Gay activist group plans protest Wednesday against WFLA-Ch. 8 at its front door

More than two weeks have passed since WFLA-Ch. 8 aired as paid programing a controversial documentary titled Speechless: Silencing the Christians, which maintains that a "radical homosexual agenda" has led to unfairly persecuting religious people who find homosexuality morally wrong.

But the statewide gay rights advocacy group Equality Florida isn't willing to let the matter slide. The group has announced a press conference and demonstration at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, in front of WFLA's headquarters at 202 S. Parker St. in Tampa.

Equality Florida spokeswoman Nadine Smith said the group was disappointed that WFLA and executives at the TV station's owner Media General have not apologized for airing the documentary or offered free airtime for a presentation which might offer an opposing view.

Smith said their protest coincides with a local visit by Media General president and CEO Marshall Morton; online materials circulated by the group claim that more than 1,800 people have contacted the station to protest the show's airing in the first place.

The controversy is similar to criticism the St. Petersburg Times faced when it included copies of the controversial documentary Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West with editions of its newspaper.

Though supporters said the film focused on the excesses of extremists, other Muslim advocacy groups said the documentary was an attempt to turn Americans against all Muslims, distributed to newspapers across the country in swing states during an important election year.

Equality Florida has organized around outrage over the documentary, holding a statewide online town hall last week and asking members for $25 donations to help fight future airings of the program. A Facebook page advocating boycott of WFLA has drawn about 500 members.

Turns out, broadcast of the documentary may have helped organize gay people in Florida more than ever -- a rather ironic result.

Check out a sample of the documentary below:

  

Comments

[OneNewspaperTown]

It has nothing about allowing organizations the opportunity to run a commercial on WFLA. It is all about money for WFLA and Media General, so I wouldn't get too philosophical about it.
Lousy newspaper. Lousy TV station.

[Harold]

Free speech is there to protect unpopular opinions and viewpoints, not just to express things you want to hear. Perhaps the homosexual community should learn to except that and respect the fact that not everyone is on board with their little lifestyle. That group paid for the airtime. They should be allowed to express their views. If you're gonna ban and silence them, then I guess we'd better make Klan rallies illegal too, huh? I guess you people just want a society where you're only free to express collective ideas that everyone is on board with.

[Heather]

Those people always want an undeserved apology.

[Scott in Tampa]

To Gordon -

Why, again, should the gay group get free airtime to espouse their views, didn't the Speechless promoters pay for the opportunity to run their programming?

I think this is an interesting question and at a point can agree with you.

So using your example then it would be ok if an Atheist organization made an infomercial espousing the "facts" that Jesus never existed. If a group of local Christians protested would you hold the same views?

Some folks, largely on the political Left, who pretend to be the most tolerant are actually the least tolerant - when they encounter someone with an opposing viewpoint, they use language to denigrate that person (i.e., "homophobia" - no fear involved, just religious objection to a practice). They can't stand the idea that someone might be disapproving:::::

This is great - if we could have a conversation about this rather than the foaming at the mouth venom spewing sessions we see glamorized on TV - I think we could get somewhere. There are radicals on both sides. Is it possible to have calm discussions to help resolve our issues? The definition of homophobia is fear of gays. I do not however think all Christians are homophobes. I know quite a lot that in fact love me. There are Gay Christians out there and that is not an oxymoron.

Having differing beliefs doesn't mean that you hate the other people.

You have also generalized, I am gay and do not hate Christians. I know that some feel they hold to a higher truth than me and that they alone know the only path for salvation is through Jesus. I ask that they try telling that in a loving way to a Jew or a Muslim and see if they find it offense or pompous.

When we talk about openmindedness I don't think they mean abandon your entire belief system. Think about a lot of things that we do today that the bible (old T and new T) forbids. Divorce (in most circumstances), Pre-marital sex, mixing linen and wool, planting two seed in the same land, or things as simple as the 10 commandments.

One would think that murdering someone would be worse than someone being in a homosexual relationship. But all sins are equal. So why all the focus on the gays? Because we have a voice? Because we demand to be treated with respect and ask the people that represent us in government to do their job?

The fear you see is not coming from our side - it is from the side that rejects change and diversity within a community. A lot of people, self included, need to spend time looking in the mirror and never stop reevaluating their positions.

Change is inevitable.

[Scott in Tampa]

I created the Facebook group calling for the boycott of WFLA. The evolution of a movement takes time and lots of patience. By nature I am a "back burner" type of guy, not really at the forefront of things. As soon as I heard and saw this video I was mortified and had to respond.

