 |
 |
|
Compiled By GayToday
Washington, D.C. -- Americans for Truth President Peter LaBarbera criticized three TV stations in the nation's capital yesterday for refusing to run a so-called pro-family "Truth in Love" commercial featuring people he calls, without embarrassment, "a former homosexual who has AIDS and his mother."
Americans for Truth is a front group that promotes the views of religious fundamentalists. Pretending to concern itself with the health of the American family, this organization, like its allies (Focus on the Family, Coral Ridge Ministries, Center for Reclaiming America and The Family Research Council) spends primary energies and monies denouncing same-sex love and affection.
"The potential risks of 'reparative therapy' are great, including depression, anxiety and self-destructive behavior, since therapist alignment with societal prejudices against homosexuality may reinforce self-hatred already experienced by the patient... the APA opposes any psychiatric treatment, such as 'reparative' or 'conversion' therapy which is based on the assumption that homosexuality per se is a mental disorder or based on a prior assumption that the patient should change his/her sexual orientation." ABC's Washington, D.C. affiliate WJLA-TV, FOX affiliate WTTG-TV and CBS affiliate WUSA-TV all rejected the medically-discredited ad. In the ad, Johnston's mother says, "If you love your children, love them enough to let them know the truth, (that) there is hope for change" for homosexuals. Johnston asserts he overcame homosexuality through Jesus Christ. A representative from FOX's WTTG-TV said the ad was "too controversial," according to Janet Folger, national director for the Center for Reclaiming America, which produced the Johnston ad on behalf of a coalition of 18 'pro-family' hate groups, including Americans for Truth. The other two stations gave similar reasons for denying the ad, Folger announced.
Only UPN-affiliate WDCA-TV accepted the Johnston ad, which is running
between 7:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. this week in the Washington, D.C. area.
LaBarbera's venom seemed reserved especially for FOX. He complained bitterly about a show of affection between two women. "It's interesting that FOX finds it 'too controversial' to run an ad showing hope for homosexuals, he said, demanding much stricter standards for TV's voyeurs, "but it wasn't too controversial to show a passionate lesbian kiss on its program Party of Five." "The fact is," LaBarbera pontificated, "the testimonials of formerly homosexual men and ex-lesbians are the Achilles' heel of the homosexual movement." Mr. LaBarbera neglected to reveal, however, the opinions of the nation's major mental health organizations. Psychiatrists, psychoanalysts and psychologists, earlier in this century had once attempted "Ex-Gay" therapies but now pointedly reject them as unhealthy, dangerous and ineffective. Fundamentalists, preferring their dogmas to medical science, critique the medical establishment as having been victimized by "homosexual conspirators". The Washington Blade reported last November that representatives from the four major TV networks -- FOX, ABC, CBS and NBC – would "most likely" reject the misnamed "Truth in Love" TV ads. The Blade quoted Rick Gitter, vice president of advertising standards and program compliance at NBC, as saying that the network exercises "special sensitivity" when presenting material dealing with "sexual orientation," as occurs when discussing various races and creeds. NBC said: "Our policy is to avoid damaging or demeaning stereotypes." LaBarbera, infuriated by such talk, took his most careful aim at the media's reporters, insisting "most reporters are biased in favor of the 'gay' position." |
