Tony Perkins. - PHOTO: Courtesy
The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation on March 14 launched the Commentator Accountability Project to track anti-LGBT rhetoric in broadcasts.
The project, according to a news release, focuses on more than 30 people who appear on news shows as “experts” but, according to GLAAD, are anti-gay extremists.
“Hate is not an expert opinion,” said GLAAD spokesperson Herndon Graddick. “In most cases, news outlets invite reputable experts to speak on the subject at hand, but when talking about LGBT issues, open hostility and anti-LGBT bias seems to be all the credibility required. This project holds these so-called ‘pundits’ accountable for the extreme anti-LGBT rhetoric they continue to spread.”
GLAAD, with the launch of the project, posted a collection of prior remarks by anti-LGBT commentators on local and national news programs, as well as instructions for monitoring broadcasts.
“These activists have the right to recite their anti-LGBT talking points, but it is important to expose the questionable and often hostile rhetoric that passes as punditry when so-called ‘experts’ speak out against the lives of LGBT people on the air or in print,” Graddick said. “If networks are going to continue to invite those with incendiary anti-LGBT views on their programs, show runners should know the full picture of who these individuals really are so that critical context can be relayed to the audience.”
GLAAD’s focus list includes:
• Jim Daly
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