May 9, 2009

Media Matters: This Week’s Despicable Anti-Gay Lies from O’Reilly, Hannity, Robertson, et al.

Via email:

“Perhaps fearing a hate crimes bill that protects gay, lesbian, and transgender people will soon be enacted, many media conservatives have seen fit to maliciously attack the legislation often times raising the right-wing’s favorite red herring that efforts to protect the LGBT community will somehow protect ‘pedophiles.’

“During a recent edition of his top-rated cable program, Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly said of the hate crimes bill, which not only adds gay, lesbian, and transgender people to the list of protected classes but the disabled as well, ‘[Y]ou could make an argument that a pedophile has a disease, and because the disease is there, he’s a target or she’s a target.’ O’Reilly later added that pedophiles could be included because ‘[d]isability is included. They have a mental disability.’

“He’s wrong. Pedophilia is not considered a ‘disability’ under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990; in fact, the ADA specifically excludes pedophilia. But then, bringing up ‘pedophilia’ during discussion of gay and lesbian issues is old hat for those opposed to full equality for the LGBT community.

“O’Reilly wasn’t alone pushing this line of attack at Fox News. Sean Hannity, Bill Hemmer, and The Fox Nation website all advanced the false claim that House Democrats voted to ‘protect’ or ‘defend’ pedophiles. On-screen text along the bottom of the screen on Fox quite literally read, ‘HOUSE DEMS VOTE TO PROTECT PEDOPHILES, BUT NOT VETERANS.’

“Equally misleading were the false claims by media conservatives that passage of the bill would somehow suppress religious thought or speech. During a segment on Fox News’ America’s Newsroom, correspondent Molly Henneberg reported without question that religious groups are concerned that ‘they may be prosecuted for their religious beliefs if they believe that homosexuality is a sin, that it could gag ministers who preach that, or even if a church may not want to marry a gay couple. There is concern that they could face lawsuits as well.’

“In fact, the legislation in question specifically protects an individuals First Amendment’s right to free speech and exercise of religion — something you just won’t hear from those lined up against the bill.

“What discussion of LGBT civil rights [would] be complete without a healthy dose of mean-spirited hate from the likes of Rev. Pat Robertson, who this week suggested the ‘ultimate conclusion’ of legal same-sex marriage is legal polygamy, bestiality, child molestation, and pedophilia, or self-described ‘openly gay, pro-choice, gun owning, pro-death penalty, voted-for-President Bush authentic feminist’ Tammy Bruce who chatted about how the ‘gay Gestapo,’ as she put it on Fox News, ‘ultimately smears every gay person.’”

Posted by: Sapphocrat

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