Why a 'Gay' Activist Columnist at The Washington Times?

Culture & Family Institute of CWA ^ | 12/18/2002 | Peter LaBarbera

[Remedy]

As a pro-family conservative and former reporter for The Washington Times, I am one of that newspaper's biggest boosters. To appreciate the thoroughness of the Times and the balance it provides to the liberal Post, one need only travel to another big city and read the shallow and biased fare that passes for "news" and commentary in the local newspaper. Americans owe a debt of gratitude to the Times.

So I was stunned one recent morning to open up the Times and read that it had added a weekly column by Andrew Sullivan to its Friday editorial pages. Sullivan is a gifted essayist and cultural critic, to be sure, but he is also one of the world's most effective propagandists for the homosexual cause. He tirelessly advocates for "gay marriage" - an oxymoron if there ever was one. And he regularly posits a moral equivalence between normal male-female relationships and unnatural homosexual couplings. Worse, he claims to do so as a practicing Catholic.

Like countless fellow "gay" activists, Sullivan wrongly assumes that his homosexual "orientation" is natural and criticizes the Church's age-old Biblical stance that homosexual behavior is sinful. Rather than examine his heart and repent of his own errors, Sullivan - who has AIDS and who was discovered last year to have posted a solicitation on a homosexual "barebacking" (condomless sodomy) Web site - questions the Church and its teachings.

Not surprisingly, Sullivan is using his Friday "Weekly Dish" column in The Washington Times column to advance his favorite cause. In his November 6 column, he hails several "gay" election victories and works in yet another pitch for "gay marriage." He also welcomes the growing homosexual support for Republicans and ends with an appeal to President Bush to support a federal pro-homosexual "law against workplace discrimination" as a means of winning further support. Funny, I recall reading that Sullivan once bucked the "gay" lobby by opposing expansive "gay rights" laws as unnecessary and a potential threat to liberty. It appears that his "gayness" has trumped his "conservatism" once again.

It's a sad commentary on our times that today a person is probably more likely to be fired or disciplined at his job for opposing homosexuality than for being homosexual. Take Eastman Kodak, which imposes a misnamed "diversity" code on its employees - regardless of their religious or moral beliefs. Kodak recently fired a 23-year employee, Rolf Szabo, who bristled at a memo ordering workers to support homosexual coworkers who "come out" as "gay," lesbian, bisexual or "transgendered." Szabo copied his reply, "Please do not send this type of information to me anymore as I find it disgusting and offensive," to all the Kodak employees who had received it, and then refused to issue an apology. The leading "gay" lobby group, Human Rights Campaign, organized a letter-writing campaign in support of Kodak's action.

This is not "tolerance;" it's mandatory groupthink, and the Corporate Thought Police will only get bolder, and meaner, if "conservative" Sullivan gets his way and the federal homosexual bill he is touting - the Employment Nondiscrimination Act (ENDA) - becomes law. You can bet there would be more Rolf Szabos thrown out on the street under ENDA, all in the name of "gay" tolerance.

There has never been a time when the media - led by The Washington Post and The New York Times - have pushed the pro-homosexual line harder than they do today. The Washington Times is different. It gives voice to traditional viewpoints that so often are shut out by today's journalists, who are like so many lemmings jumping off a moral cliff. Andrew Sullivan has plenty of media outlets with which to hawk "gay marriage" and other misguided homosexual causes. The last thing we need is for a self-described "family" newspaper - "America's newspaper" - to lend its respected pages to his immoral crusade.

[Remedy]

He tirelessly advocates for "gay marriage" - an oxymoron if there ever was one.

• Fairness, Accuracy and Honesty in Discussing Homosexuality and Marriage, by Lynne Marie Kohm & Mark A. Yarhouse is an introduction to this issue and ties in the social science articles with the law. ---Lynn Marie Kohm is the John Brown McCarty Professor of Family Law, Regent University School of Law.---Mark A. Yarhouse, is an assistant professor of psychology, Regent University School of Psychology and Counseling.

• Talking Points: How Homosexual 'Civil Unions' Harm Marriage The eminent Harvard sociologist Pitirim Sorokin argued that no society has ceased to honor the institution of marriage and survived.

