Speechless: Silencing the Christians
It's a one hour special that was supposed to air on various stations around the country. Created as a compilation of the INSP Network's Speechless series, the special targets and attacks the "radical homosexual agenda". The American Family Association, the show's sponsor, says that most Americans get their "information about the homosexual movement from the secular news media and Hollywood, which not only support but promote the gay agenda. What people know is tainted by pro-homosexual propaganda."
WOOD-TV of Grand Rapids, MI, was originally going to air the special right before the president's press conference on Monday night. The station postponed the show to Wednesday night, and after being bombarded with angry calls and emails, pushed it back to Saturday, and eventually canceled it altogether.
Other stations, such as WSXY of Columbus, OH, refused to air the show, and WSPA of Greenville, SC, aired the show along with an apology from the station's manager.
The Human Rights Campaign, the country's largest GLBT rights group, released a statement about the special saying:
The ultra-right wing American Family Association (AFA) says it produced the 60-minute program to air nation-wide.
This program recycles familiar lies: that hate crime laws will "do away with our freedom of speech," or that pastors will be "criminalized for sharing the love of Jesus Christ." (In fact, the proposed federal hate crimes law explicitly states that it only applies to violent acts – not speech.)
The "anchor" of this faux-news program, which may have already aired in smaller markets, is controversial talk show host Janet Parshall, who in 2006 suggested Matthew Shepard's lifestyle was responsible for his murder and called gay adoption "state-sanctioned child abuse."
AFA President Tim Wildemon released this statement:
It's ironic that the very issue we're bringing up -- that Christians are being rendered speechless when they talk about this issue -- is actually happening to us when it comes to the program itself... They've heard from a few of the homosexual, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered supporters out there -- and so they haven't heard massively from our folks yet.
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Opinions, and not just of the special, but also of the whole 'censoring' ordeal?