The Rise and Fall of Hope and Change

The Rise and Fall of Hope and Change



Alexis de Toqueville

The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public's money.
Alexis de Tocqueville

The United States Capitol Building

The United States Capitol Building

The Constitutional Convention

The Constitutional Convention

The Continental Congress

The Continental Congress

George Washington at Valley Forge

George Washington at Valley Forge


Wednesday, March 14, 2012

GLAAD launches Commentator Accountability Project

from Politico:


GLAAD launches Commentator Accountability Project

The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) is launching a new effort today to target 36 commentators who speak out against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people.
The Commentator Accountability Project (CAP) "aims to educate the media about the extreme rhetoric of over three dozen activists who are often given a platform to speak in opposition to LGBT people and the issues that affect their lives," the media monitoring organization said in a press release. Among those activists are Tony Perkins, the president of the Family Research Council; Bob Vander Platts, the president of The Family Leader; Candi Cushman, an education analyst at Focus on the Family; and Bill Donahue, the head of the Catholic League.
"These anti-LGBT voices are being booked in local and national news as ‘experts’ on the lives of LGBT people, however many reporters, bookers and producers do not realize that these aren’t experts, but people who have dedicated their careers to making life more difficult for LGBT people," Rich Ferraro, GLAAD's communications director, told me. "Being anti-LGBT should not be a qualification for speaking about LGBT people and issues."
But at a time when many activist groups seem to be calling for commentators to be pulled off the air, Ferraro stressed that "accountability does not mean keeping them out of the media."
"If a reporter is speaking with one of these voices who has repeatedly stated that gay people are Satanic, it’s the journalist’s responsibility to put any statements in perspective," Ferraro said.
The full list of names on CAP's watch: Alan Chambers, Albert Mohler, Bill Donohue, Bob Emrich, Bob Vander Plaats, Brian Brown, Brian Camenker, Bryan Fischer, Candi Cushman, Christopher Plante, Chuck Colson, David Barton, Don Wildmon, Frank Turek, Gary Bauer, Glenn Stanton, Harry Jackson, Jennifer Roback Morse, Jim Daly, Jim Garlow, Joseph Farah, Ken Hutcherson, Kevin McCullough, Lou Engle, Maggie Gallagher, Mat Staver, Matt Barber, Michael Brown, Penny Nance, Peter LaBarbera, Peter Sprigg, Rick Scarborough, Robert George, Scott Lively, Tim Wildmon, and Tony Perkins.
UPDATE: Kevin McCullough, a nationally syndicated radio host and one of the 36 commentators on CAP's list (their list of his apparent infractions can be found here), offers his reactions to GLAAD's new project:
I find it ironic that GLAAD's exclusive goal in all of this seems to be the idea that shutting people's voices down--who oppose them--will somehow make their arguments more sound.
Ferraro claimed that I--as an 'anti-LGBT' voice had appeared on shows, outlets, in pieces, as an 'expert' on the LGBT life. This is blatantly false. I've never appeared as someone who claimed to even represent much less serve as an 'expert' on the private lives of the LGBT community. Just as I suspect none of them are qualified to comment on the private lives of the traditional communities of families where a mother and father are present in the life of a child.
When I am asked to speak on a public forum it is as a person who speaks with and interacts with millions of people daily through a media company that myself and actor Stephen Baldwin began four years ago. Because we have a platform that engages people in conversation about these things and every other cultural issue imaginable we have a good idea of how OUR constituents think. The three syndicated radio broadcasts our company produces reach somewhere in the neighborhood of 8 million people per week."
Lastly Mr. Ferraro indicated that we (the people on his list) continually refer to people who engage in homosexual behavior and relationships as 'Satanic.' To my knowledge none of the people on the list have ever done that.
It says a great deal about the weight of GLAAD's arguments to throw out provocative and inflammatory statements about people who oppose you. But I promise you this, I will never attempt to have Rich Ferraro banned from appearing on media--simply because I disagree with him. In fact consider this an open invitation to appear in either media hits, a moderated panel, or a university campus debate on the merits of his assertions. Any time, any where... and I'll buy the cup of coffee when we're done.
I spoke to McCullough over the phone as well, and he's serious about that cup of coffee. 
"I'd be glad to have a panel discussion on this, or to sit down with Ferraro for a cup of coffee," he told me. "I mean that: it's in the interest of what’s best for the society to have some of the people on this list sit down and really talk about it. I hope he'll take me up on that."
UPDATE 2: Ferraro responds:
"GLAAD's aim is not to silence Kevin McCullough, it's to hold him accountable for what he's already said. Media outlets that provide a platform for McCullough should let the public know of his anti-LGBT record. We're more than willing to sit down with him, but not as a ratings stunt for his radio program. We would like to take the opportunity to introduce him to just a few of the millions of Christians from around the country who know that God loves and accepts LGBT people just as they are."

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