piece and pressed the SPLC for removal, the civil rights group did eventually remove IFI from their list. Because as we said: The SPLC’s threshold is not willy-nilly, designed add anyone who does anything anti-gay. A group or person has to do something particular, and in the case of IFI it was Pete’s action that did it.
Right. And Peter STILL defends Paul Cameron. Not only that, but he also has defended the perpetrators of the anti-gay genocide legislation in Uganda, pleading that those of us who have shone a light on the goings-on in that country are afflicted with “activist arrogance.”
But you see, this is Peter’s game: He says godawful things, he maligns an entire community of people based on trumped up accusations against a few, he lies and tells his readers (whoever they are) that being gay, itself, is a danger to society, etc., and then when he’s called it on it, he cries “But I’m just a nice boy who loves Jesus!”
Give us all, collectively, a break, Peter.
Now let’s go through his post and see what he had to say. As I mentioned in the headline, Peter thinks we at TWO should be on the list too, based on well, one time Wayne yelled on a megaphone, you see, and this is just as bad as the Holocaust, because…
Energetic ideological debate is one thing ‚Äî and pointed and colorful rhetoric flows in both directions (it’ not called a “Culture War” for nothing) ‚Äî but I can’t even imagine screaming through a bullhorn into the window of a “gay” church. Yet this is precisely what homosexual activist Wayne Besen did in Boston last year ‚Äî to protest an ex-gay seminar designed for pastors. Are you investigating his group, Truth Wins Out, as a potential “hate” group? If not, why not?
Oh, he’s playing so innocent, and so cute with the facts. It’s been covered here before, but since Peter posts his favorite picture of Wayne Besen In Shorts With a Megaphone once a week or so, and since he never tells the story of what was actually happening there, let’s just cover it again. This is from our press release on the event, last year:
Truth Wins Out joined local Boston GLBT advocates to demonstrate against Exodus International, which hosted a training seminar on Tuesday to teach people to “pray away the gay.” The protest was held at the site of the “ex-gay” symposium — the Park St. Church.
“We thank Join the Impact MA for coordinating an effective response to the damaging misinformation Exodus International peddles to vulnerable people,” said TWO Executive Director Wayne Besen. “Speaking up and educating the public is the first step in exposing the ex-gay myth. I was honored to be part of this bold action.”
The protest, at one point, moved to the burial grounds of some of America’ Founding Fathers, which was next to the church where the seminar was held. The radical, anti-gay organization, Massachusetts Family Institute (FMI) filmed a poorly shot video of the protest. Interestingly, their own video shows that protesters had not “desecrated” the graveyard, as they had stated in a press release.
“It is amazing that people who claim to represent ethics and morality would not only lie — but capture their dishonesty on videotape,” said Besen. “What the Massachusetts Family did was reprehensible and they should be ashamed of their blatant lies.”
Indeed, MassResistance (ANOTHER SPLC hate group — nice company, Pete keeps, isn’t it?) reported the protest in utter hysterics:
Tuesday afternoon, April 28, several major homosexual activist figures, including a prominent state employee, led a screaming demonstration to terrorize a downtown Boston church while it was holding a peaceful religious training event inside. Using a bullhorn, they illegally trampled through an adjoining Revolutionary War-era cemetery in order to be directly outside the church’s windows. Despite numerous apparent violations of the law, the Boston Police talked with them but refused to make any arrests.
(…)
And the Boston Police Department went right along with it. There were obvious violations of the law, including at the very least (1) a clear violation of the Massachusetts Civil Rights statute (2) holding a demonstration (in the graveyard!) without a permit; and (3) creating a public disturbance. But the one uniformed Boston Police officer and two plainclothes officers who were there made no effort to arrest anyone. The uniformed officer asked them a few questions and went on his way (see our video). The Boston Police Department told us yesterday that there were no arrests in the incident.
Uh…huh. No arrests were made. But MassResistance (again, a certified hate group) gnashed their teeth, beat their breasts, and wailed that it was all a conspiracy, because the Boston Police went along with it! Right. Everyone is out to get them, surely.
Or could it just be that protests are not illegal on public property, and that it was non-violent, so the police had no reason to arrest anyone?
