GAY MEDIA

C&F Report : September 18, 2002
http://cultureandfamily.org/e/report/2002-09-18/n_nlgja.shtml
‘Gay Journalists’ Conference Marked by Homosexual Activism
By Peter J. LaBarbera
News analysis Part One

PHILADELPHIA — In a media atmosphere of increasingly one-sided coverage about homosexuality-related issues, a national conference for homosexual journalists betrayed its members’ deep commitment to "gay" ideology. The 12 annual conference of the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association (NLGJA) — attended by about 500 media professionals and activists — featured ample opportunities for pro-"gay" opinion-molders to press their perspective to the assembled journalists. But only one plenary session included speakers who could be called vocal critics of "gay" activism — FOX News’ Bill O’ Reilly and conservative Philadelphia radio talk show host Michael Smerconish. (Neither are principled opponents of "gay rights": lately, O’ Reilly has embraced positions such as "sexual orientation" laws; Smerconish, who announced his support for including homosexual "civil unions" notices in newspaper wedding pages, was a substitute for Tucker Carlson, co-host of CNN ’s Crossfire, who was a no-show.)

All other panels, including two on the Catholic Church’s sex abuse scandal, were bereft of traditional pro-family voices. This might be expected for a homosexual activist organization, but the NLGJA insists it is not one of those but rather a professional group like other minority media associations such as the National Association of Black Journalists. Critics contend it is a distinction without much of a difference.

Since the 9-11 terror attacks, the NLGJA has not been shy about engaging in run-of-the-mill homosexual advocacy, for example: • It successfully lobbied The New York Times to include homosexual "civil union" announcements on its "weddings" page; • The NLGJA lobbied news organizations to make more prominent references to the alleged homosexuality of 9-11 victims and "heroes" like Mark Bingham, who was a passenger in the United Flight 93 jet that went down outside Pittsburgh; • It urged journalists not to connect the adult male-boy sex scandal in the Catholic Church to homosexuals (including recommending that reporters quote the most "gay"-friendly sex "expert" available, Dr. Fred Berlin); • In a "Stylebook" for journalists, defining "sexual orientation" as "innate" despite evidence proving that contention.

This writer has attended or sent reporters to at least half of the NLGJA’s previous 11 conferences. This year, as before, homosexual activists from groups like GLAAD (Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) and the Human Rights Campaign were on hand to chat up journalists. Several homosexual activists appeared on panels, including:

• Rep. Barney Frank (D-Massachusetts) in a panel on Islam and homosexuality; • GLAAD’s Cathy Renna; • Noemi Perez of LLEGO (National Latina/o Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Organization) • Homosexual academics John D’Emilio and Larry Gross, both harsh critics of religious traditionalists.

The NLGJA’s membership is split between members of the "gay" advocacy media, such as The Washington Blade and public television’s homosexual program In the Life, and members who work in "mainstream" media companies like The Washington Post. At this and previous conferences, it was the "advocacy" NLGJA members who voiced the most extreme viewpoints regarding media coverage of conservative groups opposed to "gay rights." (Last year, I was called a "walking hate crime" by sex radical and writer Kirk Read.)

FLAT EARTH SOCIETY? On Friday, there was a plenary session featuring Bill O’Reilly (who appeared on a large screen via satellite from Seattle) titled, "Is There a Liberal Bias in the News?" The panel barely dealt with what I believe should have been its central focus: journalists both homosexual and non-homosexual who skew their reporting by quoting "gay" activists and not pro-family representatives. I went to the audience microphone to ask if there was any justification for this practice. The moderator, Ramon Escobar of NBC and Telemundo, asked me a question about Mark Bingham and whether it was appropriate to report on his homosexuality. I said it could be but that it would not be fair if Bingham received disproportionate media coverage compared to other 9-11 victims due to the "gay" angle. Earlier, Jon Barrett of the homosexual magazine The Advocate, who wrote a book about Bingham, said there was no "confirmed" evidence that Bingham had heroically charged the cockpit on the flight, unlike Todd Beamer and others whose cell phone calls made clear what they were about to do.

