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Christian
Coalition:
Gay Warning
Labels
by 365Gay.com
from the Web June 15, 2005, Posted June 13, 2005
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New York City -- The leader of
a conservative Christian lobby group appears to suggest that gays should be
required to wear warning labels, although he denies that was his intention.
"We put warning labels on cigarette packs because we know that smoking takes one
to two years off the average life span, yet we 'celebrate' a lifestyle that we
know spreads every kind of sexually transmitted disease and takes at least 20
years off the average life span according to the 2005 issue of the revered
scientific journal Psychological Reports," Rev. Bill Banuchi, executive director
of the New York Christian Coalition told the Mid Hudson News.
The journal regularly publishes articles described by many mainstream
psychologists as misleading and faulty. The homosexuality morbidity study
was conducted by the conservative anti-gay Family Research Institute.
Banuchi called LGBT Pride celebrations held in New Paltz, north of New York
City, and other areas of the country on the weekend "sad".
He called on people to "pray for those who are deceived by the lies of popular
culture, who are caught up in a destructive lifestyle, and for the children who
are being zealously evangelized by radical homosexuals."
Despite using the analogy of cigarette labels, Banuchi tells 365Gay.com that he
is not advocating gays specifically be labeled.
Banuchi also alleges that he has received hate mail since his remarks were
published.
The issue of labels is particularly sensitive to gays. In Nazi Germany
they were forced to wear the pink triangle to differentiate them from other
internees at concentration camps.
But, while, Banuchi was denouncing homosexuality, 300,000 people were
celebrating gay Pride in West Hollywood, California, nearly half a million in
Boston, and 100,00 in Salt Lake City this weekend.
In West Hollywood, crowds lined Santa Monica Boulevard for the 35th annual Pride
Parade. But, this year's choice of grand marshals did not make everyone in the
crowd happy. Christopher Street West, which organizes Weho's Pride
festival selected Paris Hilton and her mother, Kathy to host the parade.
"I just don't know what anybody was thinking of. My jaw dropped when I
heard it," Dan Berkowitz, a member of the West Hollywood Lesbian and Gay
Advisory Board, told the West Hollywood Independent. "I'm sure she is a
very nice girl and her mother is a very nice woman, but what they have to do
with gay pride in West Hollywood or anywhere else is utterly beyond me."
Christopher Street West defends its choice of a heterosexual daughter and mom
saying Paris has agreed to speak out on LGBT issues including gay marriage.
In Boston, the Pride Parade marched from the South End to Boston Common on
Saturday. A number of local politicians were on hand, but two were
noticeably missing. Republican Gov. Mitt Romney, who opposed same-sex
marriage and continues to block out of state gay couples from marrying in the
state, was in Detroit at his high school reunion. Democratic Attorney
General Thomas F. Reilly also skipped the parade.
Reilly who says he supports gay marriage and opposes a proposed amendment to ban
it is seeking his party's nod to run for governor. The other declared
candidate for the Democratic nomination, Deval Patrick, attended Pride events.
In Salt Lake City, the annual Pride Parade saw record crowds. Organizers
say the parade helped the community develop a renewed sense of purpose following
last year's bitter fighter over a constitutional amendment which bans same-sex
marriage in the state.
Gays also celebrated Pride in Washington, DC and nearly a dozen other
communities.
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