Peter LaBarbera of the Americans for Truth About Homosexuality (AFTAH) is joining the chorus of right-wing voices to sound off on a queer activist's controversial Huffington Post blog.
“Homosexual activists know that they have to change the minds of young people, like all radical movements," LaBarbera said in a March 23 appearance on Voice of Christian Youth America’s show “In Focus,” Right Wing Watch first reported. "We saw this under the Communists, under Hitler. They need to penetrate the minds of the youth.”
He went on to note, "A school will bring in a gay activist, but they will never bring in an ex-gay, because that's too risky. Because then kids can see that homosexuality is not about who you are, it's about what you do. If you can practice homosexuality, you can leave homosexuality."
LaBarbera, whose opposition to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community is well-established, was sounding off on S. Bear Bergman's March 7 blog, which features the tongue-in-cheek headline, "I Have Come to Indoctrinate Your Children Into My LGBTQ Agenda (And I'm Not a Bit Sorry)."
Many of the arguments seemed to focus on the segment of the blog in which Bergman, 40, reveals that he is at work on a six-book series for children that features queer themes for Flamingo Press, which he founded.
Among those to previously condemn Bergman's words was Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council, who wrote, "Now, having hoodwinked most of the country on their agenda, these extremists no longer have to hide. In fact, they are increasingly bold -- almost boastful -- about their real intentions."
Meanwhile, Tim Brown of the Sons of Liberty Media deemed Bergman, who identifies as transgender, a "mentally ill woman who believes she is a man," and implies that he is a "sexual deviant."
The debate extended onto social media as well.
For his part, Bergman sloughed off the arguments, telling The Huffington Post in an email, "The first tactic of the powerful is never to refute someone’s opinion or defend their own position, it’s ALWAYS to use dehumanizing language in an attempt to shame the dissenter."
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