Gay groups are outraged by the Museum
of Broadcast Communications' decision to induct Christian
fundamentalist James Dobson into the National Radio Hall of Fame in
Chicago.
The organization is set to induct
Dobson into the Radio Hall November 8th during their
annual induction ceremonies.
As founder of the Christian
fundamentalist ministry Focus on the Family, Dobson's daily radio
message has been heard on thousands of radio stations throughout the
country for nearly twenty years.
Truth Wins Out (TWO) Executive Director
Wayne Besen was the first gay activist to rail against the nominee.
“It is simply unconscionable that the
museum is giving its imprimatur to a demagogue who has profited from
divisive and discriminatory rhetoric,” said Besen on the group's
website.
The Chicago-based Gay Liberation
Network (GLN) and the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation
(GLAAD) also say Dobson is unworthy of the honor.
“Museums should be places that
celebrate the best of human endeavor, not the worst,” wrote GLN
Co-Founder Andy Thayer in an open letter to Bruce DuMont, president
of the Museum of Broadcast Communications.
Dobson's anti-gay rhetoric goes far
beyond intolerance, the protesting groups say.
Besen, an outspoken critic of the
Colorado-based ministry, said Dobson's group was “responsible for
much of the hate against gay and lesbian people in America, because
they pump out huge amounts of anti-gay propaganda that demeans our
lives and devalues our families. ... What they do is Orwellian.”
“Dobson has set up a fib factory that
portrays gay people as perverted, dysfunctional and sick. When these
lies filter down into society it causes discrimination and even hate
crimes,” Besen told On Top Magazine in September.
In his daily radio program and in
interviews, Dobson has said that gays cannot contain themselves to be
monogamous and that they would destroy marriage and “[gay marriage]
will destroy Earth.” Focus on the Family along with evangelical
Christian groups American Family Association and Concerned Women for
American have given a combined $1.4 million in support of
California's proposed gay marriage ban – Proposition 8.
Dobson is also the primary sponsor of
Love Won Out, a multi-city conference tour that seeks to “cure”
gays of their sexuality.
Besen calls the ex-gay ministry
profiteering and “dishonest.” “Dobson continues to promote
dishonest psychological theories about gay people that are rejected
by every respected medical and mental health association in America,
including the American Psychological Association and the American
Psychiatric Association.”
The coalition of gay groups are
planning to protest Dobson's induction on November 8th and
have created a website with additional information at
www.dumpdobson.com.