After Promoting Anti-Gay Rhetoric, Breitbart is Named to Gay Group's Board

Special Programs LGBTQ

Written by Christine Schwen

Published

GOProud, the conservative group for gay conservatives and their allies, just appointed Andrew Breitbart to their board. However, Breitbart and his contributors at his BigPeace, BigGovernment, BigJournalism and BigHollywood sites have repeatedly engaged in incendiary anti-gay rhetoric. Additionally, his contributors have actively opposed the repeal of Don't ask Don't tell, and opposed GOProud's inclusion in the conservative conference CPAC.

Breitbart's Problematic Rhetoric

Breitbart: “I Am Not Endorsing Gay Marriage, I'm Not Endorsing Don't Ask, Don't Tell,” And I Fear “The Activist Gay Left ... More Than Al-Qaida.” Shortly after right-wing groups like the Media Research Council and the Family Research Council announced they were boycotting the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) because GOProud was attending, Brietbart announced he was throwing the group a “big ol' gay party.” He reportedly stated of the planned event:

I am not endorsing gay marriage, I'm not endorsing Don't Ask, Don't Tell. I will be the harshest critic of the activist gay left, who I fear more than al-Qaida. But for these people not to exist in a two-party system, for you to tell them they're not welcome in the big tent, I have a huge problem with that and I'm going to indulge in my all '80s Depeche Mode, Cure, New Order fetish and we're going to have a big 'ol gay party at CPAC. [National Journal, 1/19/11]


Breitbart: Carrie Prejean Miss USA Question On Marriage “Was A Setup.” In a Washington Times op-ed, Breitbart stated that while he's “gay-friendly,” He was concerned about the behavior of the “gay political-activist community”:

The gay political-activist community - in my view, a small minority of left-wing agitators acting on behalf of the whole - has been on a binge of bad public behavior, and I'm not referring to the bare-buttocked-chaps look and inappropriately placed sparklers during “pride” parades.

[...]

The latest high-profile act on behalf of the “community” came from the Miss USA pageant. Perez Hilton, the wildly popular Internet gossip and celebrity hit man, somehow got himself placed as a judge of female beauty at the Donald Trump-sponsored event. Not to be judgmental, but the apprentice behind that hire should be fired. But I digress.

At the point in the pageant when the young lovelies are asked questions by those who pick the winners, the flamboyantly gay man (who by day pries into the private lives of stars and scrawls human DNA-spewing phalli under the faces of those he doesn't like) asked Miss California, Carrie Prejean, whether she approved of gay marriage.

It was a setup.

[...]

On display at the Miss USA event was the activist left's pageant of selective bullying, a concerted strategy to go after low-hanging fruit like Mormons. [The Washington Times, 4/27/09]

Breitbart's Promotion Of Anti-Gay Jennings Smears

Breitbart Blogger Hoft's Anti-Gay Smears Against Jennings. BigGovernment contributor Jim Hoft authored a series of articles -- which he called “fistgate” -- filled with false and incendiary attacks on Department of Education staffer Kevin Jennings and the organization Jennings founded and previously led, the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN). For example:

  • Hoft Deceptively Linked Jennings To “Fisting” Workshop He Criticized. Hoft claimed that a 2000 conference sponsored by the Boston branch of GLSEN included “a workshop where GLSEN activists promoted 'fisting' to 14 year olds,” citing a recorded exchange that occurred during a “Queer Sex and Sexuality” workshop at that conference. In fact, Jennings reportedly criticized some of the workshop's content when the recordings were first released in 2000, and the people involved in conducting the controversial discussion were state employees and contractors, not GLSEN employees.[Media Matters for America, 12/7/09]
  • Hoft falsely claimed high-school students received “fisting kits” at 2001 GLSEN conference. Hoft falsely claimed that “fisting kits” -- which he placed in quotes -- were distributed at the 2001 GLSEN/Boston conference. But Hoft has presented no evidence that the kits distributed by Planned Parenthood of Massachusetts were actually intended for fisting. Indeed, while the conservative newspaper Massachusetts News -- cited by Hoft -- reported in 2001 that the kits were “intended for 'fisting' or oral sex,” the paper described the kit's contents as “a single plastic glove, a package of K-Y lubricant and instructions on how to make a 'dental dam' out of the material” and offered no support for the claim that the kits were “intended for 'fisting.' ” Even FoxNews.com has reported that Hoft “alleged that Jennings and GLSEN were involved in Planned Parenthood's purported distribution of 'fisting kits,' ” but that the kit “was actually for making a 'dental dam' -- designed to prevent STD transmission during oral sex.”[Media Matters for America, 12/15/09]
  • Hoft falsely suggested Jennings' organization handed out explicit safe-sex booklet to children. Hoft falsely suggested that that GLSEN had distributed to children an explicit safe-sex booklet that included “a list of the local gay bars” and “Pushed Anal S*x in Parks With Strangers.” In fact, a community health group -- not GLSEN itself -- reportedly said that it had mistakenly “left about 10 copies” of the booklet on an informational table it rented at a 2005 GLSEN conference at Brookline High School in Massachusetts; the group reportedly apologized for doing so; GLSEN stated that if it had known the booklets had been at the conference, it would have demanded they be removed; and the Brookline school superintendent reportedly said he believed no students had actually taken the booklet.[Media Matters for America, 12/9/09]
  • Hoft falsely claimed Jennings “Pushed Books That Encouraged Children to Meet Adults at Gay Bars For Sex.” Hoft falsely claimed that Jennings “Personally Pushed Books That Encouraged Children to Meet Adults at Gay Bars For Sex,” citing MassResistance's falsehood that a book Jennings recommended to high school and college students, One Teenager in 10, “encourage[s] teens to, among other things, go to gay bars and have sex with adults to see if they like it.” Media Matters for America has reviewed the book, compiled all references to gay bars, and determined that the book at no point encourages teens to “go to gay bars and have sex with adults.” In fact, a majority of the youth testimonials included in the book that mention gay bars refer to them negatively. [Media Matters for America, 1/11/10]

