Half-Finished Building To Be Sold In What Museum of Broadcast Communications Calls, “A Very Disappointing Development”
NEW YORK – A month after protesters picketed its annual dinner for inducting Focus on the Family’s James Dobson into its Radio Hall of Fame, the Chicago-based Museum of Broadcast Communications (MBC) announced today that it was selling its half-finished building.
“It is with deep regret that I announce the MBC board on December 10th voted to sell its half-finished building at State and Kinzie in downtown Chicago,” said Bruce DuMont, Founder, President and CEO of the MBC. “This is a very disappointing development.”
“Pandering to extremists doesn’t pay and the Museum of Broadcast Communications suffered a catastrophic blow to its reputation by honoring Focus on the Family’s James Dobson,” said Wayne Besen, Executive Director of Truth Wins Out (TWO). “Bruce DuMont hoped to cash in by catering to the deep pockets of the religious right, but his prayers weren’t answered. Truth Wins Out wants to thank the hundreds of people who came out to protest in freezing weather – your efforts and determination paid off.” (Read More)
On Nov. 8, Truth Wins Out and the Gay Liberation Network joined a coalition of local, state and national groups to protest Focus on the Family’s James Dobson’s induction into the Radio Hall of Fame.
A crowd of several hundred people came out to demonstrate on a frigid night in Chicago. They were also energized by Proposition 8 being passed in California, which prohibited same-sex couples from marrying.
Several hundred people protested in front of the Renaissance Hotel this evening in downtown Chicago against the Radio Hall of Fame for inducting Focus on the Family’s James Dobson. Focus on the Family had spent $800,000 on Proposition 8 to stop gay people form marrying in California.
It is mind-blowing, that the Radio Hall of Fame honored a leader of Proposition 8. Dobson put his Media Empire and vast amounts of money into the service of denying equal marriage rights for same-sex couples. And, the Radio Hall of Fame reacted by giving this demagogue a trophy. Truth Wins Out and the Gay Liberation Network thank all who attended the rally this evening.
Activists Step Up Campaign Against Award to “America’s #1 Hater of Gays”
CHICAGO – The November 8th visit of Focus on the Family’s James Dobson to this city is being met with a wave of revulsion from a who’s who of local gay organizations and activists, with the three main LGBT papers in the city running full-page signature ads against Dobson in this week’s editions.
The Chicago Free Press, Windy City Times and Gay Chicago each have ads denouncing Chicago’s Museum of Broadcast Communications for honoring Dobson with an award on November 8th. The signatories encourage the LGBT community and its allies to protest at 5:30 PM that night in front of the building where the award will be given, the Chicago Renaissance Hotel, 1 W. Wacker Drive, Chicago.
“It is unconscionable that any public institution would honor someone who has devoted his life to denying a whole section of the community legal equality, and promotes slanders against that community,” said Bob Schwartz of the Gay Liberation Network, which along with TruthWinsOut.com, are the principal organizers of the protest. “Someone who does that is a hater, pure and simple, no matter how much they try to excuse their pro-discrimination rhetoric with so-called ‘Christian’ rationalizations.”
For more information about the ads, call the Gay Liberation Network (www.GayLiberation.net) at 773.209.1187 More information can also be found at www.DumpDobson.com and www.TruthWinsOut.com
Coalition To Protest Awards Dinner If Undeserved Award Is Not Rescinded
NEW YORK — Truth Wins Out (TWO) launched a new website today, DumpDobson.com, that calls on the Museum of Broadcast Communications to reverse its decision to honor Focus on the Family’s James Dobson in its Radio Hall of Fame. Unless the museum withdraws its pledge to induct Dobson, TWO will join Equality Illinois and the Gay Liberation Network to protest the awards ceremony, Saturday, Nov. 8, (5:30 PM – 7:30 PM), at the Renaissance Chicago Hotel.
“There is still time to reverse the reckless and irresponsible decision to honor James Dobson in the Radio Hall of Fame,” said Truth Wins Out’s Executive Director Wayne Besen. “It is simply unconscionable that the Museum is giving its imprimatur to a demagogue who has profited from divisive and discriminatory rhetoric. If the museum wants to regain its respect and credibility, it will choose to dump Dobson.”
“We believe that you and your associates at the museum must be aware of Dobson’s contribution to anti-gay hate, and yet you chose to ignore, or perhaps even applaud, his harm to our community,” wrote Andy Thayer, co-founder of the Chicago-based Gay Liberation Network in an open letter to Bruce DuMont, president of the Museum of Broadcast Communications. “Museums should be places that celebrate the best of human endeavor, not the worst.”
To fight back against this offensive decision, DumpDobson.com is asking fair-minded people to take four actions.
