Their Only Common Ground (between Peter LaBarbera and Rick Garcia)
Their Only Common Ground
By Paige Winfield, staff writer
Copyright by The Naperville Sun
October 22, 2006
Peter LaBarbera and Rick Garcia are polar opposites on the topic of homosexuality. When they meet in person, as they have on some TV news shows, the discussion gets heated. The two could hardly disagree more.
LaBarbera, director of Naperville-based Americans for Truth, says that homosexuality is unnatural, dangerous and changeable. Garcia, director of public policy for Equality Illinois, says it is natural, safe and unchangeable.
According to Garcia, all LaBarbera does is "attack and spread lies about gay people" as he "distorts the message of Christianity."
But LaBarbera says he rejects all hatred and violence against homosexuals while maintaining his belief that homosexual behavior is immoral. "Rick is saying we are all about hate," LaBarbera said. "It's just a disagreement about behavior. What he can't understand is that we are opposed to the behavior, and we believe Rick is a little bit obsessed about having everybody accept the behavior."
LaBarbera specifically denounces Garcia, a Catholic, on the AFT Web site for opposing the Catholic Church's defense of traditional marriage. Garcia, on the other hand, points to mainstream Protestant churches that accept homosexual behavior.
"He wouldn't know truth if it bit him in his (expletive)," Garcia said. "He builds on anti-gay sentiment and is trying to start a political movement by demonizing gays and their families. It's about hate-mongering and demonizing a section of our society."
Views on marriage
A native of St. Louis, Garcia moved to Chicago in 1986 and has become one of the area's most high-profile activists for sexual minority rights. In addition to starting Equality Illinois, he was a principal founder for the Illinois Federation for Human Rights.
Hoping to counter gay-rights organizations like Garcia's, LaBarbera recently left his post as executive director of the Illinois Family Institute to reinvigorate Americans for Truth, a nonprofit organization he founded in 1996. The Naperville resident and father of five wants to construct the AFT into an effective organization that he says will counter the numerous pro-gay groups.
Born in Chicago, LaBarbera graduated from the University of Michigan in 1985 and worked as a reporter for the Washington Times and as a policy analyst for the Family Research Council before moving back to the area in 2003.
The AFT's goal is "educating citizens on the threat that the powerful and well-funded GLBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender) movement poses to children, marriage and freedom," the group says on its Web site.
LaBarbera says the mainstream media glamorize homosexuality while failing to warn children of the consequences or alternatives. He also regrets that traditional marriage - "the gold standard of every society" - is being "radically redefined."
"A single vote by one court overturned thousands of years of history," LaBarbera said, referring to the 2004 Massachusetts Supreme Court decision that allowed same-sex couples to marry for the first time. "We believe heterosexual marriage is the healthiest environment in which to raise children."
Court fights
LaBarbera also pointed to what he sees as the incompatibility of sexual orientation laws and individuals' freedom to disagree, citing a 2002 court case in Toronto in which a printer was forced to pay $5,000 to a homosexual activist group for refusing to do a printing job for them because of his religious beliefs.
Garcia said LaBarbera has been on the losing end of every battle he has fought, noting several examples of legislation he resisted.
LaBarbera opposed a bill signed into state law in January 2005 that prohibits discrimination based solely on sexual orientation in the areas of employment, housing, public accommodations and credit transactions.
He also opposed domestic partner benefits when they were extended to same-sex partners of University of Illinois employees in 2003 and again last July, when Gov. Rod Blagojevich extended them to state employees.
And in May, while still at the Illinois Family Institute, LaBarbera headed an unsuccessful effort to place a referendum on the ballot in November asking voters whether they think the Illinois Constitution should define marriage between a man and a woman as the only valid legal union in Illinois.
Although Protect Marriage Illinois submitted 345,199 signatures to get the measure on the ballots - more than the 283,111 required by state law - local elections officials tossed out many of the signatures as invalid, and a sample of 5 percent of the signatures by the state Board of Elections determined that the referendum had failed to meet the required threshold.
"Show me one area of his agenda where he has won here in Illinois. Clearly, the public sentiment is with us," Garcia said, citing a survey commissioned last year by Equality Illinois.
Nature vs. nurture
Conducted by the Chicago- based Glengariff Group, the survey found that nearly half of all registered Illinois voters oppose gay marriage while 38 percent support it. However, 53 percent supported and 36 percent opposed civil unions for gays and lesbians.
Seventy percent of those polled opposed amending the U.S. Constitution, and 67 percent opposed amending the Illinois Constitution.
Garcia hopes that through Equal Marriage Illinois - a coalition formed by Equality Illinois, the Illinois ACLU and Lambda Legal - support for gay rights will increase across the state. The three groups began collaborating about a year ago to encourage public discussion of same-sex marriage in educational talks and forums across the state.
Meanwhile, LaBarbera wants the AFT to spread his message that nobody has to be gay. He cited studies done by Robert Spitzer, a psychiatry professor at Columbia University, and Michael Bailey, a psychology professor at Northwestern University, that he say support his belief that homosexuality is reversible and not biologically determined.
