A number of Fox News personalities showed their support for Spirit Day by wearing purple on Friday, despite the fact that the network's coverage of anti-LGBT bullying has only served to worsen the problem.
Several Fox News personalities and reporters dressed in purple on air Friday, ostensibly to show their support for Spirit Day - an event during which millions of Americans wear purple to stand against anti-LGBT bullying.
A spokesperson from the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) -- the organizer of Spirit Day -- confirmed that Fox News was sent information about Spirit Day in advance. The network called GLAAD to thank them for the information to participate and said that they would pass it along to News Corp, which owns the Fox network.
Fox's history of covering the issue of anti-LGBT bullying, however, has been dismal. The network has depicted the bullying problem among youth as an exaggeration, ignored bullying-related teen suicides, condemned tolerance and diversity lessons in schools, and aggressively criticized anti-bullying efforts. Even a number of Fox's employees have used their national platform to demonize and bully LGBT people.
Here are a few of the Fox News personalities wearing purple today:
Fox & Friends co-host Brian Kilmeade, who has previously joked about “the one part of Chaz [Bono] that hasn't been operated on":
Happening Now anchor Jenna Lee and Fox News reporter Catherine Herridge:
The Five co-host Bob Beckel:
Fox News senior national correspondent John Roberts:
Fox News contributor Julie Roginsky:
It's encouraging that Fox News is at least giving a nod to opposing anti-LGBT bullying, but its history of lobbying against anti-bullying efforts says a lot more about the network's stance on the issue than a few pastel neckties ever could.
UPDATE: Fox News contributor Mike Huckabee also donned purple on Spirit Day:
Though Huckabee has publicly condemned schoolyard bullying in the past, he remains one of Fox's most virulently anti-LGBT personalities.
He's suggested that AIDS patients should be quarantined and has called homosexuality “unnatural” and “sinful.” He's cited child molestation as a justification for upholding the Boy Scouts' ban on gay troop leaders. He's called same-sex marriage a threat to "stable society" and stated that his opposition to marriage equality is partly based on the "ick factor."
In April, Huckabee criticized a Kansas non-discrimination ordinance by suggesting that predators would use the law to commit sexual assault.
Huckabee was also the mastermind behind Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day earlier this year, which aimed to support the fast food giant despite its donations to anti-gay groups.
Earlier this year, Huckabee called the Family Research Council (FRC), “one of the most respected family organizations in America," even though the group has been labeled as an anti-gay hate group. He also hosted FRC president Tony Perkins on his radio show to condemn “It Gets Better” founder Dan Savage as "an apostle of division and intolerance."