E-Mail Radio Hall of Fame CEO Bruce Dumont, brucedumont@museum.tv, and urge him to withdraw Dobson’s honor.
Sign our letter to the Radio Hall of Fame urging them to reverse their foolhardy decision to celebrate Dobson’s shameful and ignoble career.
Dobson’s ugly rhetoric is so polarizing that former House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-TX) said that, “Dobson and his gang of thugs are real nasty bullies.” Focus on the Family co-founder Gil Alexander Moegerle said that, “I believe Dobson-style politics have been inept, simplistic, exclusionary, divisive and alarmingly sectarian…James Dobson’s political style has been one of relentlessly demonizing his adversaries.”
Dobson told The Daily Oklahoman on Oct. 23, 2004 that, “Homosexuals are not monogamous. They want to destroy the institution of marriage. It will destroy marriage. It will destroy the Earth.” Dobson also told the Daily Oklahoman that Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) is “a God’s people hater. I don’t know if he hates God, but he hates God’s people.”
In the past two years, at least seven researchers have accused Dobson of manipulating or cherry picking their results to back his anti-gay teachings. Letters and videos documenting the concerns of these respected professors can be viewed on RespectMyResearch.org.
Dobson also profits from intolerance. He founded a ministry, Love Won Out, that promises to “cure” homosexuals – even though the so-called “ex-gay” leader of Love Won Out, John Paulk, was photographed in a gay bar. Dobson continues to promote dishonest psychological theories about gay people that are rejected by every respected medical and mental health association in America, including the American Psychological Association and the American Psychiatric Association.
Truth Wins Out, which operates DumpDobson.com, is a non-profit organization that counters right wing propaganda, exposes the “ex-gay” myth and educates America about gay life. For more information, visit www.TruthWinsOut.org. The Gay Liberation Network is a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered direct action group
Nearly 3,000 Focus on the Family supporters — mostly CitizenLink readers — have sent e-mails to the Radio Hall of Fame, thanking the organization for standing by the election of Dr. James Dobson’s radio program. Some gay activists want the honor taken away from Focus on the Family.
Truth Wins Out urgently needs your help to block the induction and to send a clear message that the radio industry must not honor scientific fraud, bigotry, and divisive anti-family values.
Focus on the Family Admits That Dobson Twists Research, Says TWO
NEW YORK – Truth Wins Out (TWO) today condemned the introduction of a United States Senate resolution to “congratulate” Focus on the Family’s James Dobson for his selection into the Radio Hall of Fame. Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) sponsored the controversial measure that says Dobson’s program has “benefited the lives of families and individuals across the United States and around the world.”
“It is disgraceful that Senators would consider congratulating James Dobson for his reprehensible radio broadcasts that damage families and promote discrimination,” said Truth Wins Out’s Executive Director Wayne Besen. “Honoring a man who distorts research and misrepresents facts sends the wrong message to youth who are looking for role models. Do we really want young people to think lying and cheating are acceptable ways to promote a viewpoint?” (Read More)
I knew something was up when I received more than a dozen e-mails last night from irate religious fanatics who insulted me in their special “loving” way. To their credit, these zealots were slightly more polite than the despicable people who sent 50+ hate mails following my appearance on The O’Reilly Factor the night before. Most of these lovely folks wished me a painful death from AIDS or an eternity in Hell. While such letters don’t bother me, as it is part of the job – I’m always impressed by conservative manners and morality.
I soon learned that the new batch of e-mails were generated from Focus on the Family, which had launched a sleazy personal attack against me and my integrity on their online tabloid Citizen Link. I’ve often said that a Focus on the Family ad for the website should read: “Citizen Link: For People Who Don’t Think.” Here is what the tabloid said:
It looks like there will be a few uninvited guests when Dr. James Dobson officially is inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in November. Gay activist Wayne Besen, who reportedly preferred Howard Stern to win the popular vote, plans to protest the Chicago event. He’s called Dr. Dobson “an extremist who has built his empire on the backs of gays and lesbians” and “a bigot who distorts scientific research. Gary Schneeberger, vice president for media and public relations (PR) at Focus on the Family, called Besen “a PR pro of the first order.” “He puts words into sentences very colorfully,” Schneeberger said. “And that attracts the media’s attention. Unfortunately, he’s a little less adept at putting truth into sentences.”
The most outrageous lie told in the story was that it was gay activists, not James Dobson, who distorted research. I have written two books and hundreds of press releases and articles, yet I have not once been accused by a scientist of distorting his or her work. Meanwhile, Dobson has been taken to the woodshed by seven scientists in two years for twisting their science to fit his version of Scripture. Talk about spin! Here is what Focus on the Falsehoods had to say:
As for “distorting research,” Schneeberger said it’s the gay activists who are doing the distorting.
