gay/lesbian

I posted a brief item here recently about the PR nightmare facing the Mormon Church as a result of the prominent role it played this year promoting Proposition 8 to ban same-sex marriage in California. At the urging of church leaders, Mormons spent about $20 million on the effort, which probably provided the margin that enabled the proposition to pass.

There is some irony in the fact that Mormon pollster Gary Lawrence, who led the Proposition 8 grassroots campaign for the church in California, has a gay son, Matthew, who publicly resigned from the church to protest its anti-gay campaign. Matthew says that after his father's participation in "two anti-gay initiatives in eight years, it's impossible not to feel attacked."

Adding further to the irony, Gary Lawrence has a new book out, titled How Americans View Mormonism: Seven Steps to Improve Our Image. His advice to Mormons who want to be better liked is, "Simply be yourself" -- advice that drew a sharp response from one blogger, who pointed out that being yourself "is a poor prescription for winning friends when 'who you are' is someone willing to lead a campaign to strip your own child of his civil rights."

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (also known as the LDS or Mormon Church) is facing a public backlash following its heavy-handed support of Proposition 8 banning same-sex marriages in California, notes progressive PR pro Michael Fox. "For many years," he notes, "the LDS Church has been an active force in the anti-gay movement, most notably in regard to its sponsorship of the Boy Scouts of America, but these activities have mostly been below the media radar and opposition has been directed at the Scouts, not the LDS Church itself. ... Now that will change." A leaked internal memo shows how top church leaders egged on rank-and-file Mormons to donate more than $20 million to support Proposition 8, while members in Utah made political phone calls to Californians on behalf of the measure. In response, Fox says, "Gay and lesbian groups and their allies will challenge the Mormons everywhere, no doubt tapping into pre-existing anti-Mormon prejudice. ... And the Prop 8 boycott, if sustained, can have a serious impact on businesses owned by Mormons, such as the Marriott hotel chain, on the careers of LDS members, and even on the economy of the State of Utah."

Listen to this week's edition of the "Weekly Radio Spin," the Center for Media and Democracy's audio report on the stories behind the news. This week, we look at rock star Guard members, protection for journalists and a bizarre "honor" for Jesse Helms. In "Six Degrees of Spin and Fakin'," we look at Senator Elizabeth Dole. The Weekly Radio Spin is freely available for personal and broadcast use. Podcasters can subscribe to the XML feed on www.prwatch.org/audio or via iTunes. If you air the Weekly Radio Spin on your radio station, please email us at editor@prwatch.org to let us know. Thanks!

Republican Senator Elizabeth Dole of North Carolina submitted an amendment to name an HIV/AIDS relief bill after the late Jesse Helms. Helms, Dole’s predecessor in North Carolina, was notorious for being a "strident foe of HIV/AIDS prevention, research and treatment." In 1988, while vigorously opposing the Kennedy-Hatch AIDS research bill, Helms said, "There is not one single case of AIDS in this country that cannot be traced in origin to sodomy." Later, in 1995, in opposition to refunding the Ryan White Act, he argued that "the government should spend less on people with AIDS because they got sick due to their 'deliberate, disgusting revolting conduct.'" In 1991, seven activists from the group Act Up famously put a giant condom on Helms' Arlington home that said, "Helms Is Deadlier Than A Virus." Helms did announce in 2002 that he’d changed his mind about AIDS funding in Africa; however, his change-of-heart did not extent to American gays, saying that homosexuality "is the primary cause of the doubling and redoubling of AIDS cases in the United States."

Listen to this week's edition of the "Weekly Radio Spin," the Center for Media and Democracy's audio report on the stories behind the news. This week, we look at the spin around same-sex marriage, Christine Todd Whitman's job pitch and how Wikipedia threatens the PR industry. In "Six Degrees of Spin and Fakin'," how are same-sex marriage opponents linked to Iraq war proponents? The Weekly Radio Spin is freely available for personal and broadcast use. Podcasters can subscribe to the XML feed on www.prwatch.org/audio or via iTunes. If you air the Weekly Radio Spin on your radio station, please email us at editor@prwatch.org to let us know. Thanks!

