Family Groups Urge FOX NEWS to Stop Providing Unchallenged Prime Time to Agitator
Bill O’Reilly ignores repeated requests to drop SPLC’s Wayne Besen from show
In light of the attempted murder of
employees at the Family Research Council (FRC), pro-family
organizations are asking Fox News to discontinue guest appearances
by homosexual agitator Wayne Besen on the popular O’Reilly Factor TV
show.
Besen
has a long history of
slandering
conservative groups and the
ex-gay community in language that foments hatred and undermines
civil discourse.
Read the below and
please sign our petition to Bill O'Reilly at http://tinyurl.com/c872m3j
Fox News has
reported that Tony Perkins, FRC’s president, blames the Southern
Poverty Law Center (SPLC) and its rhetoric of hateful lies against
FRC for helping to create a climate that led to shooter Floyd
Corkins’ actions.
The SPLC and
Wayne Besen are united in demonizing conservative organizations and
individuals. Despite
repeated complaints about Besen’s appearances, producers of the
O’Reilly Factor continue
to feature Besen, a radical homosexual activist aligned with the
SPLC, as a guest commentator.
Last year the
controversial Besen and his SPLC ally jointly staged a
protest
outside of FRC’s Values Voters conference, falsely accusing FRC and
the American Family Association of
hatred
and lies. Besen publicly
labeled FRC’s conservative speakers as “certifiable
lunatics with dangerous agendas.”
Both Besen and the SPLC took out an ad in the
Washington Post falsely
blaming FRC for gays being more likely “to be victimized by violent
hate crimes” and “driven to suicide by relentless bullying.”
Besen and the
SPLC also target the ex-gay community, claiming that former
homosexuals are a “myth”
and that ex-gays are not entitled to the same rights and respect
that gays currently enjoy.
In a bizarre move, Besen and SPLC are now filing
complaints against therapists who counsel homosexuals with
unwanted same-sex attractions, thereby denying gays the right of
therapeutic self-determination.
Condemnation of
the SPLC’s—and by extension Wayne Besen’s—designation of pro-family
groups as “hate groups” comes from both the political Right and
Left. Rich Lowry of National
Review wrote,
"The
SPLC’s promiscuous labeling of organizations it disagrees with as
'hate groups' came to the fore last week when someone tried to shoot
up one of its targets."
And liberal journalist Dana Milbank echoed Lowry’s criticism: “[T]he Southern Poverty Law Center should stop listing a mainstream Christian advocacy group alongside neo-Nazis and Klansmen.
Besen uses bullhorn to harass Christians inside a Boston church.
Police later arrived in response to trespassing complaints. (2009)
It is time that
the O’Reilly Factor cease
using Besen as a guest commentator. Providing Besen with a forum
lends credibility to his pernicious tactics and enables Besen to
exploit his appearances for fundraising purposes.
When Fox News
provides a forum to a radical homosexual activist known for
employing inflammatory and hateful language in the service of
promoting lies, the network becomes complicit in the damage done to
the victims of Wayne Besen’s and the SPLC’s smear campaigns.
We ask the News
Corporation, Fox News, and Bill O’Reilly to find more ethical
spokespersons for the liberal view of sexuality.
In their infamous
Washington Post ad
accusing FRC of hateful values, Besen and the SPLC claim that “words
have consequences.” Yes,
they do. And Besen’s may
lead to violence.
Note:
Interested in adding your signature?
Please sign our petition to Bill O'Reilly at http://tinyurl.com/c872m3j
Signed:
Buddy Smith,
Executive Vice President, American Family Association
Mathew D.
Staver, Founder and Chairman, Liberty Counsel
Sally Kern,
Oklahoma State Representative
Andrea Lafferty,
President, Traditional Values Coalition
Diane Gramley,
President, American Family Association of Pennsylvania
David Smith,
Executive Director of the Illinois Family Institute
Laurie Higgins,
Cultural Analyst for the Illinois Family Institute
Matt Barber,
Vice President, Liberty Counsel Action
Denise Shick,
Founder and Director, Help 4 Families
Regina Griggs,
Executive Director, Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays & Gays (PFOX)
Laurie Thompson,
Parents Action League, Anoka-Hennepin School District, MN
Bob Burney,
Host, Bob Burney Live!, WRFD(AM), Columbus, Ohio
Arthur Goldberg,
J.D., Co-Director, Jews Offering New Alternatives for Healing
(JONAH)
Stephen & Janice
Graham, Founders, Standard of Liberty
Greg Quinlan,
President, Pro-Family Network of Ohio
Rabbi Noson
Leiter, Executive Director, Torah Jews For Decency
Linda Cebrian,
Founder, Mamaditto Speaks
John Kirkwood,
Pastor, Grace Gospel Fellowship
Brian Camenker,
Executive Director, MassResistance
Rev. Florence C.
Stacy
Peter LaBarbera,
President, AFTAH
Scott Lively,
J.D., President, Defend the Family International
Chaplain Gordon
James Klingenschmitt, PhD, The Pray In Jesus Name Project
Linda Harvey,
President, Mission America
Note:
Interested in adding your signature?
Please sign our petition to Bill O'Reilly and Fox News at http://tinyurl.com/c872m3j