Porno Pete LaBarbera is full of s***.
Truth Wins Out accurately reported that “Porno Pete’s” Truth Academy, which was held last week in a Chicago exurb, had no more than 20-30 attendees. LaBarbera refutes our numbers and claimed his three day seminar had 50 students.
Here is what the anti-gay activist who runs a Southern Poverty Law Center certified hate organization had to say:
On Thursday, Americans for Truth about Homosexuality launched its first of many comprehensive “Truth Academies” to be held at various locations around the United States. Organizers hoped to fill the event’s classroom – hosted at Christian Liberty Academy in Arlington Heights, IL – with at least 50 students. This goal was met and surpassed as approximately 70 registrants have already attended some or all of the lectures.
(Homosexualist propagandist Wayne Besen – relying on a paid “spy” sent to the Academy – incorrectly gave the number of attendees at 20-30 people. The “spy,” who said he was a friend of Besen, admitted that he had underestimated the attendance, and said he would ask Besen to correct the errant figure. AFTAH will be waiting for a public correction.)
First, I find it odd that LaBarbera calls the anti-gay activists who attended his hate-fest “students”, considering the primary demographic on-site looked more like the Golden Girls. What were they students of, “shuffleboard”?
Second, Porno Pete and I have a disagreement on what counts as an “attendee”. LaBarbera believes he can puff up his numbers by counting the many speakers who bored the puny crowd to tears. I believe that one cannot count speakers as “attendees” and to do so is pathetic and misleading.
After all, do the Los Angeles Lakers count the 12 basketball players on the floor for attendance figures? No.
Do the producers of a Broadway play count the actors on-stage as part of the crowd? No.
So, where does he get off counting speakers as attendees?
Additionally, Porno Pete was counting LGBT bloggers, the small amount of media and our spy as part of the “crowd”. It is sad that LaBarbera would resort to sleazy, underhanded tricks to try to boost his anemic attendance figures. And, even if his heavily promoted event did have 50 people enrolled (although they were not visible) the turnout still sucks and his event was a dismal failure.
Despite this paltry turnout, Porno Pete tried to spin his failure, as if it were a victory:
“The Truth Academy is a major success,” said Peter LaBarbera, AFTAH president and Truth Academy founder. “This is one of the most thorough pro-family, educational seminars on homosexuality ever held in the United States.”
No doubt it was a “success” for someone as unaccomplished as Porno Pete, a man who is considered a fringe player, even in conservative circles.
On a final note, Porno Pete is lying about what our spy said and he owes Truth Wins Out an apology. It turns out the “Truth Academy” plays fast and loose with the facts. It will be very difficult for Porno Pete to fight his culture war, when he can’t even recruit a single platoon of buffoons to attend his much-ballyhooed warrior training.
