Tag Archives: news media

CNN Allows FRC Hate Group Leader Tony Perkins To Lie About LGBT Rights Unchecked – Video

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Tony Perkins FRC KKK

On Monday’s edition of Erin Burnett OutFront on CNN hosted by Jake Tapper a potyion of the show focused on District Court Judge Clark Waddoups stricking down of a portion of Utah’s anti-polygamy statute which aimed at prohibiting polygamous cohabitation.  And of course they invite on Tony Perkins, president of the SPLC hate group certified Family Research Council (FRC), totalk about it and baselessly accuse marriage equality of creating a slippery slope to polygamy after asking him whether the growing acceptance of homosexuality was to blame for the decriminalization of polygamous relationships in Utah.

Perkins, who routinely links homosexuality to pedophilia and refers to homosexuality as a “lifestyle” of “perversion,” was all-too-happy to use this opportunity to revive his organization’s longstanding opposition to Lawrence v. Texas and support for laws criminalizing gay sex. 

[Anti-polygamy activist Laurie] Allen, who herself was raised in a polygamous environment and staunchly opposes polygamy, criticized Perkins for attempting to compare polygamous relationships and same-sex relationships, calling his arguments “salacious propaganda.”

Rather than pointing out the absurdity of Perkins’ arguments, however, Tapper went on to quote an FRC statement suggesting that the legalization of same-sex marriage might create a “slippery slope” to the legalization of polygamous marriage in the future, despite the fact that the judge’s ruling did not actually legalize polygamous marriage.

Both Jake Tapper and CNN owe the LGBT community an apology for not only baiting Perkins and setting him up to spread lies about same-sex marriage linking to polygamy and how the Supreme Court really made a mistake when it stopped letting states throw people in jail just for being gay.

Oh, and there’s also the fact that they let a white supremacist linked hate group leader be on the show in the first place.  Perhaps next time Tapper could do some real reporting and grill Tony Perkins on that and his outrageous lies against the LGBT community instead of using him as an “expert” on anything and lending him credibility.

If GLAAD is going to be too chicken to call CNN and Tapper out then we as a community must be the ones to do so.

Jake Tapper can be reached via his Twitter account at @jaketapper and CNN using THIS LINK.

CNN’s Ashleigh Banfield Apologizes For Calling Homosexuality a ‘Voluntary Lifestyle Choice’ – VIDEO

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Yesterday following a segment about Kansas Pastor Curtis Knapp, who believes the  government should kill gay people and that we should all be out into concentration camps. CNN anchor Ashleigh Banfield called homosexuality a “voluntary lifestyle choice”

“Pedophilia is not by choice, last I checked. In his sermon, Pastor Knapp blamed the Bush administration for its tolerance of gay people. Says that he claims that set the stage, in fact, for the Obama administration to endorse same-sex marriage. Like I said: they can’t make this stuff up. Unbelievable. Speechless, right? Again, we gotta outline here, when he says ‘they punish incest and pedophilia’… Please. Those things are often not by choice and are crimes. Homosexuality is a lifestyle choice by people; it is voluntary.”

Banfield realizing she made a horrible mistake and used a very poor choice of wording immediately took to Twitter to apologize.

Today Ashleigh took it one step further and on her CNN newscast today, attempting to clarify what she said and let it be known it wasn’t what she meant at all.

I made some comments yesterday that ended up  getting a lot of traction out there, not only on Twitter but elsewhere. And I  want to be very, very clear about what my comments were about. I probably  misspoke and mangled words, but I want to be very clear.

When I said that incest and pedophilia involve  people who don’t have a choice — victims who don’t have a choice — and then said  a gay relationship, you do have a choice, they are not crimes. Gay people  involved in relationships are not committing any crimes at all. However, those  who perpetrate incest and perpetrate pedophilia are committing crimes. I don’t  know that my comments were taken in that light and I certainly hope they were,  but in no way did I ever want to suggest that being gay is a choice. It is not.  And I probably used the word “lifestyle choice” — not what I meant to say at  all. Being gay is not a choice; being in a voluntary gay relationship is a  choice. It is not a crime. So I hope that at least clears up any of the comments  I made after that story of the pastor. And in no way do I agree with or stand by  any of the comments that that pastor made either.

The media should never schedule a far-right anti-gay partisan for an on-air discussion, without a “fair and balanced” approach and having gay advocate on-air at the same time to provide the counter  argument. (I am available and will do much better with the counter argument than any stuffed shirt spokesperson from the HRC by the way.)

Or better yet.  In cases such as Kansas Pastor Curtis “Govt. Should Kill Gays” Knapp just show the clip.  His bigotry and insanity, insanity and hateful words will make its own best case against him.

You can watch Banfield try to correct her statement below:

CNN Blows Off GLAAD and the Gay Community’s Demands To Stop Using Hate Groups As "Gay Experts"

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This week, finally Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation called upon CNN and other news networks stop booking guests representing what GLAAD calls the “anti-gay industry,” and what the rest of us call anti-gay hate groups.

 GLAAD states that: “CNN needs to stop elevating anti-gay opinions to the level of the actual experts who they should be talking to; people like scholars, historians, professionals, or folks with actual experience (not just animosity), Which is very true.  But GLAAD does not do the extra step and reveal the real reasons these groups should not be booked.  They are HATE GROUPS which are officially recognized as such and use  false data, and lies from think tanks and other groups that they themselves helped create to validate their hate.  And there is where CNN’s problem lies.  It does NO RESEARCH or fact checking on its guests or their data. 

And whats was CNN’s reaction to GLAAD about all of this?

CNN appreciates GLAAD’s concern for objective and fair reporting” and said the channel strives to book experts with “different points of view.”

So I suppose HATE in CNN’s point of view makes someone an expert?

If it were 1965 would CNN be booking the Grand Imperial Wizard of the KKK to counterpoint MLK?  Doubtful.

And I suppose we can look forward to the next time that there a debate on the Middle East CNN will be booking an expert from Hezbollah for their expert opinion.

The days of journalism and ethical practices on TV are obviously over. Imagine Walter Cronkite hosting a segment with Maggie Gallagher and Joe Solmonese.  The lingering appearance of “fair and balanced” coverage is being used to promote crackpot theories and mainstream radical rightwing propaganda. Unless people who know better speak out and tell CNN to stop giving airtime and therefor credence to these lunatics, their propaganda can and will take hold.

CNN saw 34% of its viewers disappear in 2010. In 2009, they lost 30% of their viewers.

If they keep giving airtime and legitimatizing these anti-gay hate groups I predict another loss in 2011

Time to jump ship Anderson.