The Culture and Family Institute (CFI) released a new report that reveals common uses of “gay plague” language by mainstream media, academics and activists. Part of CFI's Media Accountability Project, the report contains more than a dozen historic references to a “gay plague.”
”The Washington Post's 'hit' on AIDS panel nominee Jerry Thacker took him out, plain and simple,” said Culture and Family Institute Director Robert Knight, author of the new report. “But Newsweek magazine, owned by the Washington Post Company, used the same term in a current retrospective article about AIDS posted on MSNBC's Web site.
“Anatomy of a Plague: An Oral History,” by Daniel McGinn, begins this way: “June 3 – In the earliest days, it was known as the “gay plague” — a mysterious ailment affecting gay men, mostly in New York and San Francisco.”
As the Culture and Family Institute Special Report “Anatomy of a Smear” reveals, Newsweek is among many mainstream and liberal publications to use the term.
For example, the Los Angeles Times obituary of homosexual journalist Randy Shilts had this: “In 1982, Shilts began covering what then was called 'the gay plague.'” — Jenifer Warren and Richard C. Paddock, “Randy Shilts, Chronicler of AIDS Epidemic, Dies at 42,” Los Angeles Times, February 18, 1994, Page A-1.
On Jan. 23, The Washington Post ran a front page story describing Jerry Thacker, a nominee on the Presidential Advisory Commission on HIV and AIDS, as a man “who has characterized AIDS as the 'gay plague.'” Stoked by homosexual activist groups, including 'gay' Republicans, a media firestorm engulfed the nomination. Even though he had used the term only in quotes as a historic reference, Mr. Thacker withdrew his name before the end of the day.
For a copy of “Anatomy of a Smear: How 'Gay' Activists, the Media and the White House Shredded Jerry Thacker,” e-mail contact@cwfa.org.
Culture and Family Institute is an affiliate of Concerned Women for America. Concerned Women for America is the nation's largest public policy women's organization.
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