I am all about freedom of speech and while that hour long video was an example of it, so was our protest. I am proud that we live in a country where a person is able to legally say something - just about anything in this country. Where the freedom of speech ends and ethics picks up is that the right to say something does not infer absolution from the responsibility of its aftermath. As many people have stated above, what if that were a movie about anyone else except gays. What if it was about Latinos or African Americans or Atheists or any other minority? There would have been an outcry regardless. This reaction was expected.

I feel sorry for the WFLA associates that are subjected to the unethical whims of their management. I hope they know the protest was not against them and that we stand by them in solidarity.

Here is the crux of this issue. It is my opinion that any form of prejudice is wrong. To judge me, not by the content of my character, but by a passage (no more than 4) in reinterpretation of a 2000 year old book - is prejudice. To then apply this prejudice globally without exception is ignorant. I agree that Christians have been on the beating end of the stick for hundreds of years, they have been laughed at, kicked down, spit upon, tortured and killed. Everyone knows the story of the passion of the Christ and what happened was frightening. What is even more apalling to me is that now that the Christians are a majority, a radical fringe of them now perpetrate the same types of crimes committed in history against a new minority and do it in the name of Jesus. What I truly fear, and what should be everyones fear, is who is next after the gays. Let's assume for a moment that the gays are no longer a point of contention. What new passages from the mighty Bible will be fashioned as weapons to take on the next opponents? The Jews? Interracial Marriage? Divorce? Womens Rights?
Every stroke of the quill in the Declaration Of Independence was done to revolt against the mighty powers that were. Rather than find points of contention between the gays and the Christians, I ask that we come together and meet. I want you to see my wicked life day to day. The bills I pay, the laundry I do, the family I love and really tell me while you disagree with my lifestyle – I as an American should not have a different set of standards applied. We are no different that any of you that are still reading this. We are all here together and even though we are separated by a deep belief - I know that we can find common ground and work together to make this country a better place for everyone. I realize that we will never agree on everything, but we can start on what we do agree and go from there. I am not asking for your consent to have the right to live free, to love whomever I wish, or have the happiness I have in being my partner. What I need is your help. Let’s work together to make things right and I know that we will no longer be a country divided but one that is united. Thank you for reading this far. Take Care.

[John M.]

The Times and the Tribune both covered the protest. WTSP-Ch.10 and WTVT-Ch. 13 did, too. WFTS-Ch.28 did not, as far as I can tell. I don't know about WFLA-Ch.8, which aired the paid-program at the center of the furor.

The Tribune article mentioned in the lead paragraph that the program was paid. It also included a quote from Luke Lirot defending the First Amendment rights of both WFLA and the group that paid for the broadcast time.

The rival TV stations, at least on their websites, appeared content to let the protesters swing away at Ch. 8 unchallenged.

Interesting. The protest group appears to have benefited from the program's airing. So did the producers of the controversial program, who got a lot more publicity for it than it otherwise would have gotten.

Did anyone's mind change about anything?

[Marilyn]

I find it amusing that those who do not like gays and spout "family values" are the ones having affairs, beating their children, smoking around them, doing drugs and listening to the religious ravings of child molesters.

The same arguments against gays were used against interracial marriage decades ago. The arguments were wrong then and are wrong now.

[Concerned Mother]

I don't want my children exposed to the belief that we have to tolerate sin.

[Arnaldo]

I don't see nothing bad Gay's need to chill...is the same thing when you watch a show where they show you how to love gay people.....

[Helen]

Homosexuality is inherently wrong because it does not facilitate life. These deviants cannot procreate on their own.

[Son of Two Lesbian Mothers]

You know I actually got the curiousity up about this show and watched it. I am the straight son of two lesbian mothers.. yeah thats right straight they didnt corrupt me... In watching this video everyone they brought up such as the girl who was gay but is not anymore .. guess they should have informed you about her criminal record and how she was forced to go to a christian reform school. Or the guy from canada how he was in trouble for speaking out well they didnt tell you he was say faggits deserve hell. homosexuals are mentally ill and sick all in a editor letter. No they left that out. Wonder what would happen if someone wrote the same letter about blacks or jews. That would be something they would jump all over. Now, I dont think that they should get free airtime but I do think they need the same opportunity to air something and pay for it. But then again I am sure if the station aired a special on how to cheat on your wife like the radio station did not too long ago the christians would be running for the hills screaming. I mean grow up!! Now you say that people take away your freedom of expression and speech what if a group of gays stood outside your wedding or your church or even better on your church corner screaming about sodomny and saying things and doing sexual moans I am sure you would run for that phone quicker than your little hearts could beat. But you dont see them doing that do you. it is the same thing everywhere but it sounds like the christians want their own SPECIAL rights as well basically for them to say and do what they want and no one say a word or they are being silenced but when the gays say something you accuse them of whining. COME ON!!