Hoft's “Fistgate” articles all posted to Breitbart's BigGovernment. Hoft's “Fistgate” series was originally posted on the website Gateway Pundit, and were faithfully cross-posted to Breitbart's BigGovernment. [BigGovernment, 2009-2010]


Hoft's Posts Drew On Work From Anti-Gay Hate Group. Hoft's Jennings posts often draw upon the work of MassResistance, a Massachusetts based anti-gay organization that has been labeled a “hate group” by the Southern Poverty Law Center. Even conservative commentator Dean Barnett has stated that the organization “verges on being a hate group.”

  • Anti-gay “hate group” MassResistance is source for right-wing media attacks on Jennings [Media Matters for America,12/10/09]
  • Dean Barnett: Brian “Camenker's MassResistance verges on being a hate group.” [Townhall.com, 1/12/07]

Breitbart.tv Also Smeared Jennings. An October 6, 2009, Breitbart.tv post grossly distorted comments Jennings made to a GLSEN audience in 2000 to claim he “criticize[d] schools for promoting heterosexuality.” In fact, in the audio files posted at Breitbart.tv, Jennings promoted a curriculum that demands “respect [for] every human being regardless of sexual orientation, regardless of gender identity, regardless of race or religion or any of the arbitrary distinctions we make among people,” and said that efforts to promote a specific sexual orientation through schools were ineffective. [Media Matters for America, 10/7/09]


Breitbart Also Promoted “Fistgate” Articles On His Twitter Page. In addition to posting all of Hoft's falsehood laden anti-gay smears of Jennings on his BigGovernment site, Breitbart also repeatedly promoted the posts via twitter. For example, in a December 15, 2009, tweet Breitbart wished Media Matters a “Merry Fist-mas,” and the next day wrote “If Kevin Jennings' so great, make him Obamas 'Safe Prison Czar' at Thomson Correctional Facility & let him teach fisting to al Qaeda.” [Media Matters for America, 12/15/09, 12/16/09]

Breitbart's BigPeace Opposed DADT Repeal, Transgender Soldiers, GOProud At CPAC


Gaffney uses BigPeace Post to complain about GOProud inclusion at CPAC. In a January 4 BigPeace post, BigPeace featured contributor Frank Gaffney complained about the “assault on the conservative movement ... being perpetrated by some of the key organizers of the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) next month in Washington.” Among other “troubling information,” Gaffney listed the “so-called inclusive, 'big tent' approach on homosexuality and other social issues increasingly taken at the direction of CPAC's host.” Gaffney then listed CPAC organizer's Grover Norquist's championing of “repealing the ban on homosexuals in the armed forces” as one of his “problematic roles and associations” that led Gaffney to suggest Norquist and others like him cannot “be tolerated, let alone protected, by leaders of the movement.” [BigPeace, 1/4/11]


BigPeace Editor-In-Chief Peter Schweizer: “Activists Now Want Openly Transgender Soldiers ... Where Exactly Will These Soldiers Shower?” In a January 11 post, BigPeace editor-in-chief Peter Schweizer wrote that it was “very scary” that openly transgender troops now want to be allowed to serve openly in the military. He added: “And where exactly will these soldiers shower?”:

It didn't end with securing the end of Don't Ask, Don't Tell. Activists have their next social experiment for our US military already in sight: allowing openly “transgender” troops in the US armed forces.

