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By Bill Berkowitz
During the past few years, particularly since her conversion to Orthodox Judaism, her commentaries have become even more acidic, especially regarding political issues. She's lashed out at many progressive organizations and movements including the American Library Association, which she claims supports easy access to pornography in libraries, advocates of reproductive rights, and most especially, gays and lesbians, who she has labeled on more than one occasion, "biological errors." In general, she began to line up her views with the radical right's social agenda, becoming the poster girl for several Christian Right organizations.
Organizers of the campaign (see StopDr.Lautra.com for daily updates) have experienced several unexpected successes in recent weeks. Some high-profile potential sponsors, including Proctor & Gamble, United Airlines, and Xerox are refusing to advertise on the new television program. Once the companies decide not to advertise in a potentially hostile or controversial environment, they must withstand an enormous amount of pressure from Dr. Laura supporters and the Religious Right. (A few weeks ago when I called the Proctor & Gamble hotline to register support for its decision, the operator told me that she was overwhelmed by number of phone calls opposed to the company's decision--some of which, she confessed, were downright nasty). Even the increasingly outrageous Dr. Fred Phelps, whose claim to fame is the disgraceful picketing of the funerals of gay people, got into the act. Phelps called P&G's decision "caving in to fags" www.godhatesfags.com . Although several Religious Right leaders have met with P&G leaders, it appears that the company will stick to its decision-at least for now. Dr. Laura has even crossed borders, making headlines in Canada as well. (I have yet to see any reports from Mexico). Not too long ago, the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council condemned Schlessinger for what it called "abusively discriminatory violations of Canada's broadcast code." Stations that continue to broadcast her program were told to both censor her anti-gay comments and let listeners know about the council's ruling. Back in the U.S., Dr. Laura is this summer's media magnet. Stories are appearing in many media venues. Several right-wing organizations have vigorously taken up her defense. Peter LaBarbera's Americans for Truth about Homosexuality, "dedicated to opposing the homosexual activist movement," recently issued a press release headlined "Americans for Truth About Homosexuality Exposes Anti-Dr. Laura Group GLAAD for Role in 'Transgender' Conference that Featured Workshops on Sadism, Breast Removal for Girls."
Right-wing columnists are loading up their pens for Dr. Laura, arguing that by advocating a boycott of Dr. Laura, the gay rights movement are initiators of intolerance. (How quickly the right has forgotten its well-publicized attempts to scare-off advertisers to ABC's television program Ellen, and its Disney boycott, organized in part because of Disney's decent treatment of its gay employees). Marvin Olasky, George W. Bush's "compassionate conservatism" guru, defended Dr. Laura in a late-May Austin-American column and The New York Post's Rod Dreher, former reporter for the Unification Church-owned Washington Times, claimed that there's a new "gay McCarthyism" that threatens us all. Terence P. Jeffrey, writing in the conservative weekly Human Events, argued that San Francisco, his hometown "could have used someone like Dr. Laura Schlessinger about 25 years ago...[who] may have arrested the decline that put San Francisco where it is today." Dr. Laura defended herself to Katie Couric on NBC's Today program and explained herself to Bill O'Reilly on Fox's The O'Reilly Factor. On the June 15 edition of the Newshour with Jim Lehrer, Dr. Laura finally made it to public television. Terence Smith led off a panel discussion on Dr. Laura by asking, "Does radio host 'Dr. Laura' Schlessinger propagate hate? Should she be able to take her views to television?" Last week's edition of Time magazine contained a lengthy interview with Schlessinger who discussed her current travails, as well as her new book Parenthood by Proxy. In most of her interviews Dr. Laura is in turn in denial and feisty. This time around she confesses that "I've cried more times than I would like to admit." "It's astonishing to have your name smeared with such vitriol," she says, "I wouldn't wish it on people I dislike." She goes on to deny having it in for gay people, adding that "not being able to relate normally to a member of the opposite sex is some kind of error. I do not see that as insulting at all. It is a statement of biological fact." This, despite the mountain of transcripts that GLAAD has collected documenting her comments. Time also asks her if she regrets any of her comments. She goes on the offensive with a non-apologetic apology: "I regret that my words were taken out of context, distorted and lied about so people were hurt from the lies. But that's not my action. Any time I was on the air, I had context, clarity and compassion." Dr. Laura has claimed that her views about homosexuality is in line with her religious beliefs-based on sound biblical interpretation. This line of reasoning was hysterically lampooned in a widely circulated "Letter to Dr. Laura" on the Internet. The anonymous writer asks Dr. Laura's advice about how to comply with several other Biblical passages including: "I would like to sell my daughter into slavery, as is suggested in Exodus 21:7. What would be a fair price for her?" and "Leviticus 25:44 states that I may buy slaves from the nations that are around us. A friend of mine claims that this applies to Mexicans, but not Canadians. Can she clarify?" Gay Today recently reported more bad news for Dr. Laura. A new poll conducted by Harris Interactive and Witeck-Combs Communications "shows that 74% of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) consumers and 42% of heterosexual consumers polled said they would be less likely to buy a product from a company if they advertised on a program that expressed negative views of gays and lesbians." A few years back the television version of the conservative commentaries of Rush Limbaugh failed dismally. How will Dr. Laura fare? Will she tone it down a bit for television? She claims that she hasn't been asked and that Paramount "hired me because I'm outgoing and direct." Outgoing might be the key word here! Bill Berkowitz is the editor of CultureWatch www.igc.org/culturewatch/ , a monthly publication tracking the Religious Right and related conservative movements, published by Oakland's DataCenter. Subscriptions are $35 a year. Contact him via phone: 510-835-4692, ext. 308, or by e-mail: culturewatch@datacenter.org or For a free sample copy, send a self-addressed stamped envelope to: CultureWatch 1904 Franklin St., Suite 900 Oakland, California 94612. |
Dr. Laura accepts an award from Moral Family Values 
Dr. James Dobson 
© 1997-2000 BEI