A Peek at Conservatism's Anti-Gay Conspiracy-Theorist Fringe

The Weekly Standard quickly apologizes to its email list for sending out an advertisement rife with warnings about 'radical homosexuals.'

To its credit, The Weekly Standard quickly realized its mistake when it sent an offensive political advertisement to the folks on its email list. Within hours its publisher, Terry Eastland, sent out this note:

Earlier today we sent you a paid ad from a third party. We did so by mistake -- our vetting process broke down. The ad was obviously not one we ordinarily accept, and we regret its distribution. We are taking steps to ensure that a mistake of this kind doesn't happen again.

The episode is nevertheless an interesting window into the sort of stuff that (1) other publishing operations in movement conservatism run; (2) the sort of message anti-gay bigots want to pitch to Weekly Standard readers (whether they're foolhardy to do soor right that it would resonate with enough people to be worth the cost, I have no idea, and am inclined to make charitable assumptions).

Here's what the magazine's ad folks (to their discredit) sent out (or excerpts thereof):

Dear Pro-family American, The Radical Homosexuals infiltrating the United States Congress have a plan: Indoctrinate an entire generation of American children with pro-homosexual propaganda and eliminate traditional values from American society. Their ultimate dream is to create a new America based on sexual promiscuity in which the values you and I cherish are long forgotten. I hate to admit it, but if they pass the deceptively named "Student Non-Discrimination Act," (H.R. 998 & S. 555) that's exactly what they'll do. Better named the "Homosexual Classrooms Act," its chief advocate in Congress is Rep. Jared Polis, himself an open homosexual and radical activist. And it's dangerously close to becoming the law of the land....

....You see, the Homosexual Classrooms Act contains a laundry list of anti-family provisions that will: Require schools to teach appalling homosexual acts so "homosexual students" don't feel "singled out" during already explicit sex-ed classes; Spin impressionable students in a whirlwind of sexual confusion and misinformation, even peer pressure to "experiment" with the homosexual "lifestyle;" Exempt homosexual students from punishment for propositioning, harassing, or even sexually assaulting their classmates, as part of their specially-protected right to "freedom of self-expression;" Force private and even religious schools to teach a pro-homosexual curriculum and purge any reference to religion if a student claims it creates a "hostile learning environment" for homosexual students. And that's just the beginning of the Homosexual Lobby's radical agenda....

....other countries like Britain are already experimenting with this kind of legislation, such as mandating public schools inject pro-homosexual content into every aspect of education. Word problems in math classes are now to include homosexual characters.  History classes will document the "civil rights" struggle against the "oppressive" pro-family establishment. And it's even started to infiltrate our state governments. In California, lawmakers want to "require schools to portray lesbians, homosexuals, transsexuals ... as positive role models to children in all public schools." Sexual deviants being held up as models of virtue?

A final note: as a fan of The Weekly Standard's feature length journalism -- Labash, Ferguson, Messenger, etc. -- and a frequently horrified consumer of its Palin apologia, horrific foreign policy advice, and deeply cynical editorials, I can affirm that this sort of advertisement isn't a sin of which it is historically guilty, unlike some other conservative publishing operations. Judge for yourself, but my educated guess is that its publisher is earnestly regretful about this aberrant episode.  

Image credit: The Weekly Standard