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Gay Groups Angered At Schwarzenegger's Dr Laura Invitation
California LGBT activists are incensed that radio talk show host Dr. Laura has been invited to participated in a conference on families organized by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Calif. First Lady Maria Shriver.
The 19th Annual Conference on Women and Families is scheduled for Thursday, October 27, 2005 in Long Beach. The conference honors women and families for their leadership and activism.
Laura Schlessinger, who does not hold a medical degree but uses the term doctor, regularly attacks gays on her nationally syndicated radio show.
In 1998 she called gays "a biological error".
"If you're gay or a lesbian, it's a biological error that inhibits you from relating normally to the opposite sex. The fact that you are intelligent, creative and valuable is all true," she said. "The error is in your inability to relate sexually intimately, in a loving way to a member of the opposite sex it is a biological error."
She has equated homosexuality with pedophilia and in 2000 said, "The well-funded and well-connected homosexual activist movement has become the McCarthyism of the 21st century."
Schlessinger was invited to speak at the conference by Schwarzenegger a month after he vetoed legislation that would have permitted same-sex marriage in the state.
"It is unconscionable that the First Lady of the State of California is giving a platform to a woman who has made a career for herself condemning families headed by LGBT individuals, opposing hate-crime legislation, and promoting hate," said Executive Director Kate Kendell of the National Center for Lesbian Rights.
"At a time when the first lady should be demonstrating leadership in supporting equality for all families, it is disheartening that she instead is selling out her values for her husband’s anti-equality agenda. It is also disheartening that there is no representation of same-sex families at this conference. It is truly sad to watch as she allows her husband’s right-wing advisers to diminish her stature and degrade what was an important non-partisan, non-political event."
Equality California said it was shocked that the governor would issue the invitation.
"On a day to celebrate the role of women in America, Dr. Laura casts a shadow of anti-gay sentiment and bias toward our families," said Executive Director Geoffrey Kors of Equality California. "Dr. Laura has spearheaded an inaccurate campaign against LGBT people, claiming we are child molesters and ‘biological errors.’ For Maria Shriver to give the blessing of the State of California to a woman who has promoted hate is unconscionable."
Schlessinger will be one of more than 70 scheduled speakers at the conference. Among the less controversial speakers will be film producer Linda Ellerbee, former NBC anchor Tom Brokaw, and singer Mary J. Blige.
http://www.365gay.com/newscon05/10/102705drLaura.htm
Laura Schlessinger, who does not hold a medical degree but uses the term doctor, regularly attacks gays on her nationally syndicated radio show.
In 1998 she called gays "a biological error".
"If you're gay or a lesbian, it's a biological error that inhibits you from relating normally to the opposite sex. The fact that you are intelligent, creative and valuable is all true," she said. "The error is in your inability to relate sexually intimately, in a loving way to a member of the opposite sex it is a biological error."
She has equated homosexuality with pedophilia and in 2000 said, "The well-funded and well-connected homosexual activist movement has become the McCarthyism of the 21st century."
Schlessinger was invited to speak at the conference by Schwarzenegger a month after he vetoed legislation that would have permitted same-sex marriage in the state.
"It is unconscionable that the First Lady of the State of California is giving a platform to a woman who has made a career for herself condemning families headed by LGBT individuals, opposing hate-crime legislation, and promoting hate," said Executive Director Kate Kendell of the National Center for Lesbian Rights.
"At a time when the first lady should be demonstrating leadership in supporting equality for all families, it is disheartening that she instead is selling out her values for her husband’s anti-equality agenda. It is also disheartening that there is no representation of same-sex families at this conference. It is truly sad to watch as she allows her husband’s right-wing advisers to diminish her stature and degrade what was an important non-partisan, non-political event."
Equality California said it was shocked that the governor would issue the invitation.
"On a day to celebrate the role of women in America, Dr. Laura casts a shadow of anti-gay sentiment and bias toward our families," said Executive Director Geoffrey Kors of Equality California. "Dr. Laura has spearheaded an inaccurate campaign against LGBT people, claiming we are child molesters and ‘biological errors.’ For Maria Shriver to give the blessing of the State of California to a woman who has promoted hate is unconscionable."
Schlessinger will be one of more than 70 scheduled speakers at the conference. Among the less controversial speakers will be film producer Linda Ellerbee, former NBC anchor Tom Brokaw, and singer Mary J. Blige.
http://www.365gay.com/newscon05/10/102705drLaura.htm
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“It is unconscionable that the First Lady of the State of California is giving a platform to a woman who has made a career for herself condemning families headed by LGBT individuals, opposing hate-crime legislation, and promoting hate,” said Executive Director Kate Kendell of the National Center for Lesbian Rights. “At a time when the first lady should be demonstrating leadership in supporting equality for all families, it is disheartening that she instead is selling out her values for her husband’s anti-equality agenda. It is also disheartening that there is no representation of same-sex families at this conference. It is truly sad to watch as she allows her husband’s right-wing advisers to diminish her stature and degrade what was an important non-partisan, non-political event.”
“Equality California is shocked that the governor and the first lady would feature Dr. Laura at what should be a non-partisan conference on women and families,” said Executive Director Geoffrey Kors of Equality California. “On a day to celebrate the role of women in America, Dr. Laura casts a shadow of anti-gay sentiment and bias toward our families.” He added, “Dr. Laura has spearheaded an inaccurate campaign against LGBT people, claiming we are child molesters and ‘biological errors.’ For Maria Shriver to give the blessing of the State of California to a woman who has promoted hate is unconscionable.”
The conference, with more than 70 scheduled speakers, will focus on Women as Architects of Change: Lessons on Leadership, Activism and Family. “For Maria Shriver to give a role at this conference to a woman who believes in the exclusion from equal protection of the law of so many California families is outrageous,” said Assembymember Mark Leno. “This event is an opportunity for the first lady and the governor to focus on inclusion of all California families.”
In 2001, with the help of prominent child welfare, mental health, religious and civil rights groups including the Child Welfare League of America, Horizons Foundation, and the National Mental Health Association, the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) declared victory in its three-year campaign against Schlessinger’s anti-LGBT rhetoric and led to the cancellation of her national talk show. Her programming advocated dangerous and largely discredited methods to ‘convert’ LGBT people, often using terminology such as “deviant,” “disordered” and “biological error.”
http://www.sfbaytimes.com/?sec=article&article_id=4222