When I was in college, a journalism professor warned me about a big problem with the kind of freedom Americans enjoy: “Sooner or later, if you love the First Amendment to the Constitution, you will be confronted with a situation where you must defend the right of someone to say things that make your skin crawl.”
My skin crawled on Sunday morning as I sat on the sofa reading my Salt Lake Tribune.
On page D-12, I saw a full page advertisement that exhorted me to “Stand up & stop the homosexual movement.” The ad was paid for by a group called America Forever, which has headquarters in Draper.
The ad – it ran in both The Tribune and the Deseret News – had some interesting assertions:
“This is not about hate or civil rights”;
“Homosexuality is not a race”;
“Shame on Utah Gays for using the LDS Church to promote the homosexual movement”;
Sweet Lord!
I will ignore the poor grammar and bad spelling, but I do need to deal with the boxed material that quotes a Homosexual Declaration of War supposedly read in the U.S. House of Representatives on July 27, 1987:
“We will sodomize your children. All churches who condemn us will be closed. Any man contaminated with heterosexual lust will be automatically barred from any position of influence.”
This tactic is called quoting out of context.
On the Fordham University Web site (http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/pwh/swift1.html ) is a clarification of the quote that apparently has been hijacked by a number of groups to argue against gays and lesbians:
“In 1987, Michael Swift was asked to contribute an editorial piece to GCN, an important gay community magazine, although well to the left of most American gay and lesbian opinion. A decade later this text, printed in the Congressional Record, is repeatedly cited, apparently verbatim, by the religious right as evidence of the ‘Gay Agenda.’ The video ‘Gay Rights, Special Rights,’ put out by Lou Sheldon’s Traditional Values Coalition, cites it with ominous music and pictures of children. But when the religious right cites this text, they always omit, as does the Congressional Record, the vital first line, which sets the context for the piece. In other words, every other version of this found on the Internet is part of the radical right’s great lie about gay people.”
The omitted first line: “This essay is an outr, madness, a tragic, cruel fantasy, an eruption of inner rage, on how the oppressed desperately dream of being the oppressor.”
That line introduces satire of the type Jonathan Swift used in “A Modest Proposal” (“For Preventing The Children of Poor People in Ireland From Being A Burden to Their Parents or Country, and For Making Them Beneficial to The Public”) wherein he suggested the Irish avoid starvation by eating their children.
But troubling thought does not mean an ad will not be printed.
Tribune Editor Nancy Conway explains, “Advertising is in the purview of the publisher and those who work on his behalf. The newspaper does have guidelines for publication of advertisements and never knowingly publishes slander or libel. In general, the publisher believes that advertisers have First Amendment guaranteed free speech and seldom censors ads. In this case the decision to run the ad was made by MediaOne, the newspaper agency that handles advertising for the Tribune. We can agree or disagree with that decision – and frankly I could argue both sides – but it was their decision.” The ad stops just shy of inciting violence against gays, but it leaves no doubt where the group stands on the subject. Free speech means you can be ignorant, stupid or hateful, but you still get to express your opinion.
Some important changes The results of the Idaho lottery draws will now appear on Sundays and Thursdays on Page A-2. In the Monday paper, the Money Preview and the half page of columns opposite the editorial page will be eliminated. On Thursday a five-way-zoned Close-up will replace the Mix section and include the TV listings, movie ads and the comics pages. Tightening the paper allows cost savings in paper.