• Same Sex Marriage: Til Death Do Us Part? Homosexual marriage is nothing like traditional marriage. Homosexual unions are not built around lifetime commitments, nor are they good environments to raise children.

And he regularly posits a moral equivalence between normal male-female relationships and unnatural homosexual couplings.

• What Is "A Homosexual" Kinsey reported that those who engaged in homosexuality were exceptionally sexually flexible, intensely sexualized, and highly venturesome. Kinsey's published data reveal that homosexuals are much more willing to "try it" with an animal, a child, a man, many women, or for that matter "something completely different."
• What Homosexuals Say About Homosexuals - Is This Gay Behavior Sick?
• Compared with their heterosexual peers, homosexual men were at greater risk for psychiatric disorders, including mood and anxiety disorders, bipolar disorders, major depression, obsessive-compulsive disorders, panic disorder, agoraphobia, social phobia, and simple phobia. ---Theo G. M. Sandfort, Archives of General Psychiatry Vol. 58, Number . , 2001. Page(s) 85-91. SO MUCH FOR HOMOPHOBIA
• Relationship violence was found to be a significant problem for homosexuals. Forty-four (44) percent of the gay men reported having experienced violence in their relationships; 13 percent reported sexual violence and 83 percent reported emotional abuse. Levels of abuse ran even higher among lesbians: 55 percent reported physical violence in their relationships, 14 percent reported sexual abuse, and 84 percent reported emotional abuse. Susan C. Turrell,Journal of Family Violence Vol. 13, Number . , 2000. Page(s) 281-293.
• Violence and Homosexuality The top six U.S. male serial killers were all gay.
• The median age of death for those who regularly engage in homosexual behavior leaned in the direction of less than 50. The data suggest a "20- to 30-year decrease in lifespan" because of "substantially evelated rates of sexually elevated diseases . . . cancer and heart conditions, and violence among homosexual men and women." Paul Cameron, Psychological Reports,Vol. 83, Number . , 1998. Page(s) 847-866.
• Almost one-third (29.7 percent) of gays and nearly one-half (47.5 percent) of lesbians reported being or having been the victim of relationship violence. In addition, 22 percent of gays and 38 percent of lesbians admitted using violence against their partners. Lisa Walder-Haugrad, Violence and Victims Vol. 12, Number . , 1997. Page(s) 173-184.
• Medical Consequences of What Homosexuals Do FECAL SEX About 80% of gays (see Table) admit to licking and/or inserting their tongues into the anus of partners and thus ingesting medically significant amounts of feces. Those who eat or wallow in it are probably at even greater risk. In the diary study,5 70% of the gays had engaged in this activity--half regularly over 6 months. Result? --the "annual incidence of hepatitis A in...homosexual men was 22 percent, whereas no heterosexual men acquired hepatitis A." In 1992,26 it was noted that the proportion of London gays engaging in oral/anal sex had not declined since 1984.
• Gay Foster Parents More Apt to Molest
•  Talking Points: Homosexuality and Child Sexual Abuse
• Studies of Homosexual Parenting: A Critical Review, by George Rekers & Mark Kilgus illuminates the flaws of the leading social science studies on homosexual parenting and child development that are relied upon by courts, legislators, and lawyers in advocating homosexual adoption of children. ---George Rekers, a Professor of Neuropsychiatry and Behavioral Science at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine, is author of The Handbook of Child and Adolescent Sexual Problems. He was the recipient of the 2000 Sigmund Freud Award for Pioneering Research.--- Mark D. Kilgus is a board certified child and adolescent psychiatrist who presently serves as the Medical Director of Northpointe Behavioral Healthcare Systems in Michigan.

Worse, he claims to do so as a practicing Catholic.

• Courage, an apostolate of the Roman Catholic Church, ministers to those with same-sex attractions and their loved ones. We have been endorsed by the Pontifical Council for the Family.
•  What Does The Bible Say About . . . .Homosexuality, Adultery & Other Sexual Sins
• Responding to Pro-Gay Theology

 It appears that his "gayness" has trumped his "conservatism" once again.