[...]

There is even a new activist organization that hopes to make it happen: the Transgender American Veterans Association. I generally don't buy “slippery slope” arguments. But having declared that homosexuals have a “right” to serve openly, how can we possibly stop those with gender issues from doing so? The reality is, we can't.

And where exactly will these soldiers shower? We will leave that question to the bureaucrats in Washington.

Welcome to the Brave New Military, where invented “rights” matter more than anything. Scary. Very scary. [BigPeace, 1/11/11]


BigPeace Editors Ask Repeal if DADT Repeal Did The Most “To Damage America's National Security” During Lame Duck Session. A December 23 open thread posted by “Sun Tzu” -- described by the website as “the voice of BigPeace on matters of strategy” -- asked: “What during the Lame Duck Session did more to damage America's national security: repeal of ”Don't Ask, Don't Tell"? Ratification of the START Treaty? Or government spending that pushed American further into debt to foreign countries such as China?" [BigPeace, 12/23/10]


BigPeace Editor-In-Chief Schweizer: "'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Repeal: Welcome to the Brave New Military." In a December 22 post, Schweizer complains that gay and straight soldiers “should be forced shower together” while “members of the opposite sex should NOT shower together.” He added:

And what is to constitute unacceptable behavior in the post DADT world? Say a soldier, who is publicly gay, is attracted to someone else in their unit. What constitutes unacceptable behavior? Flirting? Winking? Staring at them in the shower? If the target of their attraction gets angry and retaliates, who is at fault? Remember, these are 19 and 20 year-old males in many cases. Put a 19-year-old heterosexual in the showers with female recruits and see how things go. My guess would be not well at all, at least as far as unit cohesion is concerned.

[...]

So welcome to the new world of military politics. My fear is that in the post-DADT world there is will be less and less emphasis on creating warriors, and more concerns about emotional matters, sensitizing people, etc. More counselors and specialists will be brought into the military to cope with sexual mores and politics. Welcome to our Brave New Military. [BigPeace, 12/22/10]


BigPeace Promotes Gaffney's Opposition To “Imposing The ... Radical Homosexual Agenda” By Repealing DADT. In a post headlined “Gaffney: Protecting Our Troops from Policy Makers,” Breitbart's BigPeace website promoted a radio clip in which Gaffney discussed his opposition to repealing Don't Ask, Don't Tell (DADT). In the clip, Gaffney stated that he “we're seeing the Obama administration aggressively pursuing this idea of imposing the homosexual agenda - the radical homosexual agenda, on the culture of the military in ways that I believe will be very deleterious.” [BigPeace, 11/11/10]

More Anti-Gay Rhetoric from Contributors to Breitbart's “Big” Sites


BigJournalism Editor-In-Chief Loesch: Paladino's anti-gay remarks just his views from a “religious perspective.” After 2010 New York gubernatorial candidate Carl Palidano said that the didn't want children “brainwashed into thinking that homosexuality is an equally valid and successful option” as “getting married and raising a family,” Dana Loesch, editor-in-chief of Andrew Breitbart's BigJournalism, defended Paladino, saying that he “was expressing his stance as a social conservative,” and added, “He is a Catholic. He's talking about his views on sex from a religious perspective.” [Fox News, America's Newsroom, 10/12/10]


BigHollywood Contributor Prelutsky: Rep. Frank Should “Stop Phoning Every Number He Finds Scrawled On Bathroom Walls.” In a December 11, 2009, WorldNetDaily column, BigHollywood contributor Burt Prelutsky wrote the following about Congressman Barney Frank:

Back in 1990, the police raided Barney Frank's home because his gay lover, Steve Gobie, was running a male prostitution ring out of his condo. In 2007, the police raided the home of James Ready and arrested him for possession of marijuana. Ready, who is Barney's main squeeze these days, didn't just smoke the weed; Farmer Ready was growing the stuff. The congressman was there at the time of the raid, but denied he had any idea that those plants in the backyard weren't rhododendrons. I believe he told the police that he was perfectly clueless when it came to plant life. I guess, like Clinton, he never inhaled, either.

Because I am always prepared to grant a liberal politician the benefit of the doubt, I'm sure it's only a coincidence that Barney has long led the fight to decriminalize the use and sale of the narcotic.

On the other hand, considering his sorry track record when it comes to romance, don't you think it's high time Rep. Frank, who'll be 70 years old in a few months, should start using a reputable dating service and stop phoning every number he finds scrawled on bathroom walls? [WorldNetDaily, 12/11/09]