Peter LaBarbera’s Warped Understanding of Civility

It seems that Peter LaBarbera is rather upset with me for saying that his upcoming “truth academy” was going to be “the gay-hatingest thing you have ever seen”:

Oftentimes when activists on the Left have no evidence that something they disagree with is actually ”hateful,” they just label as such anyway, and then repeat themselves ad nauseam so that we’ll all get the message that said conservative activity is, well, “hateful.” Here is People for the American Way (PFAW) “Senior Fellow” Kyle Mantyla’s trenchant analysis of AFTAH’s Truth Academy curriculum:

“Peter LaBarbera has unveiled the instructor list and official curriculum for his upcoming three day anti-gay hatefest/”truth academy” … and it is pretty much going to be the gay-hatingest thing you have ever seen.”

Wow. “Gay-hatingest.” Reactionary liberals are expanding their smear-term lexicon. Seriously, though, most people on the Left are not quite willing, yet, to define anyone who disagrees with homosexuality as “hateful” — although they might call them “homophobic” (an artificial construct whose elastic definition has evolved to meet the needs of pro-”gay” liberals). I’m sure there are exceptions, but I suspect that most “gay”-affirming people would not automatically label anyone who believes that homosexuality is immoral — or that homosexual sex is unnatural – as “haters.”

LaBarbera apparently operates under the belief that opposition to all things gay which claims to be rooted in Judeo-Christian morality cannot possibly be considered hateful:

Morality is not “hate” and defending the historic Judeo-Christian sexual ethic is not “bigotry.” Homosexuality is wrong, and a controversial moral and religious issue involving behavior … In a free society, we debate moral issues, and we discuss public health issues arising from dangerous behaviors. Does PFAW hold that it is OK to crusade for acceptance of homosexuality, but “un-American” and ”hateful” to oppose it civilly?

Maybe “Senior Fellow” Kyle, who edits PFAW’s “Right-Wing Watch” blog, and his pro-homosexual allies can explain it for us: Is every American who opposes homosexuality hateful — or just those who defend that position in public? When does moral disagreement become “hate”?

Civilly?  Is that how LaBarbera thinks his hand-picked line-up of “instructors” has engaged in the public debate? 

– Cliff Kincaid claims that gays are out to destory our military with disease-tainted blood.

– Laurie Higgins says Christians have to fight gays just like they fought Nazis.

– Rena Lindevaldsen has worked tirelessly representing a woman who fled the country rather than allow her former lesbian partner to see their daughter.

– Robert Knight comared gay marriage to Pearl Harbor.

– The only reason anyone even knows the name Ryan Sorba is because he launched into an anti-gay rant at CPAC.

– And Matt Barber is the sort of person who says there is nothing acceptable about “one man violently cramming his penis into another man’s lower intestine and calling it ‘love'” and whose career, from day one, has been rooted in his virulent animosity toward gays.

And Peter LaBarber is the man who personally invited all of these activists to come a “teach” at his conference – and he chose them specifically because of their unabashed militant hostility toward gays.