PFLAG
04.08.08 at 8:30 pm
in home, love, family
To hear Bill O'Reilly tell it, you'd think spending some time with your loved ones - especially your GLBT loved ones - was downright dangerous. Fortunately, you and I know better, and together, we're building a critical movement to counter the misinformation of O'Reilly and those like him.
On Friday night's The O'Reilly Factor, Bill included a troubling debate about R Family Vacations, the GLBT-friendly vacation provider founded by Rosie O'Donnell and her partner, Kelli. R Family, which has been a long-time sponsor of PFLAG national, brings together families of all kinds to celebrate . . . well, being a family.
But according to O'Reilly and one of his guests, conservative radio host Marc Rudov, these affirming family get-togethers are patently offensive, and nothing more than a "fairly intrusive" way to "mainstream the gay lifestyle." And Rudov even goes so far as to compare R Family Vacations with smoking . . . radiation . . . and brain tumors! "I kind of look at this in the same way," he told O'Reilly, going on to proclaim that "children do form their sexual identities from their same-sex parents."
That's right. "Pro-family" O'Reilly and his ilk now seem to be anti-our families. But fortunately for us, we have PFLAG to get the facts right.
In fact, I recently returned from an R Family cruise with my wife and some other important members of the PFLAG family, including executive director Jody Huckaby and Straight for Equality endorser Cyndi Lauper. We were surrounded by hundreds of loving families who were onboard with their GLBT children and loved ones. It was an inspiring and emotional journey that I will never forget. Because of R Family, these families from across the country were able to come together, be appreciated and loved for who they are, and take part in a welcoming, inclusive vacation that - until Rosie and Kelli founded their company - was simply an impossible dream for so many people.
So when O'Reilly and his guests use shrill rhetoric - not far removed from Sally Kern's comparison of GLBT Americans to a "cancer" - we should all be alarmed. And we should all be grateful to have PFLAG fighting on our side. Because, as Margaret Hoover pointed out to O'Reilly on Friday, "We've got a whole lot of people and kids that are growing up that don't have parents that love them," and so we shouldn't be spending our time attacking those who do.
That's what PFLAG is all about: Bringing families together and celebrating who we are. And it's a common value we share with our good friends at R Family Vacations. So we're proud to stand with them . . . share their journey with them . . . and call out the O'Reillys and Rudovs of the world on their misinformation and false propaganda.
Just as we did with Representative Kern, and as we have always done, PFLAG will continue to show the true faces of every family . . . and we'll always stand with "R Family" and yours.
Because you and I know that loving our children is the most un-intrusive thing anyone can do. And isn't loving our families what being pro-family is all about?
Sincerely,
Cepek Signature
John R. Cepek
PFLAG National President
