During the January 17 edition of CNN's Larry King Live -- dedicated to a discussion about the implications of “the buzz around” award-winning film Brokeback Mountain (Focus Features, 2005) -- radio host Janet Parshall referred to the adoption of children by same-sex couples as “state-sanctioned child abuse” and implied that the “lifestyle” of Matthew Shepard, a gay man, was partly to blame for his 1998 murder.

Opining on gay marriage, Parshall called it a “pretend family,” arguing that “God himself” defined marriage as a union between one man and one woman, and that “everything else is a fraudulent misrepresentation.” She then asserted that allowing a gay couple to adopt constituted “state-sanctioned child abuse because you've purposely taken away either a momma or a daddy, and mom and dad are both necessary in a child's life.”

Speaking about Shepard's death -- the result of severe injuries sustained during a violent beating at the hands of two men who, purportedly claiming to be gay, lured him from a campus bar at the University of Wyoming -- Parshall first asserted that she was not offering “a justification of what happened, because it was wrong, wrong, and wrong;” nonetheless, she suggested that “there's a lot of questions about his [Shepard's] background,” and asked, "[W]as he looking for trouble in all the wrong places?"

Parshall also told host Larry King that she was not at all surprised at the “buzz” surrounding Brokeback Mountain because “what we're witnessing, Larry, is the homosexualizing of America.”

According to an article in American Outlook, the quarterly magazine of the conservative Hudson Institute, Janet Parshall's America “reaches 3.5 million listeners five days a week.” The show is syndicated by Salem Radio Network.

From the January 17 edition of CNN's Larry King Live, which featured a discussion that included Parshall, actor Chad Allen, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary president R. Albert Mohler Jr., and former Mayor of Casper, Wyoming (Shepard's hometown) Guy Padgett III:

PARSHALL: No, I didn't see the film and I'm not at all surprised that out of seven [Golden Globe] nominations Brokeback walked away with four, and some might say that's an indication of what the Oscar ceremonies might look like later on this year.

KING: Why would you comment on it if you haven't seen it?

PARSHALL: Well, I'm interested in all of the buzz around the film. I'm not the least bit surprised that we're hearing so much chatter. After all, I think what we're witnessing, Larry, is the homosexualizing of America.

[...]

PARSHALL: Well, there's a lot of questions about his [Shepard's] background. Was he, in fact, coming -- and this is no way, shape, or form, a justification of what happened because it was wrong, wrong, and wrong. Let there be no ambiguity there.

But, in reality, I understand that Matthew was somewhat of a person who hung around some of the gay bars and was coming on to some people. So, was he looking for trouble in all the wrong places?

If I were his mom, I would have given him some counsel, “stay away from that kind of a lifestyle,” because there's a way that seems right on demand and the end therein is death, and, unfortunately, it cost Matthew his life.

[...]

PARSHALL: What I have against it is that it's a pretend family, Larry. Let's talk about this. You talked about the law but really the genesis of this law -- no pun intended -- happens to be the Book of Genesis. It was God himself who defined family as one man and one union; one man, one woman in that union, and everything else is a fraudulent misrepresentation. And, you know --

KING: But, in Genesis, guys had five wives.

PARSHALL: Yeah, they sure did, and guess what, the Bible also said they had a boatload of trouble. In fact, it's interesting USA Today writes a piece --

KING: But still called them family.

PARSHALL: Well, that also said it was called a problem. God's plan all along was one man and one woman, and when those patriarchs stepped outside that plan, that rest of that book says they had a whole bunch of trouble. So, it isn't about hurting me personally, Larry. It's about hurting our culture. It's about hurting our kids.

I think when two people of the same sex get together and they decide to use the moniker of a marriage, I think it's a grotesque misrepresentation, and actually, if that union decides that they want to then adopt children 'cause biology says they can't create children, then I think what you have in many respects is state-sanctioned child abuse because you've purposely taken away either a momma or a daddy, and mom and dad are both necessary in a child's life.

KING: Would you agree that a homosexual union can raise a pretty good child and a heterosexual union can raise a pretty bad one?

PARSHALL: I would agree that probably, we need to reform the foster care system and we need to tear down some of the encumbrances to the adoption laws in this country, but I don't think it's a good idea to say to Johnny, “Guess what, two daddies are going to meet all your needs just like a mommy and a daddy are,” because that's just not true.