Spitzer's study drew a flood of media attention when he presented it at the American Psychological Association's 2001 annual meeting. Twenty-eight years earlier, in 1973, Spitzer had issued the proposal that prompted the association to drop homosexuality from its list of mental disorders.
Because about three-fourths of the study's subjects were in favor of changing their sexual orientation and were therefore highly motivated to report positive results, its results were criticized by some in the medical community, although Spitzer said his study provided no information on how frequently sexual orientation changes are possible.
Garcia does not believe there is any empirical evidence that sexual orientation can be changed, noting that all the major health professional organizations - including the American Psychiatric Association, the American Psychological Association and the American Medical Association - assert that sexual orientation cannot be changed and that attempts to do so can be dangerous.
He is mainly concerned that gays' civil rights are protected, regardless of how they came about their sexual orientation.
"I don't care what the genesis of sexual orientation is," Garcia said. "I care that gay people are protected by the law."
Sexual practices
A particularly contentious point between the two is LaBarbera's belief that sexual molestation of teenage boys and unsafe public sex practices are more common among homosexuals than among heterosexuals, a belief that Garcia finds atrocious.
But LaBarbera criticizes Garcia for accepting money donated to Equality Illinois by Steamworks - a private men's bathhouse in Chicago - which he says is a place filled with unsafe sexual behavior.
"Those are the places where people contract dangerous diseases," LaBarbera said. "I think if Rick really cared about gay men, he would want to close that place down."
Calling LaBarbera a "freak obsessed with sex," Garcia said Steamworks is just one of many businesses from which Equality Illinois accepts money and said he does not know what goes on inside the club. He said it is more dangerous for gays to remain closeted out of fear than for them to spend time in bathhouses like Steamworks.
"I find it amazing that (Peter) is so concerned about a private health club," Garcia said. "He is certainly no one to criticize, when he opposes distribution of condoms and safe-sex education in schools."
The two have faced each other in public debate several times, including appearances on Fox News and ABC. While each says the other has a right to his opinion, LaBarbera says Garcia needs to "grow up" and realize they are just two adults taking opposite positions on an issue.
But Garcia thinks he knows what awaits LaBarbera.
"I can hardly wait for judgment day to come for Peter LaBarbera, because he's going to get a tongue-lashing like never before," Garcia said.
Contact Paige Winfield at 630-416-5275 or pwinfield@scn1.com.
By Paige Winfield, staff writer
Copyright by The Naperville Sun
October 22, 2006
Peter LaBarbera and Rick Garcia are polar opposites on the topic of homosexuality. When they meet in person, as they have on some TV news shows, the discussion gets heated. The two could hardly disagree more.
LaBarbera, director of Naperville-based Americans for Truth, says that homosexuality is unnatural, dangerous and changeable. Garcia, director of public policy for Equality Illinois, says it is natural, safe and unchangeable.
According to Garcia, all LaBarbera does is "attack and spread lies about gay people" as he "distorts the message of Christianity."
But LaBarbera says he rejects all hatred and violence against homosexuals while maintaining his belief that homosexual behavior is immoral. "Rick is saying we are all about hate," LaBarbera said. "It's just a disagreement about behavior. What he can't understand is that we are opposed to the behavior, and we believe Rick is a little bit obsessed about having everybody accept the behavior."
LaBarbera specifically denounces Garcia, a Catholic, on the AFT Web site for opposing the Catholic Church's defense of traditional marriage. Garcia, on the other hand, points to mainstream Protestant churches that accept homosexual behavior.
"He wouldn't know truth if it bit him in his (expletive)," Garcia said. "He builds on anti-gay sentiment and is trying to start a political movement by demonizing gays and their families. It's about hate-mongering and demonizing a section of our society."
Views on marriage
A native of St. Louis, Garcia moved to Chicago in 1986 and has become one of the area's most high-profile activists for sexual minority rights. In addition to starting Equality Illinois, he was a principal founder for the Illinois Federation for Human Rights.
Hoping to counter gay-rights organizations like Garcia's, LaBarbera recently left his post as executive director of the Illinois Family Institute to reinvigorate Americans for Truth, a nonprofit organization he founded in 1996. The Naperville resident and father of five wants to construct the AFT into an effective organization that he says will counter the numerous pro-gay groups.
Born in Chicago, LaBarbera graduated from the University of Michigan in 1985 and worked as a reporter for the Washington Times and as a policy analyst for the Family Research Council before moving back to the area in 2003.
The AFT's goal is "educating citizens on the threat that the powerful and well-funded GLBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender) movement poses to children, marriage and freedom," the group says on its Web site.
LaBarbera says the mainstream media glamorize homosexuality while failing to warn children of the consequences or alternatives. He also regrets that traditional marriage - "the gold standard of every society" - is being "radically redefined."