•  Selling Homosexuality To America
• "Gay Rights" Strategies Involve Conscious Deception And Wholesale Manipulation of Public Opinion

wrongly assumes that his homosexual "orientation" is natural and criticizes the Church's age-old Biblical stance that homosexual behavior is sinful

•  The Gay Gene: Going, Going ... Gone
• Homosexuality: A Political Mask For Promiscuity: A Psychiatrist Reviews The Data Indeed, the Torah reserves its most intense condemnation for homosexuality: "to'eva" - abomination...

Sullivan - who has AIDS and who was discovered last year to have posted a solicitation on a homosexual "barebacking" (condomless sodomy)

• The plague abettors Through 20 years of political correctness and political pressure, the gay establishment has caused AIDS to spread like wildfire.

The last thing we need is for a self-described "family" newspaper - "America's newspaper" - to lend its respected pages to his immoral crusade.

• The Poisoned Stream. "Gay" Influence in Human History. Volume One. Germany 1890-1945.

[gundog]

It's a sad commentary on our times that today a person is probably more likely to be fired or disciplined at his job for opposing homosexuality than for being homosexual.

So why all the hub-bub over the need for special protections? Not long ago, the Oregonian ran a Lifestyles Section front page story on a couple that was having a great deal of trouble finding housing...because they had two cats. The photos and text made it abundantly clear that they were homosexuals, but their biggest problem in finding housing was the two cats.

[Faith]

Thanks for pulling together such a wealth of information . I find myself growing quite intolerant---not of gays, but of their constant PR machine that attempts to convert all of our thinking and gain our acceptance. They are wasting their breath on me. If they convince the entire society that their lifestyle is normal and acceptable---indeed honorable, they will still not have changed one iota of the real truth---the Word of God.

[RAT Patrol]

I canceled my subscription over it. I can get that kind of junk online for free. I bought the WTimes actually just to support a conservative paper. I'll still read it online. They've got some great stuff. But I feel no obligation any more to buy a subscription. There are many other talented columnists that could have chosen. It's their right to choose Sulli, but it's my right to disagree.

If the Washington Times were not a conservative publication then I would feel they SHOULD carry someone with Sullivan's liberal social views. It's only right to have balance. But this is different.

[Cicero]

It's not a question of discrimination against gays, or running them out of the Republican party. Frankly I don't ask people I meet what their "sexual orientation" is, and I doubt if many people would.

The point is that there's a big difference between being gay and being a gay activist, working day and night to impose your "values" on everyone else by force of law.

[blau993]

Your position apparently is that the Times must be totally monolithic in its approach, apparently because those of us who read it are too gullible and naive to be able to deal with Mr. Sullivan's advocacy of homosexual rights. Sorry Mommy, those old apron strings are just a LITTLE TOO CONFINING. I think I can read Mr. Sullivan's column (or choose not to read it) without feeling an uncontrollable impulse to wrap myself in pink ribbon.

[KC_Conspirator]

Not only that, but many conservatives are not "conservative" when it comes to economic policy. Andrew Sullivan is an economic conservative. Sure, I can't agree with all of Sullivan's agenda, but he's a critical thinker about most topics and it would be foolish to just throw away his input because of his other "issues".

[shrinkermd]

Some of what is said here makes sense. But there is a problem. What Sullivan did was take a job at the Washington Times. Who among you want to deny him this? If so what writing jobs are you going to permit to do and why.

IMHO, this is an employment issue. No question about it, biologically and statistically homosexuality is not normal and the gays and the lesbians dispute this. Even my own professional association, American Psychiatric Association, disagrees with my convictions. But is preventing Sullivan from writing for a newspaper a way to solve the argument? I think not.

I think the homosexuals want to be accepted as they are in society. Unfortunately, their in-your-face-I-am-as normal are has resulted in an identity "politics" war. In the meantime, homosexuals are going to need jobs, places to live, religious institutions and everything else we desire and need. Neither the Constitution or common sense leaves much of an alternative

[Remedy]

the Times must be totally monolithic in its approach

No. More along the lines of the Anti-Defamation League hiring Joseph Goebbels as a public relations specialist, i.e., The Poisoned Stream. "Gay" Influence in Human History. Volume One. Germany 1890-1945.

 

[BibChr]

So about post #19 of #20, madg will appear to tell us that the emperor in fact has really great clothes, and we really needn't pay any attention to the man behind the curtain.