In 2006, Dr. Dobson was invited to write an opinion piece for TIME magazine about the benefits of traditional marriage to children and society. In the article, Dr. Dobson pointed to a handful of scientific studies that found mothers and fathers parent differently.
“He never said the scientists agreed with his conclusion that gay marriage is bad for society,” Schneeberger said. “He merely said their data could be used to reach his conclusion — which is 100 percent true, but something the scientists didn’t appreciate because of their ideological leanings.”
Here are the facts: The seven scientists from three countries who said that Dobson distorted their work were not so-called gay activists. Indeed, I have no idea about their political leanings any more than Dobson does. When I cold called each scientist to let them know Dobson bastardized their work, they did not even know who I was. Yet, they were grateful at the opportunity to set the record straight and upbraid Double-Talk Dobson for manipulating their research.
Clearly, Dobson is the one lying, not me. By saying otherwise, Focus on the Family is bearing false witness. They are also trying to shoot the messenger (me) because they can’t stand up to the seven scientists who accused Dobson of misrepresenting their studies for political gain.
Memo to Focus – this is not about me, this is about Dobson refusing to address the concerns of these scientists. These esteemed doctors ALL tried to address Focus on the Family and they were met with silence. What is Focus on the Family so afraid of? Why won’t they take the calls or answer the letters from the very scientists that they misquote?
Make no mistake – what Dobson did was lowbrow. He wanted to make the point that gay people are inherently worthless, so he cherry picked work from respected researchers to make it look like their secular, scientific conclusions bolstered his religious opinions. As a former child psychologist, he has the training to splice and dice this legitimate research to make it appear as if it supported his erroneous and unsubstantiated conclusions. Thus, it is fair to conclude that Dobson knew exactly what he was doing and therefore his distortions were likely deliberate.
Dobson should apologize for his outrageously immoral behavior. Notice that in the Citizen Link article, he did not mention that there were SEVEN researchers who took him to task in a period of two years. Notice, that he and his PR puppet Gary Schneeberger did not link to any of Truth Wins Out’s videos.
By withholding such crucial information, Focus on the Family ensured that their members who read the tabloid story were unable to judge the veracity of Dobson’s claims. Leave it to Focus on the Family to give their fans half the story and a quarter of the facts so they are unable to come to their own conclusions. Sometimes, it seems this organization disrespects their own members and donors, even more than the gay community.
Focus on the Family must realize that Truth Wins Out is determined to expand its Respect My Research program in the coming year. We are only going to make lying more difficult for this organization. Dobson and Schneeberger are playing a game they are not going to win – as the Truth is a powerful weapon that can overcome the money-changer amounts of money that flow through their luxurious castle in Colorado Springs.
In its latest defense of untruth, Focus on the Family today falsely portrayed James Dobson as sole founder of Focus on the Family and affirmed Dobson’s distortions of scientific research. (Read More)
This month, with the ten-week public Internet voting period nearly over, he got wind of a more troubling protest. A statement arrived from the gay advocacy group Truth Wins Out, along with several hundred e-mails, demanding that the list be purged of a nominee no one had mentioned up to that point: Focus on the Family, the radio ministry of right-wing pundit James Dobson.
This is not a controversy DuMont needs. He’s been struggling for years to reopen the Museum of Broadcast Communications, which he founded in 1987 and ran from 1992 to 2003 at the Chicago Cultural Center. The museum’s new home at State and Kinzie has been stalled out in mid-rehab since May 2006. DuMont, who blames the state for withholding $6 million he says it promised him, continues his fund-raising efforts, and the $500-a-plate hall of fame induction dinner, scheduled for November 8 this year, is one of them. So he watched with concern as TWO rallied opposition to Dobson in the gay community and Dobson, who can reach 2.5 million supporters with a single e-mail blast, fought back.
The contest closed July 15 with more than 70,000 votes cast. When they were tallied, Focus on the Family had won the nationally syndicated broadcasters category, beating out Dr. Laura Schlessinger, Bob Costas, and Howard Stern. DuMont announced that the public had made its choice and the hall of fame would stand by it.
But it wasn’t over for the anti-Dobson forces. They’ve mounted a new campaign to get the museum to disqualify Focus on the Family before the induction.
With a gift of $35 to Truth Wins Out, you can receive an autographed copy of "Anything But Straight: Unmasking the Scandals and Lies Behind the Ex-Gay Myth."
NEW YORK – A month after protesters picketed its annual dinner for inducting Focus on the Family’s James Dobson into its Radio Hall of Fame, the Chicago-based Museum of Broadcast Communications (MBC) announced today that it was selling its half-finished building.
