It seems like many on the right can't stop gushing about Carl Paladino's recent remarks about homosexuality -- except, actually, Carl Paladino. Even after New York's Republican gubernatorial candidate Paladino issued an apology yesterday for his remarks to Orthodox Jewish leaders on Sunday, anti-gay conservatives keep praising his speech, which included a call to protect children from being “brainwashed into thinking that homosexuality is an equally valid or successful option” as heterosexual marriage.
Adding their voices to the many conservative pundits who have already applauded Paladino's comments, WorldNetDaily editor Joseph Farah and CNSNews.com Editor-in-Chief Terence Jeffrey are now jumping on the bandwagon. In a post early this morning, Farah said that Paladino's comments were “perfectly reasonable” and said it's “undeniably true” that there's “an ugly, revolting side to the 'gay rights' movement.” From the post:
Paladino doesn't want kids “brainwashed,” he said. Most people don't realize that is exactly what happens in many or most public schools when it comes to homosexuality. Kids are taught values that would be anathema to their parents if they only knew what was happening. That's what Paladino was saying. He said there is an ugly, revolting side to the “gay rights” movement. That is undeniably true. When candidates boast about taking their kids to “gay pride parades,” you have to wonder about their sanity. These are spectacles that could never be aired in their entirety on television because of obscenity laws.
Farah also falsely claimed that “the overwhelming number of Americans reject same-sex marriage.” In fact, two recent polls -- one in September from the Associated Press, and one in August from CNN --show that a majority of Americans support allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry.
Jeffrey spewed similar vitriol in a post today, writing that “no prominent politician who questions the wholesomeness of same-sex sex can escape a vicious beating by the liberal elite” and that these beatings are “designed to uproot the laws and norms of our society from the immutable natural law that is the true foundation of our freedom.”
He also furthered the idea that gays want to “brainwash” children by falsely suggesting that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit “ruled that parents cannot opt their kindergarteners out of Massachusetts public-schools classes that teach 5-year-olds that same-sex marriage is a good thing.” Actually, the ruling simply stated that parents can't micromanage schools' curricula. The court never said parents don't have a right to move their children to another school, or a private school, or to homeschool them.
Paladino, in the meantime, issued a letter yesterday acknowledging that he made “mistakes” in his comments to the Jewish leaders. “I sincerely apologize for any comment that may have offended the gay and lesbian community or their family members. Any reference to branding an entire community based on a small representation of them is wrong,” he wrote.
Too bad we'll never see Jeffrey and Farah apologizing for their own comments.