California is a hotbed for political messaging, as same-sex couples get married and conservative groups try to stop them with a November ballot initiative. Equality for All, a coalition supporting same-sex marriage, has hired Ogilvy PR Worldwide, the Democrat-leaning firm Dewey Square Group and the polling firm Lake Research Partners. Dewey Square's Steve Smith is the coalition's lead campaign consultant, while Ogilvy's Maggie Linden, a ballot initiative veteran and former political aide, is heading media outreach. On the other side, ProtectMarriage.com has hired Schubert Flint Public Affairs. The firm's Jeff Flint is leading the effort in support of the ballot initiative, called the California Marriage Protection Act. Flint used to work at Russo Marsh & Rogers, the Republican-leaning political firm which counts the pro-war group Move America Forward among its clients. Other firms are focusing on the burgeoning same-sex marriage industry, with Manning, Selvage & Lee promoting Chemistry.com to Californians and Laramore Communications promoting marriage and honeymoon packages in "gay-friendly" Sonoma County.

Pastor John Hagee endorses John McCain for PresidentWhile news media have focused on Barack Obama's pastor Jeremiah Wright, little attention has been paid to the endorsement of Republican presidential candidate John McCain by controversial Texas televangelist John Hagee. Hagee has voiced extreme anti-Catholic, anti-Jewish and anti-homosexual views. In a September 2006 interview on National Public Radio, Hagee reaffirmed his view that Hurricane Katrina was God's punishment against New Orleans for hosting a homosexual parade. Hagee has also said that the Jews brought the Holocaust upon themselves by "turning away from the true God." He referred to Catholicism as a "false cult," and said the religion contributed to Hitler's anti-semitic views. When Hagee endorsed him, McCain said he was "proud" to have the pastor's support. More recently, McCain has been working to distance himself from Hagee's inflammatory comments.

"Israel's official MySpace page was launched in January under the direction of officials from the Foreign Ministry," reports Gregory Levey. "The MySpace page automatically greets visitors with a sleekly produced hip-hop song called 'Peace in the Middle,'" and "shows pictures of Israel's beaches, glitzy hotels and the Tel Aviv skyline." It's part of the Israeli government's efforts "to reach out to young Americans" and "disarm the conflict-centric image so prevalent in the Western media." The Israeli government also has its own blog, which (like its MySpace page) links to YouTube videos on "Israel's achievements in technology, medicine, business and entertainment," as well as Gay Pride Parades and "a lot of people wearing bikinis. There is nobody wearing a military uniform in the videos, even though military service is compulsory for all Israelis after they turn 18." Future online plans include a second blog run by Israel's Foreign Ministry, "devoted exclusively to politics," and "an Internet television station aimed at American evangelicals and other Christians."

Ann Coulter on C-SPAN

In the last week at least seven newspapers have dropped the syndicated column of conservative firebrand Ann Coulter. Speaking at the American Conservative Union's annual Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, D.C. on March 2, Coulter said "I was going to have a few comments on the other Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, but it turns out you have to go into rehab if you use the word 'faggot,' so I -- so kind of an impasse, can’t really talk about Edwards." Newspapers that have dropped her column include: Sanford Herald (North Carolina); Daily Chronicle (Illinois); American Press (Louisiana); Lancaster New Era (Pennsylvania); The Oakland Press, (Michigan); The Mountain Press (Tennessee); and The Times (Louisiana). The editorial director of The Clarion-Ledger in Jackson, Mississippi, David Hampton, said that while he disagreed with her opinions, the paper would keep her column. "I think her popularity will continue to wane. I believe ideas rise and fall on their merits, and I haven't seen much depth in hers," he said.

The September 2006 issue of a Denver area LGBT magazine, MetroMode, carries a curious full-page ad titled "Busting the Myths of Smoke-Free Colorado" that urges readers to protest Colorado's Clean Indoor Air Act, the law that ended smoking in most workplaces (including bars and restaurants) as of July 1, 2006. The ad was paid for by a group called "The Coalition for Equal Rights," and sends readers to the web site www.stopthebans.com where visitors are told that the Coalition for Equal Rights fights for "freedom of choice." A small link on the page asks visitors to "Join CLBA," which, it turns out, stands for Colorado Licensed Beverage Association, a longtime Tobacco industry ally and member of Philip Morris' secret Colorado "Field Action Team", a group of businesses that PM mobilizes to fight restrictions on the sale or use of tobacco. LGBT groups have significantly higher smoking rates than the general population and are more concerned about civil rights than most groups, two facts that certainly were not lost on whoever put together the ad.