Pgh Lesbian Correspondents

• It has been done. The Peter attempted a campaign to have me fired back during the incident you mentioned, and I exposed his lies in this post:
  Intimidation tactics in the name of religion will not stop change.

  The man whose knickers get in a twist over “name-calling” has no problem dishing them out (“vicious anti-Christian lesbian activist” and “A nutty lesbian blogger” are just a couple of them), and tries, along with his insecure friends, to create controversy where none exists.

  This is the “professional 'Christian' set” at work.

  How about some facts:

  1) LaBarbera's address and the “threat”. They were left in the comments by commenters, not me, in an otherwise innocuous news roundup I posted called Saturday this and that. One item in the roundup linked to blogger Kevin Kaatz's discovery that Peter's organization, Americans for Truth about Homosexuality, is listed as as a gay advocacy non-profit.  As Kevin noted in a subsequent post, LaBarbera himself provided his home address as the business address for AFTAH, so it was available to anyone searching the Guidestar.org non-profit database at the time; and the information is part of the government's records for the non-profit. The better part of wisdom suggests that LaBarbera should have used a PO Box if he didn't want someone to inadvertently assume it was a business location in the database, not a home address.

  That said, I have never endorsed publishing anyone's private information (phone or home address) online and certainly don't endorse making threats. There are too many crazies across the political spectrum who will act out inappropriately, even illegally with little provocation.

  2. The comments were taken down as soon as I was alerted to them. LaBarbera keeps harping on how the offending comments were left up for three weeks, declaring my tacit endorsement of them. This is absurd. Perhaps he has 24/7 to scour the internet, surf and work on defeating The Homosexual Agenda, but I simply have no time to venture back into every comment thread to read or reply to what people are chatting about.  I have a full time job (more on that later), and spend the  little free time I have while online to writing content, and reading/answering email. Not only that, I am not responsible for someone else's commentary, any more than any blog community. Does Peter have a problem with the commenters over at Free Republic or Red State or Little Green Footballs?

  When someone sent me a link to the original inflammatory Concerned Women for America article about the “threat” by Wick (btw, neither Peter nor CWA's Barber bothered to contact me prior to running the hit piece), I immediately went back and searched, found the post and deleted the comments. I've had trolls post my home address and phone number before, and because of that there is zero incentive for me to allow that crap on my blog. I took it down immediately and wrote LaBarbera personally to tell him that I was removing it, and banned the commenter for violating the Blend's community guidelines.  I wrote about it here.

  LaBarbera replied, posted that information to that effect on his site, but then started harping on the three weeks that the comments were up anyway. I guess he already had this storyline written up for maximum drama queen effect. So much for good faith efforts.

  3. The “threat” angle deflates, so they try again. Wick apologized and also wrote an apology that was faxed to Peter via the CWA offices. LaBarbera then posted the letter on his site, accepting the apology. Law enforcement found that the threat was too vague to prosecute, so the matter was closed.

  Unfortunately, I guess that wasn't in the script, so Peter and Co. had to move on another front — to try to discredit me by mounting a media/email/calling campaign to my employer about me, painting the portrait of this “fanatical lesbian anti-Christian activist” to them, hoping to 1) get a response/condemnation, or 2) get me fired, or 3) both. Never mind that my employer is not connected to the Blend's content in any way, shape or form. The misleading articles kept coming anyway.

  While in the end, none of the above worked, the disturbing thing here is that we're talking about attempts to silence voices of dissent through intimidation and fear. My pointing out religious hypocrisy by simply quoting the unhinged, faux Christians of these fringe organizations, discussing the never-ending stories of pastors and priests abusing their position by sexually assaulting and molesting innocent children, or even calling LaBarbera “Porno Pete” doesn't prevent them from writing the hateful, misguided, rants about “homosexualists” or going undercover in gay bathhouses to do “research.” Peter has little credibility and he knows it — what is the point of comparing me to Fred Phelps, for example — does he think anyone will take that seriously?

  What are they afraid of —  that my critique of their less-than-Christian behavior might be seen by someone and called out for what it is? All I have to do is share with readers what these folks are saying to show how far off the rails these moralists are, and how embarrassing they are to people of faith  who want no part of the hateful garbage and junk science. The religious right takes no responsibility, and have no  sympathy for the LGBT victims of violence, crimes often perpetrated often by people who do it in the name of religion. That's the Base readership of these fringe AmTaliban movements, those are the people that keep their organizations afloat. They are not the ones denied civil rights and freedom — they are the ones who have been lobbying to ensure that LGBT citizens are denied rights.

• Pam,
  Thanks for commenting. I hope you are recuperating.
  Gramley and her ilk are obsessed with phantom Pennsylvania legislation that will require employers to hire LBGT individuals and permit men to use ladies restrooms for their perverted ends. She targeted the openly gay chair of the PA Human Relations Commission, attempting to pigeonhole him as a gay activist when in fact he is an activist who is gay.
  The list of press releases from the AFA of PA is proof positive that we can't underestimate the determination of Gramley, the only name associated with the group, to get her message in front of Pennsylvania residents at every opportunity. She's relentless and her message is a hate-infused twist on Christianity.
  You obviously struck a nerve and good for you. Pennsylvania residents need to be more aware of Gramley's agenda and her skewed moral claims to defend religious freedoms.

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