Yesterday, Peter LaBarbera of Americans for Truth about Homosexuality, Brian Camenker of Mass Resistance, and Paul Madore from the Maine Grassroots Coalition hosted a press conference in Maine designed to "expose the hidden aspects of the radical homosexual agenda" at work in the state.
Since their message did not correspond with Stand for Marriage Maine's efforts to appear tolerant, the group quickly denounced the press conference and those involved:
Opponents of same-sex marriage on Wednesday warned that “radical homosexual” groups concealing their true agendas were behind efforts to keep Maine’s gay marriage law on the books.
Those charges were denounced as “hate-filled speech” by the campaign defending gay marriage in Maine, however. And leaders from Stand for Marriage Maine, the organization behind the Nov. 3 ballot initiative to overturn Maine’s same-sex marriage law, quickly distanced themselves from the event.
“We disavow anything said today as being in any way connected to the Stand for Marriage Maine campaign,” said spokesman Scott Fish. “Whatever was said today was simply the words of the people speaking at the press conference.”
In a wide-ranging media event in the State House, three representatives from the Maine Grassroots Coalition, Americans for Truth About Homosexuality and Mass Resistance charged that “extreme groups” with agendas far outside the mainstream were supporting the No on 1 campaign. A small group of supporters also attended the event.
Speakers suggested that enactment of Maine’s gay marriage law will lead to “homosexual indoctrination” in schools as part of a bigger agenda that threatens families and society.
Peter LaBarbera, president of Americans for Truth, described the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force — one of the nation’s most active gay rights groups — as having “one of the most radical sexual agendas ever conceived.” He also sought to link the group to efforts to legalize public sex and prostitution, claiming this is part of a larger agenda.
“Very clearly there is already a very aggressive agenda in the schools,” said LaBarbera when discussing a news report of a teacher answering a student’s question about her relationship with her partner. “Homosexual so-called marriage only fuels that agenda. It institutionalizes it so that there can be no difference in how this aber-rant form of ‘marriage’ is compared to the real thing.”
Interesting, because on Tuesday LaBarbera was on Janet Porter's radio program along with Maggie Gallagher of the National Organization for Marriage.
NOM is Stand for Marriage Maine's largest donor and has "bankrolled more than 60 percent of the campaign to ban same-sex marriages in Maine," so why is Stand for Marriage Maine so eager to distance itself from LaBarbera and his associates even though Gallagher is appearing with him on right-wing radio programs?