Note that these hysterical hate groups accused the gay protesters of “desecrating” a cemetery, and let what they’re really saying sink in: that the mere presence of gay people on public property is, itself, desecration. Does that sound like a hate group to you? Because it sounds like a hate group to me.
So, to sum up, the protest had the following characteristics:
1. Was legal.
2. There was no church service going on, but instead a meeting of leaders from Exodus, who had just come back, incidentally, from the anti-gay conference in Uganda where Scott Lively (ALSO on the hate group list) stated that gays caused the Rwandan genocide.
3. Those protesting were on public property.
4. No arrests were made.
Oh, by the way, would you like to know what Wayne was saying into that megaphone that day? “Uganda!”
Considering what’s happened over the past year with “Uganda,” would you say Truth Wins Out is looking more hateful or less hateful than the man who is currently bitching about being recognized as a grade-A hatemonger?
Anyway, that’s that. Let’s look at the outline of Pete’s letter to Mark Potok of the SPLC.
Playing nice nice:
Am I and Americans For Truth opposed to homosexual behavior and any activism seeking to advance homosexuality/bisexuality/transsexuality as normative and acceptable? Absolutely. Do I “hate” people? Not at all. In fact, I am constantly responding to (often vicious) emails from pro-gay activists who write in to AFTAH via our website with my message that we can disagree with hating each other. That is the essence of civility and true tolerance, IMO [in my opinion] ‚Äî i.e., tolerating opinions with which we disagree while continuing to aggressively debate our viewpoints.
Neglects to mention that he posts the meanest letters he gets as a way to broadbrush LGBT people as “the reel haturs,” yet never posts these nice conversations he supposedly has.
Concern trolling:
I don’t expect you to sympathize with AFTAH’ views, but from a practical standpoint, you must know that your credibility is waning among people whom the SPLC needs to reach to stay viable. America is a center-right country (perhaps many liberals would say centrist) ‚Äî and while you may have success in fund-raising by reaching out predominantly to the Left, you cannot build credibility with unfair, politicized attacks on religious conservatives that appeal to base, uninformed stereotypes.
Oh yes, that’s right. Peter is so concerned for the credibility of the SPLC. Additionally, his suggestion that he’s just like the other evangelical groups who oppose LGBT people is asinine. There’s a reason Focus on the Family is not on the list, while AFTAH and MassResistance are. Focus is obnoxious, and they play cute with the truth, but they don’t tend to cross the line into the sort of bilious hatred Peter spews out on a daily basis. (Do I need to provide a corroborating link for that, or do you just want to set up a Google alert with his name and see what the hell he says every time he gets on the computer?)
As Pam Spaulding would say, protect your keyboards for this next part, folks:
What about the hateful rhetorical attacks against me and AFTAH and nasty shibboleths that come routinely from the Left? “Porno Pete”? Honestly, this is the type of malicious, hateful slander I experience on a daily basis (it is analogous in its ugliness to Phelps’ use of the term “Fag”).
OMG. He’s comparing “Porno Pete,” a silly name that we sometimes use, because “Pete” has an insane predilection for posting albums full of photographs of leathersex events (as a way to smear, again, all LGBT people) which are decidedly Not Safe For Work, all the time, to the term “fag,” which, as Jeremy Hooper points out, is used in virtually every gay bashing attack:
The word “f*g” is among the most heinous on the landscape, used in most every gay bashing to ever occur. To relate it to a silly web nickname that applies to a supposed affection for pornography (something that many would gladly own up to)? And to compare those who use the silly name to the Phelps family from Westboro Baptist, who protest people’s funerals and tell the parents that their child is burning in hell?!?! That is completely out-of-line!
Peter and his pal Matt are trying with all of their might to spin the script so that gay activists are the “haters.” It is a completely futile exercise. Not a single one of us who fight for equality want to be doing this. We do this because folks like Pete have demanded it of us, and we’re scared of where we’d be if we didn’t resist the onslaught! The on the socially conservative side declared this so-called “culture war” against our inclusion in the spectrum of normalcy, which puts them in the aggressor seat from day one. Some folks like Peter, who so things like personally attack people’s weddings, have just taken it to a whole other level!
Uh yeah. And if you don’t know what Jeremy is talking about when he says “personally attack people’s weddings,” it was Jeremy’s wedding, and Peter sent him a personal attack e-mail the week of. Click the clicky to read about it.
