Robert Knight - Guest Columnist - 7/16/2008 7:00:00 AM

Throwing aside even a pretense of fairness, The Washington Post openly promoted homosexuality to teens in a front page article on Monday about a 15-year-old boy "coming out" to embrace his "gay identity." The Post included a video about the boy, Saro Harvey.


Post reporter Theresa Vargas's article, "Owning His Gay Identity – at 15 Years Old," was an entirely one-sided advertisement for more school "anti-bullying" policies, which often evolve into pro-homosexual re-education campaigns.

Vargas chose to cite two pro-homosexual organizations GLSEN (Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network) and PFLAG (Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays). She failed, however, to include any statements from experts who oppose the encouragement of homosexuality among the young. She also ignored the many recent alarming health reports about soaring sexually transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS, among young gay men.

Vargas pulled out all the stops, even repeating the gay-activist-created myth that Wyoming college student Matthew Shepard "was killed for being gay." Shepard, as revealed in an ABC News investigation on 20/20 on Nov. 26, 2004, was tied to a fence and left to die after a drug deal turned into a robbery in 1998. The assailants, who were convicted of murder and given life terms, picked out Shepard not to make a savage point about hating gays but because he was carrying cash and looked like an easy mark. Nonetheless, the media have continued to follow the "killed for being gay" script written for them by homosexual activists who flooded into Wyoming and made Matthew the martyr for their cause.

Vargas also cited the case of Lawrence "Larry" King, an Oxnard, Calif. eighth-grader, who "wore purple eye shadow and high heel boots." Despite the existence of anti-bullying policies that include "sexual orientation," King was shot on Feb. 12, 2008, by a boy who had been taunted by other teens because Larry had openly flirted with him and asked him to be his valentine. Vargas notes that: "The 14-year-old that [Larry] had considered a possible valentine is charged with his death."

The Washington Post article leaves the impression that Saro Harvey was born gay/trans and that anyone who suggests otherwise is a candidate for a re-education session in one of the "diversity and tolerance" clinics that often accompany anti-bullying programs. The article does quote Saro's father, James Harvey, who Vargas says "struggles to grasp what 'triggered' Saro's interest in the same sex. Had his son been molested? He questioned. Could this be just a phase?"

Vargas does not inquire any further into the possible origins of Saro's same-sex attractions nor examine the boy's relationship with his father.

Wow. I don't even know where to start.

It sounds to me like it's promoting tolerance. After all, not all of America is afraid of gays, like you seem to be.

Anti-bullying policies are pro-homosexual re-education campaigns? My God, BYS, do you honestly believe that?

The author of this article seems to be sympathetic to Matthew Shepherd's murderer's. Do you feel the same way? He also seems sympathetic to the murderer of the second teen, whose biggest crime seems to have been wearing eye shadow and high heeled boots.

BYS, did you even read the article that Robert Knight is talking about? I encourage you to read for yourself.

Probably because the article wasn't about the origins of homosexuality.

Here is the article in question.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/con...02066.html

It sounds to me like it's promoting tolerance. After all, not all of America is afraid of gays, like you seem to be.

Tolerance is exactly what the article is talking about. The article is not about whether or not being gay is morally acceptable. Get over it.

Anti-bullying policies are pro-homosexual re-education campaigns? My God, BYS, do you honestly believe that?

Sure, Jesus would think it was ok to bully these people because they are gay! They DESERVE to be tortured both mentally and physically!
EYE ROLL!!! I am someone who works with teenagers everyday. I watch kids who are different for whatever reason try to survive in a small and very narrow-minded town. I pity them immensely. I can't imagine having to grow up gay in Baytown with the oppressive and archaic attitudes still floating around.

If it was a little Christian girl being bullied and the school tried to stop it would it then be a pro-atheist re-education campaign?

I think not. People would be outraged. Why is there a difference? A child is a child and they all deserve to be protected.

And unlike some of you believe....homosexual people CAN be Christians. I know a few of them. They are active in my church and very active in the community and I promise you they act more Christ-like than some of you Fundies.

