Michigan TV Station Ditches Plans to Air Antigay "Infomercial"

Betsy S.... I sure hope your NOT a lesbian. I would hate to think, your contorted views of Christians was any indication of Wichita upbringing. I don't consider myself Christian, although I do believe in God. The bible was written by homophobic men. But to deride a fellow lesbian for believing in her church is only fueling the fire for these AFA freaks. Please, lets at least be kind to each other.

I also find the knee-jerk anti-Christian bigotry to be offensive, immature and quite frankly too disturbingly similar to the kind of single-minded bigotry that the LGBT community criticizes in others. What about the Episcopal Church, where pro-gay clergy and laity have been willing to dig in and face schism rather than recant their gay-friendly beliefs? Or the United Church of Christ, which has been openly supportive of LGBT rights? Or our own natively gay Metropolitan Community Church? Why should I, as a gay Christian following a gay-friendly denomination have to apologize to a bunch of narrow-minded atheist bigots just because I won't submit to their demand that I give up God to be a "real" gay?

I look at this as a free speech issue. So far all of the comments here know the right side of the issue, the fair side of the issue - that hateful propaganda against the GLBT community is not acceptable. I believe the AFA's opinions do have a right to be aired, however. We should have a right to air our free speech on the airwaves as much as the AFA. Not long ago, there was a program at my city's public library about the "gay agenda". I attended, was one of seven who came. The program was awful, full of lies, distortions and ignorance. Guess what I did? I wrote the library and commended them for allowing them access to the podium. I like knowing I can organize a pro-gay talk at my library, too. Without the foundation of free speech, the "right" side, the "fair" side of the issue doesn't have the right to be heard either. (if you post my comment, please use my last initial. thx)

"please don't paint all 'Christians' wish such a broad brush". EH - sorry. You don't want to be painted with the same brush, then you need to be out there and VOCAL about your condemnation of the MAJORITY of Christianity then. Besides, why should we coddle you for being deluded? Your bible CONDEMNS you for being a lesbian. You pick and choose what you want to believe out of that book of lies - and so do they. YOU'RE BOTH HYPOCRITES. As far as I'm concerned, you're not a lesbian - you're just a deluded Xtian.

Owen, Hard economic times are a boon to these crazies. It makes it much easier to recruit bigots if you have something/someone to blame all the ills on. That would be us unfortunately.

To Alexander: Why would the station consider airing the program? Money. Plain and simple. For a longer answer, we now have to consider that the AFA NOW has a chance to claim it's being "censored" by a media that "caves in to the gay agenda" but doesn't hesitate to "discriminate against Christians". While a large segment of the population won't consider that argument to hold water, there will be a sizable segment that will. Let's not forget how overblown the Janet Jackson incident was, largely because of "family values" groups which differ very little from the AFA. (Yes, a 10-second partial glimpse of what MIGHT have been Janet's nipple was an outrage, but farting horses and "overweight, ugly guys only need the right beer/car to get supermodels fighting over them" type of commercials are perfectly fine and dandy for FAMILY viewing.)

Two of my friends finally said, "Enough!" and immigrated to New Zealand. At first I thought they should have stayed to fight the good fight, but now....I think they are right.

Owen asked, "What would this station gain from airing this?" Bucks. On the other hand, I think they've gained a great deal more by not airing it. They may not be able to take gratitude and goodwill to the bank, but it counts for something.

The American Family Association like its bigoted counterpart Focus on the Family is an anti-American, anti-taxpayer and anti-religious organization (unless you are a" true believer" and send big bucks to its coffers to promote more deceit and bigotry). No doubt, these phoney organizations are tax exempt. So, US Govt and IRS, tax the s--t out of them and see how long they survive! Kudos to the Michigan Wood tv station and to the efforts of the HRC organizers for not allowing the AFA to air another pitiful and spiteful attempt to marginalize Gays.

And we have people who read this regularly and wonder why we just don't all 'get along' and reach out our hands to the Christians, like Melissa Etheridge did to Pastor Rick Warren. This is the reason why! "Play Nice, Folks", indeed!