Dan

[gcruse]

The NYT runs Bill Safire. The Washington Post runs George Will. One gets the feeling that some would have this country be a theocracy, given the opportunity.

[Remedy]

Neither the Constitution or common sense leaves much of an alternative

Thomas Jefferson on Sodomy

Sect. XIV. Whosoever shall be guilty of rape, polygamy, or sodomy* with a man or woman, shall be punished; if a man, by castration, a woman, by boring through the cartilage of her nose a hole of one half inch in diameter at the least.

* Paragraph 25. H. 8. C. 6. Buggery is twofold. 1. With mankind, 2. With beasts. Buggery is the Genus, of which Sodomy and Bestiality, are the species. 12. Co. 37. Says, "note that Sodomy is with mankind." But Finch's L. B. 3. c. 24. "Sodomiary is a carnal copulation against nature, to wit, of man or woman in the same sex, or of either of them with beasts." 12. Co. 36. Says, "it appears by the ancient authorities of the law that this was felony." Yet the 25. H. 8. Declares it felony, as if supposed not the be so.... B. Fleta, L. i. c. 37. says, "pecorantes et Sodomitae in terra vivi confodiantur." The Mirror makes it treason. Bestiality can never make any progress; it cannot therefore be injurious to society in any great degree, which is the true measure of criminality in foro civili, and will ever be properly and severely punished, by universal derision. It may, therefore, be omitted. It was anciently punished with death, as it has been latterly. Ll. Aelfrid. 31. and 25. H. 8. c. 6. see Beccaria. Paragraph 31. Montesq.

Peterson, Merrill D. "Crimes and Punishments" Thomas Jefferson: Writings Public Papers (Literary Classics of the United States, Inc. 1984) pp. 355, 356.

The penalties for violating sodomy laws in the USA:

Idaho, 5 years to life

Oklahoma, 20 years

Michigan, 15 years

Mississippi, 10 years

Puerto Rico, 8 - 20 years

Louisiana, 5 years/$2000

South Carolina, 5 years/$500

North Carolina, 3 years

Virginia, 1-5 years

Alabama, 1 year/$2000

Missouri, 1 year/$1000

Kansas, 6 months/$1000

Utah, 6 months/$299

Florida, 60 days/$500

Texas, $500

[muir_redwoods]

The fact is, they're not running their newspaper for your enjoyment. It's an on-going enterprise operating in a free market. They can hire anybody they choose and you can choose to spend your money on it or on another newspaper. Your choice to buy is just like the channel selector on your TV. If you don't like what they do, don't support them with your purchase.

It might be just as simple to buy the newspaper and choose not to read the column you don't like. I don't agree totally with anybody I have yet met and certainly not with any newspaper.

Of course if you ask my wife and kids they'll tell you that I am a bit hard to get along with now and then

[laurav]

Wow - rejoicing in the chronic or potentially fatal illness of a fellow human being. That's very Christian of you.

/sarcasm

[shrinkermd]

Your laws, like your hatred, are obvious, but when and where have these laws been enforced?

[laurav]

If the Washington Times were not a conservative publication then I would feel they SHOULD carry someone with Sullivan's liberal social views. It's only right to have balance.

The Washington Times is not aiming to be a conservative publication. They're aiming to be a mainstream newspaper that's balanced, unlike the competition. So they have columnists like Nat Hentoff and Andrew Sullivan. Makes it more interesting to read than reading 15 conservative columnists saying the exact same thing.

[blau993]

Sorry, my friend. The ADL's purpose is to advocate a point of view. Of course they would not hire someone whose viewpoints are directly opposed to theirs. However, a newspaper is a whole other world. The purpose of editorial pages and columnists is to provide an interchange of views and ideas. If everybody is singing out of the same hymnal, it all gets pretty anemic after a while. Sullivan is an excellent writer, as you concede, and his ideas are often provocative and always witty. I think I can deal with the gay stuff or anything else I may not happen to agree with. I don't need or want censors to preserve my alleged virtue.

[Remedy]

Your laws, like your hatred, are obvious

Violence and Homosexuality The top six U.S. male serial killers were all gay.