Peter needs to get over it. He earned the nickname “Porno Pete,” and a silly nickname is not “hatred.” It’s a silly nickname. Let us know when it’s used as a slur against an entire group of, um, Porno Petes.
Anyway, Peter also wants the SPLC to investigate Joe.My.God as a hate group, because Joe makes fun of Peter sometimes. Oh, and also ACT-UP, which really wouldn’t have had to exist if the Reagan administration and social conservatives hadn’t been absolutely evil in their misinformation and neglect of the HIV/AIDS issue as it arose suddenly in the ’80s.
More faux-victimization:
In fact, over the years there have been numerous assaults by pro-homosexual militants against people of faith and churches ‚Äî do you recall the attack against Hamilton Square Baptist Church in San Francisco in 1993 in which pro-gay activists were literally pounding on the doors of the church? What about ACT UP’ invasion of St. Patrick’ Cathedral in New York City in 1989, or more recent attempts by homosexual activists to intimidate supporters of Prop 8 and traditional marriage?
Goddammit, does Peter even know what the word “assault” means? Because banging on the doors of a church doesn’t leave a trail of blood. We on the pro-LGBT/pro-equality/pro-human side can, unfortunately, provide a list a mile long of LGBT people who have been beaten and murdered simply for who they are. And Porno Pete is going to bitch about the fact that a couple of church services were disrupted?
There’s a bit of wishful thinking as Peter brings his letter to a close:
Rest assured that SPLC’ reckless mischaracterization of AFTAH has touched off deep resentment within the pro-family, conservative community.
Actually, no. Peter is upset that there is very little resentment among the part of the greater “pro-family” community that retains a semblance of respect in this country. Peter has seen over the past year, up close, that he’s unwanted in his own movement, that he embarrasses his movement. Peter and his friends were shoved to the sidelines during the anti-gay fight in Maine, because they were deemed too embarrassing to be associated with. In fact, that was probably Yes on 1′s smartest play. That they misrepresented their own views in an effort to appear un-hateful to Mainers, that they shoved their most embarrassing players (Peter, Mike Heath, etc.) into Siberia, may be why they were able to inch over the top. It’s no longer socially acceptable in this country to espouse the kinds of views Peter LaBarbera emits onto his keyboard every day. Peter is upset because he knows that being on the SPLC list pushes him even further into Siberia from his own movement.
But he deserves the honor. Aside from Matt Barber (who’s probably not too far away from being on the list himself, but I won’t conjecture), the only people in the “pro-family” movement who will even have Peter are the others on the hate group list. He’s in the company he deserves, and in the bed he’s made for himself.
That’s why he’s literally begging to be taken off the list. Not only is his zealous hatred of gay people passionate, but it’s also his livelihood.
But the fact that Peter can’t control himself enough, can’t restrain his own hatred, his lies, his fake victimization — none of that is our fault. It’s not the SPLC’s fault. It’s not Joe Jervis’s fault. It’s not Jeremy Hooper’s fault. It’s not Wayne Besen’s fault. It sure as hell isn’t my fault.
It’s Peter’s fault.
UPDATE: Joe Jervis has also responded to Peter’s desire for Joe.My.God to also be on the hate group list:
LaBarbera clearly doesn’t like my near-daily habit of “smearing” Christian conservatives by quoting their idiocy verbatim. They hang themselves by their own words, Petey, and I rarely need to do more than provide a photo and a headline. If that’s hate, you need to speak to my team of writers: Matt Barber, Tony Perkins, Brian Brown, Harry Jackson, Pat Robertson, James Dobson….and YOU.
Peter Hargmier: He talks of a youtube clip of Mayor Cory Booker responding to a question about gay marriage.
He nails it!
Enjoy! :D
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4Z7tl7Vy8U...
Michael: "But to protest the teaching of these facts is little different from protesting their very existence; it is like opposing...
Gary (NJ): Dr. Coldfinger? as Joy Behar says. >:P...
Priya Lynn: Mark said "The summation of their entire psychology: If I hate myself in the same way that you hate me,...
Steve: Also popular among libertarians: it's ok to deny people their rights as long it's a state doing it (as opposed...
Let’s start out our week with something light and fun, i.e. checking in with Peter LaBarbera’s last few posts to see who/what has him all mad ‘n’ sad.