"A single vote by one court overturned thousands of years of history," LaBarbera said, referring to the 2004 Massachusetts Supreme Court decision that allowed same-sex couples to marry for the first time. "We believe heterosexual marriage is the healthiest environment in which to raise children."
Court fights
LaBarbera also pointed to what he sees as the incompatibility of sexual orientation laws and individuals' freedom to disagree, citing a 2002 court case in Toronto in which a printer was forced to pay $5,000 to a homosexual activist group for refusing to do a printing job for them because of his religious beliefs.
Garcia said LaBarbera has been on the losing end of every battle he has fought, noting several examples of legislation he resisted.
LaBarbera opposed a bill signed into state law in January 2005 that prohibits discrimination based solely on sexual orientation in the areas of employment, housing, public accommodations and credit transactions.
He also opposed domestic partner benefits when they were extended to same-sex partners of University of Illinois employees in 2003 and again last July, when Gov. Rod Blagojevich extended them to state employees.
And in May, while still at the Illinois Family Institute, LaBarbera headed an unsuccessful effort to place a referendum on the ballot in November asking voters whether they think the Illinois Constitution should define marriage between a man and a woman as the only valid legal union in Illinois.
Although Protect Marriage Illinois submitted 345,199 signatures to get the measure on the ballots - more than the 283,111 required by state law - local elections officials tossed out many of the signatures as invalid, and a sample of 5 percent of the signatures by the state Board of Elections determined that the referendum had failed to meet the required threshold.
"Show me one area of his agenda where he has won here in Illinois. Clearly, the public sentiment is with us," Garcia said, citing a survey commissioned last year by Equality Illinois.
Nature vs. nurture
Conducted by the Chicago- based Glengariff Group, the survey found that nearly half of all registered Illinois voters oppose gay marriage while 38 percent support it. However, 53 percent supported and 36 percent opposed civil unions for gays and lesbians.
Seventy percent of those polled opposed amending the U.S. Constitution, and 67 percent opposed amending the Illinois Constitution.
Garcia hopes that through Equal Marriage Illinois - a coalition formed by Equality Illinois, the Illinois ACLU and Lambda Legal - support for gay rights will increase across the state. The three groups began collaborating about a year ago to encourage public discussion of same-sex marriage in educational talks and forums across the state.
Meanwhile, LaBarbera wants the AFT to spread his message that nobody has to be gay. He cited studies done by Robert Spitzer, a psychiatry professor at Columbia University, and Michael Bailey, a psychology professor at Northwestern University, that he say support his belief that homosexuality is reversible and not biologically determined.
Spitzer's study drew a flood of media attention when he presented it at the American Psychological Association's 2001 annual meeting. Twenty-eight years earlier, in 1973, Spitzer had issued the proposal that prompted the association to drop homosexuality from its list of mental disorders.
Because about three-fourths of the study's subjects were in favor of changing their sexual orientation and were therefore highly motivated to report positive results, its results were criticized by some in the medical community, although Spitzer said his study provided no information on how frequently sexual orientation changes are possible.
Garcia does not believe there is any empirical evidence that sexual orientation can be changed, noting that all the major health professional organizations - including the American Psychiatric Association, the American Psychological Association and the American Medical Association - assert that sexual orientation cannot be changed and that attempts to do so can be dangerous.
He is mainly concerned that gays' civil rights are protected, regardless of how they came about their sexual orientation.
"I don't care what the genesis of sexual orientation is," Garcia said. "I care that gay people are protected by the law."
Sexual practices
A particularly contentious point between the two is LaBarbera's belief that sexual molestation of teenage boys and unsafe public sex practices are more common among homosexuals than among heterosexuals, a belief that Garcia finds atrocious.
But LaBarbera criticizes Garcia for accepting money donated to Equality Illinois by Steamworks - a private men's bathhouse in Chicago - which he says is a place filled with unsafe sexual behavior.
"Those are the places where people contract dangerous diseases," LaBarbera said. "I think if Rick really cared about gay men, he would want to close that place down."
Calling LaBarbera a "freak obsessed with sex," Garcia said Steamworks is just one of many businesses from which Equality Illinois accepts money and said he does not know what goes on inside the club. He said it is more dangerous for gays to remain closeted out of fear than for them to spend time in bathhouses like Steamworks.
"I find it amazing that (Peter) is so concerned about a private health club," Garcia said. "He is certainly no one to criticize, when he opposes distribution of condoms and safe-sex education in schools."
The two have faced each other in public debate several times, including appearances on Fox News and ABC. While each says the other has a right to his opinion, LaBarbera says Garcia needs to "grow up" and realize they are just two adults taking opposite positions on an issue.
But Garcia thinks he knows what awaits LaBarbera.
"I can hardly wait for judgment day to come for Peter LaBarbera, because he's going to get a tongue-lashing like never before," Garcia said.
Contact Paige Winfield at 630-416-5275 or pwinfield@scn1.com.
posted by Carlos T Mock @ 8:48 AM
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