[Holly]

Typical pro-Gay people who don't give a crap about Christianity, but love twisting the words of the Bible to suit them.

[Nobody]

To all that may not understand the demonstration... This protest was a moment to stand up against hate. The content that aired was hateful, insensitive and should not have been aired in any coxsd mmunity especially on behalf of christians. I think that the "Christians" in that infomercial forgot the message that Jesus actually taught.. it was to LOVE. He did not give a certain group of people to be excluded from loving. It is sad that people use the bible to condemn and control people where the message is the total opposite. This same message was also used as they loaded Africans aboard slave ships to be bought, sold, dehumanized, raped and killed.
You know the best revenge is to live a good life. I experience racism at XXXX everyday. But the justice I get is knowing that the people that hate me... are paying my bills :)

[Call it what you want...]

I guess the whole point here is that if the same infomercial was from the KKK targeting blacks, or the same group hispanics, jews, muslims or women, the Program Director would be fired for exercising bad judgement.

You may not think that the GLBT movement os worthy of the same protections that other minorities enjoy. You're wrong.

[Karynn]

Ah, the mythical "Tolerance of the Left."

The Left is only tolerant of their own views and people who share them. As soon as they see that your views differ from theirs, instead of respectfully disagreeing, they spit venom on you and pin labels such as "bigot," "racist," "homophobe," "close minded," on you.

[Jim]

The gay community deserves no apology. Is that all those people do, whine when they feel the tiniest bit offended? I'm tired of people, companies, groups, etc bowing down and yielding to the almighty Gay mafia. When it comes to free speech, it's a double edged sword. People aren't just free to say only the things you like to hear, they're free to say things you can't stand as well.

[Thinking . . .]

If not for the protest I wouldn't have known this program even existed. Sometimes it's better to let things rot unattended.
The protest calls greater attention to the program than the station did.

[John M.]

One question I would have asked Nadine Smith is why her organization, at least from Eric's telling of it here, expects free airtime to balance the views of a paid program.

WFLA is obviously desperate for revenue to have accepted such an incendiary program for broadcast. Is it really fair to expect the station to give free airtime to someone so that it can attack what is, in the station's view, a paying customer?

I realize it's tough to separate the politics from a situation like this but even if your sympathies lie with Ms. Smith's group, you're not really helping its cause when you fail to ask questions that a reasonable and, dare I say, open-minded person would want answered.

[John M.]

I'll be curious to see which local media outlets cover the event. It looks like the Times has interest. Will the Tribune, co-owned by WFLA's parent company? Will WFLA? I doubt it but don't know.

Do other stations -- even though protests nowadays are generally designed to attract TV cameras? Visual and noisy, they're perfect fodder for TV news almost regardless of the merits of the cause.

If stations do cover it, they have to tell the backstory about a program most people never watched and know nothing about. Some stations might relish the chance to badmouth a rival. Others might hold to the axiom that even bad publicity is still publicity and might not want to risk offering it.

Is it even news? The protesters have been available for quotes about their opposition to the program already. What new will be said at the news conference? If WFLA's broadcast were that outrageous, why not protest the night the program aired? Why wait?

Please understand that my interest is strictly from a journalism standpoint. I'm curious about how broadcasters and newspapers will judge the event's newsworthiness. I am not offering any judgment or opinion about the particular issue involved.

[gordon]

Why, again, should the gay group get free airtime to espouse their views?

Didn't the Speechless promoters pay for the opportunity to run their programming?

So far, there's no discrimination afoot, unless Equality Florida offers to pay for airtime and the station refuses. That might be a different story.

Some folks, largely on the political Left, who pretend to be the most tolerant are actually the least tolerant - when they encounter someone with an opposing viewpoint, they use language to denigrate that person (i.e., "homophobia" - no fear involved, just religious objection to a practice). They can't stand the idea that someone might be disapproving.

Get over it - It's okay to hold differing views. Having differing beliefs doesn't mean that you hate the other people. And it goes both ways: Christians ought not, and largely don't hate gays; Gays ought not hate Christians.

[Chris]

In before the nutjobs....

good for Equality Florida!