by Fred Jackson and Bill Fancher
(AgapePress) – Conservatives are taking fresh aim this morning at an old foe — the Public Broadcasting System. A report says it plans to air a major documentary tonight that is critical of the Boy Scouts' stand against homosexuality.
Traditional Catholics have long voiced their opposition to the PBS's use of taxpayers' money to put anti-life, anti-family material on the air. Peter LaBarbara is senior policy analyst at the Culture and Family Institute in Washington. He tells The Washington Times that it is one thing if homosexual-activist producer Tom Shepard were to produce a film with his own money. But he says when taxpayers' money is used to undermine the Boy Scouts, it changes things.
According to The Times, the documentary, called Scout's Honor, follows the lives of 16 year-old Boy Scout Steven Cozza and 71 year-old scoutmaster David Rice, founders of the group “Scouting for All” — an alliance of homosexuals and heterosexuals that is fighting the Scouts' policy of excluding open homosexuals as leaders. The Times says people on both sides of the issue agree that the PBS documentary makes the Scouts look homophobic and intolerant, while making Cozza appear heroic.
LaBarbara and those who share his concern are asking people to call their local PBS station and ask them not to air the show — or, at the very least, provide equal time for the opposing view.
Meanwhile, LaBarbara is taking issue with a recent Gallup poll that indicates Americans are becoming more tolerant of homosexuals and their lifestyle. The Gallup poll found that 85% of those polled think homosexuals should have equal rights regarding job opportunities — and that 40% believe the lifestyle is genetic. LaBarbara says the poll is not trustworthy because the kinds of questions posed and the manner in which they were stated skewed the results.
“I think that the poll does produce artificially high numbers because people are never asked questions [such as], 'Do you think it's right for a man to have sex with another man?',” LaBarbara says. “Americans are never asked basic questions like that. However … given that bias, [I think] the numbers still are frighteningly high.”
LaBarbara partially credits the entertainment industry for the pro-homosexual shift in America. “When you have majorities of Americans saying that homosexuals should have the right to serve in the military and those sorts of numbers, I think it shows that the media and Hollywood propaganda war on this issue is wearing Americans down,” he says. The poll also found that six of ten people oppose same-sex unions, and 52% do not believe homosexuals should get marriage-type benefits.
LaBarbara also noted that a recent “Gay Pride” celebration in the nation's capital seemed to lack the intensity of similar pro-homosexual gatherings in the past. “These things are becoming routine, these homosexual events,” he says. “I guess my fear would be that homosexuality has just become … boring or a non-issue to many Americans.” That, he says, could be dangerous for the future of the country.
(This update courtesy of Agape Press.)
