Glenn Beck taken to task for ‘gay marriage’ position
Posted on Aug 27, 2010 | by Michael Foust
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)–A pro-family leader is taking conservative talk show host Glenn Beck to task for saying the legalization of “gay marriage” will not harm religious freedom.
Appearing on Fox News’ “O’Reilly Factor” Aug. 11, Beck took a libertarian approach to the issue and said he has “bigger fish to fry.” A federal judge’s ruling against California Prop 8 was barely mentioned on Beck’s TV and radio programs.
“Do you believe that gay marriage is a threat to the country in any way?” host Bill O’Reilly asked.
“A threat to the country?” Beck asked.
“Yeah, is it going to harm it in anyway?” O’Reilly responded.
“No. Will the gays come and get us?” Beck answered, sarcastically.
O’Reilly asked again if “gay marriage” legalization would harm the country, and Beck responded, “I believe that Thomas Jefferson said: ‘If it neither breaks my leg nor picks my pocket, what difference is it to me?'”
Beck added, “As long as we are not going down the road of Canada, where it is now a problem for churches to have free speech …”
But free speech and religious freedoms will be impacted if “gay marriage” is legalized, says Peter LaBarbera, president of Americans For Truth about Homosexuality. LaBarbera wrote a column, “Why Glenn Beck is Wrong,” that listed several reasons “gay marriage” legalization will harm freedoms. LaBarbera said it would:
— override “the documented will of the people in the 31 states that have already voted — some by huge margins — to preserve marriage in the law as what it is: between one man and one woman.”
— force “businessmen and -women to subsidize homosexual relationships” through insurance benefits “even if they rightly believe that those relationships are immoral and deviant.”
— pave the way “for even greater pro-homosexuality indoctrination in the nation’s schools than we are already seeing under the mandate of ‘sexual orientation nondiscrimination.'”
— open the door for homosexual teachers in public schools to talk openly about their spouses — all with the protection of the law.
— allow textbooks to be rewritten to portray “gay marriage” as a good thing that was part of a successful civil rights movement.
— result in those who oppose “gay marriage” to be portrayed as bigots who are equivalent to the racist opponents of the 1950s and 1960s civil rights movement and who need to be pushed by the government “to the curb.”
— harm the adoption movement and possibly lead to the closing of adoption agencies who refuse to adopt to homosexual couples, as happened to Catholic Charities in Massachusetts.
FORMER GOP CHAIR IS HOMOSEXUAL — Former Republican National Committee chairman Ken Mehlman, who was the campaign manager for President George W. Bush’s 2004 campaign, told The Atlantic in an Aug. 25 story that he is homosexual. He also says he backs “gay marriage,” which is ironic, because pundits often credit Bush’s 2004 re-election — at least partially — to social conservatives who went out in droves in 11 states to vote for constitutional marriage amendments. Ohio, a key swing state that went for Bush, passed a marriage amendment that year.
“It’s taken me 43 years to get comfortable with this part of my life,” Mehlman, who has never been married, said. “Everybody has their own path to travel, their own journey, and for me, over the past few months, I’ve told my family, friends, former colleagues, and current colleagues, and they’ve been wonderful and supportive. The process has been something that’s made me a happier and better person. It’s something I wish I had done years ago.”
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