The author of this article seems to be sympathetic to Matthew Shepherd's murderer's. Do you feel the same way? He also seems sympathetic to the murderer of the second teen, whose biggest crime seems to have been wearing eye shadow and high heeled boots.

BYS, did you even read the article that Robert Knight is talking about? I encourage you to read for yourself.

OH NO! If that's the worst thing a kid does...we'd all be happy parents.

Probably because the article wasn't about the origins of homosexuality.

So? That's not the point nor is it any of my business.

It seems that some may have a problem recognizing everything that is said in this article. Others seem to twist it. Please note the bold text.

No need to be passive-aggressive. I understand the article just fine. It doesn't make me or anyone else incapable of understanding the article if we don't agree with you.

BYS said: I am not sympathetic toward the killers. It is absurd for the activists to continue saying that this young man was killed because he was gay. That is NOT the case. He was killed for money.

So you believe the fact that he was gay had absolutely NOTHING to do with it? Yeah, right. Just because 20/20 said so? Even though dozens of respectable news outlets report otherwise? Sigh. Just another big gay conspiracy, I guess. Dang sneaky homosexuals!

Here's something I found out about the murderers:

After police questioning, Aaron McKinney confessed that he and his friend Russell Henderson had met Matthew at the Fireside Bar & Lounge on Tuesday night and posed as gay to lure him into their truck. Then they drove him to an out-of-the-way location, bound him to a fence, pistol-whipped him, and taunted him while he begged for his life. Then they abandoned the gentle five-foot-two, 105-pound freshman to hang alone for 18 hours, losing blood as the temperature dropped.

If they simply wanted money they would have taken it. Why torture and taunt? Why the gay undertones?

About Laramie, WY:

Hate-crime legislation failed to pass in Wyoming three years in a row. (1999-2002)

BYS said: That boy humiliated him in front of all of his peers. Have you ever been in a position like that as a teenager? Kids can be brutal.

Hmmm, I wonder what the murderer had said/done previously to humiliate others in front of their peers? Even more specific, I wonder what he had said/done to humiliate Larry King to warrant that type of response from him? Yes, kids are brutal. As I stated, I see it everyday. However, it is rarely one-sided. I think we all agree that murder is not the appropriate response to bullying.

The Washington Post article leaves the impression that Saro Harvey was born gay/trans and that anyone who suggests otherwise is a candidate for a re-education session in one of the "diversity and tolerance" clinics that often accompany anti-bullying programs.

BYS said: "re-education session"? This sounds like brainwashing. Is that what schools do now?

I for one, have never heard of anything like this being called a "re-education" session and that term does seem a little weird to me. However, the point seems to be to get kids to tolerate the differences they may encounter so that violence does not happen. It scares me a little that you think that is brainwashing. It is my opinion that homosexuality is biological so until it is otherwise proven emphatically I will not judge and I will teach my children to be loving to all people, gay or straight. Actually, I don't need it to be proven. I will still insist that my children will be respectful and kind.

What would you like schools to do? Let gay children be tormented without punishment? Well, that's pretty much what happens here in Baytown and people don't seem to have a problem with it. It's disgusting. The same kids who don't want to be harassed for the color of their skin don't seem to mind harassing other children because of their sexual orientation. Most of them aren't even open and some aren't even gay! They just may be more effeminate or more masculine than what society has dictated is appropriate for a boy or girl.

BYS, what do you think is the appropriate approach for these types of bullies?

I know that the homosexual activists have an agenda that they push on us continuously. As a Christian I love the sinner, but hate the sin. I will never condone it or accept the lifestyle.

Leviticus 18:22Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.

Romans 1:32 who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.

God does not tolerate sin, and we are not to tolerate it either. I do not agree with the practice of bullying, but I also think that there would be a lot less of it if the homosexuals did not flaunt it in everyone's faces. They should also not flirt with a straight person in front of his peers. Right or wrong, that boy was asking for trouble. He instigated it. If he had just minded his own business, nothing would have happened.

I'll say it again, I have nothing against homosexuals. I have a cousin who is gay and I have had several good friends who were lesbian. But I never condoned their lifestyle.