Several hundred protesters braved a cold Chicago wind to protest Saturday's induction of Focus on the Family founder James Dobson into the National Radio Hall of Fame at their annual induction ceremonies.

Protesters lined themselves outside the Renaissance Hotel at the corner of Waker and State in downtown Chicago. While Dobson was being inducted inside, protesters outside shouted, “What do we want. Equal rights,” and carried signs that read, “Hall of Fame not Hall of Shame.”

Wayne Besen, president of Truth Wins Out (TWO), a group dedicated to exposing the lies of the ex-gay movement, was one of the first gay activists to speak out against the Radio Hall's decision.

“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.

“It is mind-blowing, that the Radio Hall of Fame honored a leader of Proposition 8,” the TWO website said. “Dobson put his media empire and vast amounts of money into the service of denying equal marriage rights for same-sex couples. And, the Radio Hall of Fame reacted by giving this demagogue a trophy.”

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 gave a combined $1.4 million in support of California's newly-passed 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.”