After I sat down, a man approached the microphone and asked sardonically that if someone was doing a story on the space shuttle, "would you be obligated to get a quote from the Flat Earth Society?" Every year, NLGJA members make such comparisons between natural family advocates who oppose homosexuality and sinister retrograde forces. Usually, it’s the KKK or some other racist fringe group. Such is the contempt with which many homosexual advocates hold people of faith who oppose "gay rights." What has changed in recent years is the increasing regularity of "mainstream" media stories dealing with controversial "gay" topics that contain zero or only token opposing viewpoints critical of homosexual activism.

A prime example was published recently in The Washington Post on the Metropolitan Community Church’s Cathedral of Hope — a church founded for homosexuals — in Dallas, Texas. In a long piece flowing off the front page of the Sunday, August 25 Post, veteran reporter Lee Hockstader included only one paragraph quoting a critic of the homosexual church: " The Sunday mornings are not always peaceful: The Christian right and anti-gay groups have trained their ire on the church, picketing outside and occasionally infiltrating the sanctuary to shout slogans. 'I'd call it a synagogue of Satan,' said John Reyes, head of the Dallas office of Operation Rescue/Operation Save America. 'It's a monstrosity'."

Despite the highly controversial nature of a church built around the affirmation of behavior regarded as sin throughout thousands of years of Judeo-Christian history, Hockstader did not include a single comment from an orthodox theologian or church leader critical of the MCC (which, as C&F Report recently reported, sponsors sadistic sex events at some of its branches across the country.) It would be hard to conceive of Hockstader or The Post treating Rev. Jerry Falwell’s Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Virginia with such kid gloves.

The Post thus advanced the larger homosexual activist goal of drawing a moral equivalence between traditional Christian (and religious) teachings and those of "gay" revisionist denominations such as the MCC that turn a historic beliefs on their head. In the same way, "gay" media activists posit moral equivalence between normal, male-female couples and homosexual partners, even though most Americans still see a huge difference between the two. A central goal of the NLGJA and homosexual activist groups is the nonchalant inclusion of homosexuals and "gay" couples in media stories that have nothing do with homosexuality, thereby helping to "mainstream" homosexuality in the culture.

Hockstader apparently is not a member of the NLGJA, illustrating that biased "gay"-related stories are just as likely to come from non-"gay" journalists as from open homosexuals in the media. However, for years, NLGJA members have testified to the powerful effect they have as open advocates in the newsroom — especially as a "source" on stories dealing with homosexuality. In these politically correct times, many reporters do not want to be perceived as "intolerant" or "judgmental," and the presence of proud, "gay" co-workers serves as a potent check on their reporting.

Meanwhile, well-funded homosexual media watchdogs like GLAAD are more than happy to "summarize" their opponents’ viewpoint to compliant journalists so that they don’t actually have to solicit comments from traditional morality advocates like Concerned Women for America. Who can imagine GLAAD allowing its perspective to be "summarized" by CWA?

POWERFUL CORPORATE SPONSORS As always, media companies recruited at the NLGJA event and funded the event by sponsoring various sessions. The following were among the corporations sponsoring this year’s conference, coupled with congratulatory slogans in their ads in the conference program:

FOX News Network ("…honors the commitment of NLGJA to promote fair and balanced reporting.")
CNN ("We salute the NLGJA for its efforts to foster diversity and fairness in journalism.")
Microsoft
ABC News ("Where diversity spells progress’) >Newsweek ("…salutes the [NLGJA]and supports your goals of ending discrimination against all minorities.")
The Washington Post
U.S. Newswire
AOL Time Warner ("…We continue to salute your efforts to foster diversity in journalism….")
American Express
Coca-Cola Company ("..proudly salutes the [NLGJA].")
NBC
Time Inc.
The Mercury News
QVC
Dow Jones & Co.
The New York Times Co.
Bloomberg News
Gannett Foundation ("Diversity, Fairness, Respect are our passengers.")
American Airlines ("…is proud to serve as the official airline of the NLGJA.")