This will bring a smile to your face: today, CNN’s Carol Costello reported on the furor surrounding the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Mix It Up at Lunch Day program. As I wrote yesterday, the American Family Association — a certified anti-gay hate group — is claiming that the event, which aims to combat school bullying by encouraging students to break out of their cliques and talk to each other, is part of a nefarious plot to spread the so-called “homosexual lifestyle.”
Costello asked AFA spokesman Bryan Fischer to explain his group’s opposition to anti-bullying efforts. After Fischer alleged that the SPLC was out to destroy anti-gay hate groups like the AFA, Costello questioned whether or not Fischer had his own agenda, given his history of wildly extreme anti-gay rhetoric. Fischer launched into his usual song and dance routine about how Adolf Hitler was a closeted gay man and most of his Stormtroopers were also gay men because straight men weren’t willing to perform the savage acts the Nazis demanded of them. (Both claims are false, by the way.)
So far, nothing new. But then, something remarkable happened. Costello challenged Fischer, saying that his remarks would be considered hate speech “by most people’s standards.” Fischer responded by saying the SPLC was “bullying” the groups like the AFA , which just want to educate the public about the supposed “health risks” of homosexuality. (Another false claim, of course.) But Costello wouldn’t have it. Saying “That’s just not true,” Costello abruptly cut Fischer off and ended the interview. “Thanks for sharing your views, I guess,” she told him.
Awesome.
Watch the video below, courtesy of Right Wing Watch:
UPDATE: Equality Matters has the full interview. In the beginning of the interview, Fischer even compares the Mix It Up at Lunch Day to cyanide-laced Halloween candy. Seriously.
