Hate Dossier: 'Porno' Peter LaBarbera and AFTAH

I've been developing a hate dossier over the past few months, essentially an excel spreadsheet of organizations big and small that have demonized Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgendered individuals.  Some of them have national recognition like the National Organization for Marriage, Focus on the Family, the Family Research Council, and Americans For Truth About Homosexuality, and some are smaller like the NY Family Research Foundation, Mass. Resistance, and so on.  Usually I lump these guys in together because most are fringe groups with limited support (NOM for example gets most of it's money from 5-6 donors who have been speculated to be high ranking Catholic officials), but I thought it would be good to shine the spotlight on each of them individually.  We begin with AFTAH.

Americans For Truth About Homosexuality was formed in 1996 by Peter LaBarbera and reorganized in 2006.  The organization's website reveals that it "seeks to apply the same single-minded determination to opposing the radical homosexual agenda and standing for God-ordained sexuality and the natural family as countless homosexual groups do in promoting their harmful agenda."  Okay then. 

As you might have guessed, AFTAH is designated as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center (who rose to prominence fighting the Klan), mainly for knowingly posting and referencing faulty studies, misrepresenting legitimate studies, and using the work of "scientist" Paul Cameron who has been condemned by the American Psychological Association, the Nebraska Psychological Association, the American Sociological Association, and the Canadian Psychological Association.  Among the lies Cameron has published are that homosexuals have shorter lifespans and that homosexuals molest children at a higher rate, both of which have been disproved by...you know...real scientists.

 Peter LaBarbera - Not a real scientist

LaBarbera is somewhat of a joke even among anti-gay circles for his antics that border on ridiculous.  You see, he's often referred to as "Porno Pete" for posting explicit pictures on his website.  And how do you think he gets those pictures?  If you answered "by attending gay events and snapping them himself," you are right!  Although he sometimes gets confused. (Warning: nude picture.)  If you want a good illustration of the type of crazy that LaBarbera seems to embrace, I suggest you take the time to read this exchange with Holy Bullies author Alvin McEwen.  If you want the "too long, did not read" version, here it is: LaBarbera justifies lying through the use of faulty studies by saying "nobody's perfect," and saying his actions are excusable because he trusts in God's will.  Okay then.

Evidently God's will includes publishing a letter from Scott Lively, author of The Pink Swastika, a book that asserts that homosexuality played a key role in the founding of the Nazi Party, that Hitler was gay, and that eight of the top ten American serial killers were gay.  I can't make this shit up.  If that's not enough for you, Lively helped organize a conference of evangelical Christians in Uganda which played a key role in their new anti-gay legislation which calls for the death penalty for homosexuals.

The Best of Peter LaBarbera:

• "Bathhouses are places where men can go practice this dangerous sexual activity (buttsex) in secret." - Hmm, and he knows how?
• "Morality is not “hate” and defending the historic Judeo-Christian sexual ethic is not “bigotry.” Homosexuality is wrong, and a controversial moral and religious issue involving behavior ... In a free society, we debate moral issues, and we discuss public health issues arising from dangerous behaviors. Does People For the American Way hold that it is OK to crusade for acceptance of homosexuality, but “un-American” and ”hateful” to oppose it civilly?"
• "The whole Mary Cheney-baby episode typifies how the “gay” agenda advances in our emotionally-driven culture. The personal becomes political, and “open and proud gays” use their relationships with family members, friends and co-workers to persuade them to embrace behaviors with which they once disagreed — or at least go silent about them. This is the goal of homosexual activists’ “coming out” strategy, which is brilliant in its manipulation of human nature."
• "What Americans have to realize is that, if you get the federal government behind this perversion of civil rights, it will have a cascading effect throughout the whole American society. Small businesses could be forced to hire people embracing gender confusion. You have people in jobs that face the public such as a maitre d' in a restaurant – a man decides that he is really a woman and he is going to start dressing as a woman." LaBarbera is optimistic, though, because “when most people see ‘big bulky men in dresses’ they immediately ‘recoil.’” 

As I said, AFTAH is a fringe group and Peter LaBarbera is small potatoes.  His 1100 followers on twitter (@PeterLaBarbera) pale in comparison to the several thousand that many pro-LGBT bloggers can boast.  But LaBarbera is the worst kind of scum because of the lies he pushes that hold this country, and it's approval of LGBT-rights back.