Gay rights groups call for demonstration at News Channel 8’s Tampa office after it aired homophobic infomercial (video)
July 13, 2009 at 2:33 pm by Lorna Bracewell
By Lorna Bracewell
PoHo contributor
On Saturday, June 27, thousands of people gathered in the streets of St. Petersburg, FL for the city’s annual Gay Pride parade and festival. While we were celebrating and honoring the legacy of the LGBT civil rights movement, our local NBC affiliate (WFLA-Ch. 8) was airing Speechless: Silencing the Christians, an hour long special paid for by the conservative American Family Association (AFA) that makes a series of specious and demeaning claims about gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people.
Watch a clip from the program after the jump.
Within hours of airing Speechless, WFLA was flooded with phone calls and emails from viewers who disagreed with and disapproved of the special’s anti-gay thesis. Equality Florida, a Tampa based statewide gay rights group, repeatedly petitioned the station and its parent company, Media General, to issue a public apology for airing the homophobic program, to divest themselves of the $35,000 paid to them by the AFA by donating it to an LGBT youth organization, and to devote an hour of air time to a special that balances out the hateful message of Speechless. So far, these petitions have gone unanswered except for a comment from Media General’s top Florida exec, John Schueler, who told Equality Florida that he could see why “people who have chosen the homosexual lifestyle might be offended” by the program’s “strident tone” but that the program “didn’t raise any red flags” for him or his associates.
Didn’t raise any red flags? According to Speechless, homosexuals (who, for PR reasons, started calling themselves “gays” in the 1990’s) are a danger to children and an existential threat to the family; they are the masterminds of an elaborate conspiracy to eradicate Christian influence and Christians themselves from our culture; they are simultaneously a cause and a symptom of cultural, spiritual and national decline. How could such apocalyptic rhetoric, such demonization of a segment of society not raise any red flags?
Imagine if Speechless targeted a racial minority instead of LGBT people. Imagine if the voiceover at the beginning of the program went something like this: “Family values, freedom of speech, freedom of religion and morality are all threatened by a radical Asian American activist agenda that’s redefining the family, teaching children that Asian Americans are normal and pushing for minority status and preferential treatment for Asian Americans” (replace the words “Asian American” with “homosexual” and you have an actual line from Speechless). All the money in the world couldn’t get that special aired on WFLA.
Due to Media General’s flagrant disregard for fairness… oh, let me try that again eschewing the euphemisms for once. Due to Media General’s flagrant disregard for the equal citizenship and physical safety of LGBT people in Tampa Bay and everywhere, Equality Florida, Impact-Florida (Ed’s. note: of which Lorna is founder) and a number of other grassroots groups from the surrounding area are organizing a demonstration outside of Media General’s Tampa headquarters at 202 S Parker St., Tampa, on Wednesday at 5:30 pm.
WFLA and Media General have made it clear over the past two weeks that they do not speak the language of reason and civility. We have tried to engage their decision makers in innumerable other ways. Since these attempts have failed, we will be there this Wednesday (at the same time as Media General’s national president) to make our demands in the “strident tone” Media General seems to prefer. Since many of us “homosexuals” are Christians ourselves, we may even quote a scripture or two. Perhaps a little something from Jeremiah? “Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness and his chambers by injustice” (Jeremiah 22:13).
July 13th, 2009 at 2:59 pm
i heart the graphic… news channel hate… that is awesome.
July 13th, 2009 at 4:50 pm
@Lorna who wrote:
“Media General’s flagrant disregard for fairness”
What part about
“an hour long special paid for by the conservative American Family Association” did you fail to understand.
Read that word again: PAID.
Commercials are not fair.
Simple solution.
Run your own “special”.
July 13th, 2009 at 5:00 pm
If Christians want to stop getting punched by Gays, then PERHAPS THEY SHOULD STOP PUNCHING GAYS.
July 13th, 2009 at 5:06 pm
can you imagine the black community’s feelings & reaction if a white power infomercial was aired on mlk day? juneteenth day?
i hope a formal complaint with the fcc is filed
July 13th, 2009 at 5:37 pm
I wonder how the “heterosexually challenged” news channel hate staffers feel about it airing? Are there any friends of dorothy over there?
July 13th, 2009 at 6:07 pm
Mr. Barnes,
Would WFLA News Channel 8 have dared to air a commercial that asserted interracial couples are out to destroy Christianity and brainwash America’s children? Of course not. Racial scapegoating is (thankfully and finally) percieved as out of bounds no matter what the price tag. Scapegoating on the basis of sexuality should likewise be off the table.
July 13th, 2009 at 10:56 pm
RELIGION is the ONLY thing that makes Gay WRONG. When will Gays wake up and understand who the real enemy is?
Religion Hurts – Make it stop.
July 14th, 2009 at 11:36 pm
This “airing” was simply the final gasp of a once proud Media General organization. Clearly they have sold off their last ounce of professional integrity.
To those that say it was PAID FOR so WFLA has the right to air: What if it was the KKK that paid or Kim Jong Il? Still feel the same way?
July 15th, 2009 at 1:39 pm
As a Christian, it sickens me to see other so called “Christians” seeking out and opening fire on someone because of their beliefs. As Christians we should accept someone no matter their beliefs, even if we don’t believe they are right.
I fortunately am one of the few who support LGBT people in the community. If I wasn’t at work today, I would be there with everyone!!!
July 15th, 2009 at 5:33 pm
“The Bible contains 6 admonishments to homosexuals and 362 to heterosexuals. This doesn’t mean God doesn’t love heterosexuals, it’s just that they need more supervision”
- Lynn Lavner
“Burst down those closet doors once and for all. And stand up and start to fight” – Harvey Milk
July 15th, 2009 at 5:58 pm
It sickens us that in the times we are in that people really think this way. Love knows no gender, religion or race. As far as we have come, it seems that we are at a stand still for Equality. There has to be more and we have to be warriors!
July 15th, 2009 at 9:25 pm
@TPAyle who wrote: “What if it was the KKK that paid or Kim Jong Il? Still feel the same way?”
Yes.
July 16th, 2009 at 8:14 am
Mr. Barnes,
Unlike you, privately owned and operated media outlets like WFLA do not categorically and unwaveringly affirm any message that someone is willing throw ample cash behind. They pick and choose which paid advertisements they will air and which they will not air all the time.To avoid arbitrariness, these companies institute editorial guidelines and policies. WFLA’s editorial policy states that they will refuse to air a program if it is “hateful or vitriolic.” Speechless: Silencing the Christians fits those criteria in the judgment of anyone who doesn’t share the prejudices of the its creators. When WFLA and Media General chose to air this program, they threw their own editorial policy (and their integrity) out the window. That’s the issue here.